Quit smoking, increase Levothyroxine and T3?

[Frieda1979]

I first got diagnosed with hypothyroidism after quitting smoking for 6 weeks in 2012. Since then I am taking LT 158µg/day + 10-15µg T3/day. Now I started another attempt to quit smoking and after two weeks I woke up with numb arms in the morning, was tired all the time, couldn't concentrate and I also had other hypothyroid symptoms. There are many studies out there that show the correlation between thyroid hormones and smoking.

Does anyone has experience with quitting smoking while taking Levothyroxine (and maybe also T3)? Did you have to increase your LT dose? If yes, for how long? Is it a temporary unbalance that the bod can balance himself after some months? Did you gradually reduce smoking?

I started to smoke again, for several reasons. But I really want to quit.

[Frieda1979]

Thank you for your answers. There are many people that get diagnosed after they quit smoking, because according to several research papers the hypothyroidism is masked by the smoking. Smokers have lower TSH and higher free hormone values compared to non-smokers.

I would like to quit smoking forever. But I couldn't find anything that helps me to understand about how much I should increase my dosis to balance the effect that arrises from quitting. It was really bad and although I am now smoking again and back to my normal dose I haven't completely recovered. Every morning when I wake up my entire body is hurting and I need hours to become awake... I have an appoinment with my endocrinologist at the end of September, but even then it will be difficult since I can't get tested for TSH, FT3, FT4 every week in order to monitor my hormones during the process of smoking cessation.

Is there nobody out there who has own experience with this?

[Barb135]

I quit smoking in August 2007 and was diagnosed with hypothyroidism in early 2008... Nobody ever said there was a correlation, but I can't help think there might have been as I'd begun having hypo symptoms even before I quit, but those symptoms were all attributed to Pernicious Anemia, with which I had been diagnosed earlier in 2007.  

It wasn't until I gained 30 lbs in 3 weeks that anyone considered the possibility that I might have more than one condition... It was suggested, by the nurse giving my B-12 shot that I make an appointment to have my thyroid levels tested, so I did.  The NP, with whom I made the appointment really did not want to test my thyroid, but finally agreed to do so... My TSH came back at 55.5 and my FT4 was 1.6 (0.8-1.8). FT3 was not tested at that time.  

I'll never know if there was a connection with my stopping smoking, because I never started again, due to other health issues, but I strongly suspect there was a connection, though I probably would have become hypo, eventually, anyway.

[gimel]

I have no experience with cessation of smoking and its effect on thyroid levels.  I did find this info that might be of interest.  It suggests that thyroid med dosage would need to be increased enough to offset the effect of stopping smoking.  Based on the description of the effect, I expect that the increase would need to be maintained ongoing.  

The Relationship Between Quitting Smoking and Thyroid Disease Onset

While I don't have an answer as to whether or not stopping smoking "triggers" problems with the thyroid -- as it anecdotally often appears to be -- it is clear that medical researchers have found that smoking can worsen hypothyroidism in people that already have it, and smoking can seriously affect thyroid function.

My theory is that smoking/nicotine creates an artificially high metabolism that masks the fatigue/lethargy commonly seen in hypothyroidism. When the smoker quits, this masking is removed, and the full effects of hypothyroidism on the metabolism and thyroid are felt.

And, for smokers with undiagnosed thyroid dysfunction, without proper thyroid hormone treatment, stopping seems to be a metabolic/weight gain double whammy, as they lose the appetite suppressant, metabolism-upping effects of nicotine, and experience the full effects of the hypothyroidism.