Aa
Synthroid dose
I am currently taking synthroid with lots of side effects. For example faster heart rate, heart palps, sleeping issues, short of breath, fatigue, aching arms and itchy scalp. I have slowing increasing my synthroid dose currently at 37.5 daily. My labs are:
Vitamin D 38
T3 total 0.73
T3 free 2.44
T4 free 1.31
TSH 2.47
Thoughts? Also my heart is very sensitive to thyroid meds.
Vitamin D 38
T3 total 0.73
T3 free 2.44
T4 free 1.31
TSH 2.47
Thoughts? Also my heart is very sensitive to thyroid meds.
Thanks Barb.
I read that the ingredients in natural thyroid maybe make hashimotos worse. May cause more of an attack...need to find the article.
Is 30 considered half a grain? I have a prescription for one quarter. One quarter in the morning and another in the afternoon?
Again, I have read conflicting articles concerning taking WP thyroid with or without food. What do you think?
Thanks again.
I read that the ingredients in natural thyroid maybe make hashimotos worse. May cause more of an attack...need to find the article.
Is 30 considered half a grain? I have a prescription for one quarter. One quarter in the morning and another in the afternoon?
Again, I have read conflicting articles concerning taking WP thyroid with or without food. What do you think?
Thanks again.
COMMUNITY LEADER
I don't understand what having Hashimoto's has to do with taking WP... Hashimoto's is an autoimmune disease and if you have it, you will have it, no matter what medication you take.
If you felt better on WP, then that's probably what you should try again, starting at a very low dose and working up. The problem is that you always have to keep in mind that your symptoms, including rapid heart rate and palps are often due to hypo/under medication, as well as hyper/over medication - perhaps your cardiologist isn't aware of that, since he isn't a thyroid doctor - in fact, many doctors who manage thyroid conditions aren't aware of this... You have to look at other symptoms, if any, as well, but your labs will be the most telling...
We understand what you're going through, but when symptoms can cross over, we just have to keep going until we get our levels high enough to get beyond them if they're caused by hypothyroidism. As I noted before, I had horrible palpitations for a while, but they were actually caused from being hyper... I had to be put on, both, a beta-blocker and anti-anxiety med in order to move on, but it worked for me... Neither were permanent.
I can't tell you what to do; you'll have to work with your doctor to figure it out, according to what you can/will tolerate and what he's willing to prescribe.
As I noted before, though, having 2 doctors manage the same thyroid condition, typically, doesn't work, because they both have different ideas on what should be done.
I'm a perfect example of that... My TSH runs very low and my primary doctor keeps wanting to lower my thyroid hormone dosage, based on that alone and has, in fact done that, making my hypo; my endo, on the other hand, understands that my TSH is suppressed because I take a T3 medication and many people have suppressed TSH when taking adequate amounts of thyroid hormones, particularly, if one is a T3 med. My endo knows to look at my FT3/FT4 levels instead of TSH. For that reason, I can't let my primary doctor manage my thyroid condition, because he would keep me hypo all the time, by trying to adjust a TSH level rather my FT3/FT4 levels.
Since you're seeing your pcp today, maybe you can get on something that you can stay on for a while to let your body get adjusted. Everything with a T3 component should be split into multiple doses in order to keep FT3 levels stable over the course of the day, otherwise you get hit with one big slug all at once in the morning, then within a few hours it peaks and is gone, then you're left the rest of the day with nothing.
Talk to your doctor, but 30 mg of WP, split into 2 doses of 15 mg/ea might be a good place to start, then if you tolerate that well, you can increase to 45 mg/day in a couple of weeks... always splitting the total dosage into 2 equal dosages. Or maybe you'll have to stay at one dose longer than most people - just depends on how you feel. You can work it out with your doctor, based on your labs.
If you felt better on WP, then that's probably what you should try again, starting at a very low dose and working up. The problem is that you always have to keep in mind that your symptoms, including rapid heart rate and palps are often due to hypo/under medication, as well as hyper/over medication - perhaps your cardiologist isn't aware of that, since he isn't a thyroid doctor - in fact, many doctors who manage thyroid conditions aren't aware of this... You have to look at other symptoms, if any, as well, but your labs will be the most telling...
We understand what you're going through, but when symptoms can cross over, we just have to keep going until we get our levels high enough to get beyond them if they're caused by hypothyroidism. As I noted before, I had horrible palpitations for a while, but they were actually caused from being hyper... I had to be put on, both, a beta-blocker and anti-anxiety med in order to move on, but it worked for me... Neither were permanent.
I can't tell you what to do; you'll have to work with your doctor to figure it out, according to what you can/will tolerate and what he's willing to prescribe.
As I noted before, though, having 2 doctors manage the same thyroid condition, typically, doesn't work, because they both have different ideas on what should be done.
I'm a perfect example of that... My TSH runs very low and my primary doctor keeps wanting to lower my thyroid hormone dosage, based on that alone and has, in fact done that, making my hypo; my endo, on the other hand, understands that my TSH is suppressed because I take a T3 medication and many people have suppressed TSH when taking adequate amounts of thyroid hormones, particularly, if one is a T3 med. My endo knows to look at my FT3/FT4 levels instead of TSH. For that reason, I can't let my primary doctor manage my thyroid condition, because he would keep me hypo all the time, by trying to adjust a TSH level rather my FT3/FT4 levels.
