I'm kinda of concerned...

[kaylaxmarie]

I am 16 and recently I went to the doctor, lets say probably over a month ago... b.c I was having pretty bad anxiety and I wanted to get something done about it.

Well the doctor was going to put me on a small dose of Zoloft to help... but she wanted me to take a blood test before getting put on the medicine.  

I got a call from the doctor a few days later and she told my mom that my blood tests came back and I had an underactive thyroid.  So she made out a prescription for me to take a small dose of hypothyroid medicine (Levothyroxin - generic for Synthroid).  I have to take one pill that is 25MCG every morning after I wake up and cannot eat for an hour after I take it.  

Well after I found out about it the day my doctor called...  I immediately went online and looked up underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism)  and I seen that I had been having some of the symptoms it listed.  But the symptoms are so small that I figure it wasn't anything serious.

Before finding out about my underactive thyroid I had gained about 8 lbs and figured it was just from my unhealthy eating and lack of excercise.  But also... just a few months before when I was out of school for the summer I ate unhealthy and didn't have much excercise... and I didn't gain any weight but maybe a couple pounds.  

Well after I found out about my thyroid I noticed how my hair is very dry, I feel weak and unengergized at times, I have been having on going skin problems (dryness, acne), I've had mood problems and depression,  intolerance to cold/heat, I was gaining at least a few lbs a week, and overall I just feel like I'm starting puberty all over again.  I use to be 150 lbs and I am now 165 within 2 months.  I did get up to 170 but I have been regulating how much I eat... and I get full very easily so I have lost about 5 lbs luckily.  I honestly don't know if my medicine is working... and my mom got laid off of work not to long ago and lost her health insurance, I did have an apptment though but we forgot about it.  

I mean I feel fine overall it's not like I feel sick..  and the symptoms I have aren't that bad.  I'm just hoping this doesn't get worse.  I've seen some people's forums talking about how they don't have periods anymore, where they have no energy, and pain.  I mean I'm only 16 I don't want to end up infertile, weak, and I don't wanna have pain the rest of my life... it scares me.  I have no idea how serious this is.  Ugh... I have early symptoms of hypothyroidism, and I would like to know if maybe taking the right medicine and dose could help beat this.  

I use to be 200 lbs and I worked pretty hard to lose 50 lbs about 2 years ago and now I'm starting to gain it back... which is pretty devistating.  I would like to start excercising and go on a diet again, but I'm afraid that since I have an underactive thyroid that it will make it so that it's really hard to lose the weight.  

Well I was just wanting to see somebody elses input about all of this.  So if you could give me some advice that'd be great.

[kaylaxmarie]

i was wondering...

okay
i was at 150 for over a year and i'd get on the scale and weigh myself frequently.  well in one day i would go up 3 lbs  go down 4 lbs go up 2 lbs go down 1 lb... and it was just up and down up and down whether i ate or not.  there were times were i was cleaning and busy and hadn't even had anything to eat for the day and i would get on the scale and it said i went up 2-3 lbs from when i had weighed myself earlier that day.  but every single morning i woke up and weighed myself i'd be back down to 150.  i was wondering if that had anything to do with my thyroid?  b.c i mean once i got put on medicine i stayed at a solid weight for a whole entire week and i dont remember ever having that.

but i've been excercising and watching what i eat and what not... and before when i did that i didn't think i had a high enough dose of medicine b.c it just wouldn't come off.  but now i have lost 3 lbs this week since i increased my dose.  so that's kinda why i thought that i should take a bit higher dose.  b.c otherwise it seems to be really hard for me to lose weight and i've never had that hard of a time losing weight before.  

but anyways lol.  i just always thought that was weird that my weight would go up and down like that all the time every day, and my friend told me it didn't sound normal.  did you ever have problems like that before you started having an underactive thyroid?

[kaylaxmarie]

i had a pretty good christmas. =P


but yeaahh
i took 1 1/2 yesterday and i didn't have any of those problems so i guess i'll let myself adjust to that and see if i start getting complications again or not.  right now i'd be taking like 37.5 mcg.  

[jd2]

thanks!
how was your chrissy?
how you described palpitations - thats exactly what mine feel like when my dose is too high, so yeah you should definately decrease it and see what happens in 2 weeks.
good luck!!

[kaylaxmarie]

oh yeah...

and merry christmas to you too!!!   hope you get everything you wanted! =P lol

[kaylaxmarie]

yeah i thought that dosing thing i read on that site sounded kind of ridiculous.  

umm... actually, last night when i went to bed i felt all hyper and i kept having heart palpatations and it seemed like my heart was beating a bit too fast, i could hear it beating.  it felt almost like my heart would stop and then THUMP hard and went back to its normal beating.  it did that about 3-4 times.  so that kinda freaked me out...

i've had heart palpatations in the past from my anxiety... if my anxiety got really bad there would be times i'd get them at least a few times a day.  it felt like my heart would get all fluttery like a butterfly and then go back to it's normal beating.. and then sometimes it would feel like it stopped and then make a big thump like it did last night.

so hmm... i'm wondering if my dose is a bit too high.  i think today i'm gonna take a pill and a half.  b.c yeah i would agree since it takes about 2 weeks to take affect i shouldn't have jumped up that much on my dosage.  

[jd2]

hi!
yeah you should definately get your mum to call the doctor! (or do it yourself if you're up to it).
if you've started losing weight  you probably shouldnt increase your dosage. wait a few weeks and see what happens.
the difference between 25mcg and 50mcg is huge! i wouldnt have increased so much if it was me. if it is affecting you this quickly it could be too much, coz its sposed to take a couple weeks to have any affect. if i was you i'd reduce it and wait and see what happens. make sure you dont feel sick from it - when i took 50mcg i got chest pains and really bad palpitations and really high blood pressure and heart rate. if you take too much it can give you a heart attack - i know someone it happened to their grandmother. if you feel really bad and get chest pains best to go to the hospital.

yeah my pills are tiny too, but i have no option but to cut them - i use a craft knife thing - one of those scalpel things with a really thin blade. i even try and take a sixteenth of a tablet extra one day a week its soooo difficult - but it makes me feel better!
i only take about 12.5mcg/day, by the scale you mentioned i think i'd need 130mcg/day which would definately kill me! although there are people on this forum that take a higher dose than i do.

i adjusted my dosage with the help of my doctor and blood tests, its so much safer. that sux that your mum cant afford it, i hope that you can get some help.

Merry Christmas! I hope you have a great day!