On Levo, still feeling bad

[bergy381]

In January, 2012, I had my thyroid removed due to cancer.  All of this is fairly new to me.  After the rad treatment, dr put me on levo, 125 daily.  My TSH went to less than 1.0.  I was having symptoms, so he backed off the levo to 100.  Now I'm at about 5.5.  I also have entered the wonderful world of menopause at the same time and my regular dr put me on estrogen patch.  I'm sweaty all the time, light headed, confused at times, sometimes cold and my face gets flush, kind of like when you have a fever, but I don't have a fever.  I can feel cold on the inside, but I touch my skin and it's boiling hot and sweaty.  My endo said that we can't have my TSH level too high as the higher it gets, the more risk of the cancer recurring.  I'm having heart palpitations and am very anxious.  I have told them all of this, and my endo says since my numbers are okay, things are okay.  I don't know where to go from here as this is starting to affect my job.  Any thoughts?
Thanks.

[Barb135]

My pleasure --- lol.   I knew what you meant, but others, not well versed in thyroid, would not.

Agree with Bruce, regarding the use of Armour.  Some people do best on it; others find that synthetics work best.

[Brucergoldberg]

sorry my bad.  i meant TSH.   and if you are on armour, taking a lot of armour to suppress your tsh may cause your t3 to go out of range.  thank you barb for correcting me on this.  I was thinking "tsh" but wrote "ft3"

[Barb135]

TSH should be suppressed, not FT3.

[Brucergoldberg]

I personally did not do well on a t3 only med or armour.  I need a little reserve for my thyroid needs.   T3 will give you what you need at that time but can wear off quickly.  Once it wears off, if you have no t4, you will crash hard.  SO you will have to take t3 every several hours and this can also effect your sleep pattern.

Since its evident that you are not making anything on your own (assuming the RAI killed everything off)   you might want to make sure you tsh, ft3 and ft4 are all in check.  I agree with barb that having a ft3 closer to zero is probably the better way to go in your particular case.  

I have a feeling you might be hypo since you mention the palpitations but honestly it can go either way.

Have you explored the possibility of possibly taking a small dose of a beta blocker that will help you with the palpitations?   There are a few new ones recently on the market that when taken at small doses will not add to your fatigue but may control the palpitations while you get things under control.  

Also any time a change is made in my personal regimen whether its adding or subtracting from my current dose, I get about 6 or 7 days of weird side effects that can include flushing, cold or hot flashes, rapid weight gain or loss, and anxiety.

[Barb135]

TSH is typically suppressed following ThyCa.   Per the others, please post results for FT3 and FT4 and be sure to include the reference ranges, which vary lab to lab, so must come from your own report.

I, too, had all those symptoms when hypo. You might ask to try increasing your med more slowly, by alternating dosages; for instance, instead of jumping from 100 mcg to 125 mcg, try alternating them, for a 2 day average of 112.5 mcg.

Depending on FT3/FT4 levels, you might benefit from a T3 med.

[Ericamegan]

I had RAI 2 1/2 years ago.  I had all those symptoms when hypo including flushing, anxiety, heart palps, feeling cold, ect.  I bet you would benefit from adding a low dose T3 med like cytomel.  Please post latest labs.

[Brucergoldberg]

have you have test following tests done?  if so, please post the date, the results and the ranges

free t3  (ft3)
free t4 (ft4
tsh (with ranges)

thank you