Since you're seeing your pcp today, maybe you can get on something that you can stay on for a while to let your body get adjusted. Everything with a T3 component should be split into multiple doses in order to keep FT3 levels stable over the course of the day, otherwise you get hit with one big slug all at once in the morning, then within a few hours it peaks and is gone, then you're left the rest of the day with nothing.
Talk to your doctor, but 30 mg of WP, split into 2 doses of 15 mg/ea might be a good place to start, then if you tolerate that well, you can increase to 45 mg/day in a couple of weeks... always splitting the total dosage into 2 equal dosages. Or maybe you'll have to stay at one dose longer than most people - just depends on how you feel. You can work it out with your doctor, based on your labs.
I did not have this bad of headache before take the Tirosint cytomel combo. Nor did I feel this dizzy or lightheaded. Nor did the back of my head swell.
I had terrible insomnia with synthroid. I battle synthroid for almost a year.
My concern with WP thyroi is that I have hashimotots. When the tested me in February my antibodies were almost zero.
I understand roughing drugs out but I do not want more symtoms or other synthroid journey. I know very has their story but it has been a very tough 2 years.
I had terrible insomnia with synthroid. I battle synthroid for almost a year.
My concern with WP thyroi is that I have hashimotots. When the tested me in February my antibodies were almost zero.
I understand roughing drugs out but I do not want more symtoms or other synthroid journey. I know very has their story but it has been a very tough 2 years.
Before this last try I was on Tirosint for over a month. It made me so achy and I could barely push my daughter's stroller up a hill. Emotionally it was rough too. A lot of the similar symptoms to synthroid. I toughed out synthroid and felt terrible. That is when my docs cam to the conclusion that I did not convert very well plus synthroid gave me bad palps.
My heart doc has warned me against using T4 given the heart palps. WP thyroid I felt okay until my doc had be switch back to Tirosint and cytomel. I honestly believe that the Cytomel cause my current symptoms the light heat, the dizziness maybe like vertigo. I am afraid to rough these drugs out given my results with synthroid. I do not want to go back down the synthroid road.
My heart doc has warned me against using T4 given the heart palps. WP thyroid I felt okay until my doc had be switch back to Tirosint and cytomel. I honestly believe that the Cytomel cause my current symptoms the light heat, the dizziness maybe like vertigo. I am afraid to rough these drugs out given my results with synthroid. I do not want to go back down the synthroid road.
COMMUNITY LEADER
Your body is going to react until you give it a chance to get used to being on med... you keep stopping every time you have a reaction, so your body never gets a chance to get used to any med.
I've never taken WP, but I know that it has both T3 and T4, similar to Armour, ERFA, NaturThroid, etc. The T3 is about 4 times more potent than the T4 and that's what's used by the individual cells "right away", so that's what's making you react the most quickly, because it gets into your system within a few minutes of taking it, whereas it takes T4 several weeks to take full effect.
You didn't answer my question about the Tirosint... how long did you stay on it? It has "nothing" in it that you could react to very quickly... the smallest dose is 13 mcg. If you tried taking it alone with NO T3 and try to ride out the symptoms, you might make it through... but you have to remember, those symptoms are present in a lot of us with hypo, so you're going to have to get your dose up high enough to get rid of the symptoms.
Are you taking anything for the headache when you get it and does whatever you take help?
You also didn't describe your feeling of "totally off balance"... it's hard to help you when you don't fully answer the questions or describe your symptoms because some symptoms do apply to both over and under medicated and you leave me guessing as what's going on.
Your labs are showing that you're leaning toward hypo again... Your FT4 is only at 42% of range and your FT3 is at 50%... rule of thumb is for for FT4 to be at mid range and FT3 to be in the upper half. In my opinion, you need to stabilize on a T4, then add T3, such as cytomel in small doses as needed.
You may have to talk to your doctor about beta blocker, anti-anxiety med, etc until you get to a dose you can stabilize on.
I've never taken WP, but I know that it has both T3 and T4, similar to Armour, ERFA, NaturThroid, etc. The T3 is about 4 times more potent than the T4 and that's what's used by the individual cells "right away", so that's what's making you react the most quickly, because it gets into your system within a few minutes of taking it, whereas it takes T4 several weeks to take full effect.
You didn't answer my question about the Tirosint... how long did you stay on it? It has "nothing" in it that you could react to very quickly... the smallest dose is 13 mcg. If you tried taking it alone with NO T3 and try to ride out the symptoms, you might make it through... but you have to remember, those symptoms are present in a lot of us with hypo, so you're going to have to get your dose up high enough to get rid of the symptoms.
Are you taking anything for the headache when you get it and does whatever you take help?
You also didn't describe your feeling of "totally off balance"... it's hard to help you when you don't fully answer the questions or describe your symptoms because some symptoms do apply to both over and under medicated and you leave me guessing as what's going on.
Your labs are showing that you're leaning toward hypo again... Your FT4 is only at 42% of range and your FT3 is at 50%... rule of thumb is for for FT4 to be at mid range and FT3 to be in the upper half. In my opinion, you need to stabilize on a T4, then add T3, such as cytomel in small doses as needed.
You may have to talk to your doctor about beta blocker, anti-anxiety med, etc until you get to a dose you can stabilize on.
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