levothyroxine side effects

[debbiem1981]

i went to the doctor a month ago for some anxiety that started after taking a cough medicine in march i had a side effect to that caused a panic attack which landed me in the er. turns out after seeing a family doc that my tsh was at 5.120 and could be contributing to my anxiety. so i started levothyroxine exactly 3 weeks ago. the first week was pretty rough with headaches,NO libido,very exhausted,heart palpitations. the second week every time i ate i had this pressure on my chest like something was sitting on me,and i was actually having chest pains and it was hard to breathe in deeply, i thought it could be heartburn so i started nexium PRN. nexium didn't really help.

last saturday i had nausea and fatigue all day. i was supposed to start my period last saturday and still to this day have not. so i am about 1 week late. i have been having cramps. the chest pain went away and pressure. i went to see a cardiologist on tuesday and he said everything looks good except for a slight valve leakage, which was pretty normal according to him. today the menstrual cramps are a little worse, headache this morning, im wondering if i have a major hormonal imbalance because every period im always soo moody and have every pms symptom there is. the anxiety is about 85 % gone which im so thankful for but these other symptoms are just nagging and make me worry there is something worse wrong.
im going to see my obgyn in a few weeks and endo doc in july for a second opinion if these symptoms don't get better. maybe it just takes longer for my body to get used to this med. hope everyone has a great memorial weekend! thanks in advance for any input

[Barb135]

was the T4 you ran a Free or Total? What was the reference range?

[debbiem1981]

it was like 1.2 after starting meds, i guess about a week into the levothyroxine.

[goolarra]

How is your resting HR?  BP?

A TSH of 1-2 is not for everyone.  What was the range on the FT4 you ran?  Was that before meds or after starting?

[debbiem1981]

the thing that worries me the most is my heart is beating so fast!! i was on the treadmill yesterday and it said my heart rate was almost 200. i've never had a heart rate that fast not even on a treadmill.

[debbiem1981]

i have no idea what i have. all the nurse told me was that my thyroid was out of whack and i needed to start levothyroxine. when i finally got in to see the doctor 3 days later, i told her the original dosage of .50 mcg was too high because i was feeling really bad and i had decreased it myself to .25mcg and she said that was fine, told me she wanted my tsh to be at 1-2 and sent me on my way. thats why i wanted to get in to see an endocrinologist.

[debbiem1981]

tsh was all i saw on the labwork results. i know they were going to do a bunch of labs and they couldn't get enough blood. i work in a doctors office and i ran a t4 on my own and it was   1.2.

[Barb135]

It takes at least 4-6 weeks for a thyroid medication to take full effect.  It's also not unusual to have some symptoms while your body adjusts to hormones it hasn't had available for a while.  

Is TSH the only thyroid test that was done?  You should also be getting Free T3 and Free T4, which are actual thyroid hormones.  TSH should never be used alone, to diagnose and/or treat a thyroid disease.  TSH is a pituitary hormone and should be used as an indicator at best.  

Do you know if you have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis.