Hot flashes

Posted , 4 users are following.

Hi, I have been on levothyroxine for 19 years and have suffered with many of these side effects mentioned, high Bp, high cholestrol, palpitations, but never connected them with this drug until reading this website.  Just in the last three months I have been suffering from terrible hot flashes night and day. My GP prescribed anxiety pills which are making me feel quite sick but have improved the flashes slightly.  Has this happened to anyone else out there who are on this, or can anyone shed me some light?

0 likes, 10 replies

10 Replies

  • Posted

    If they are true hot flashes, your cheeks and forehead will be hot. If they are thyroid flashes, the back of your neck may be warm but your cheeks will not be flushed. I call them thyriod flashes. I think it's caused when he meds are too low and the thyroid is overworkd and turns on and off irregularly. When I increased my meds (after switching to NDT, bc the levo didn't work right at any dose) all the weird thyroid flashes went away. If it's hyroid flashes, a temporary relief method is a cold icepack on the back of the neck for 20 minutes on and  minutes off. This takes the inflammtion down in the neck and also calms the thyroid. That's how I solved it: ice, chenge to NDT and increased med dose.
  • Posted

    Thank you Catherine, I will try the NDT. Did you go off thyroxine cold turkey and straight onto the NDT?
    • Posted

      Hi Fay- Yes. I went off the levothyroixin and started the next day with the natural dessicated thyroid.  Here's the thing: for me the levo never worked right at any dose. It sounds like the levo worked for you, so you might try increasing the dose before you switch.That is, unless you're having other symptoms like water retention, general pain, etc.
  • Posted

    Hi Catherine, thanks for your reply.  I think I will change because until I read this forum I never related my side effects to this drug.  But Ido suffer from insomnia, fluid retention, stiff muscles, and a few others like nausea, but as I am 67 I just put it down to getting older.  It pays to do your own research otherwise doctors will just put you on anxiety pills like they have with me.
    • Posted

      Oh dear, honey. Yes. those are likely due to the meds. Also the anxiety, very specifically can be caused by low thyroid. Just as people can develop insulin resistance, the same can happen with thyroxin. So it's important to have a doctor that also does a clinical exam and looks at the whole body, not just the bloodwork. Most people on thyroid meds do better in the upper range because it really isn't a natural sytem, the way we're supplementing it.
  • Posted

    Thank you so much Catherine, I do have a doctor who has been recommended and who will look at the whole body, so hopefully after all these years I might get it right,

    you have been very helpful thank you.

  • Posted

    Hi  get off of that poison and start taking natural dessicated thyroid like armour or the one i take is NP thyroid , i get it off the internet  its briliant  do some research on it  I will never go back to levo  its like taking poison it causes all kinds of side effects ie  depression anxiety weight gain muscle pain  bone pain brain fog etc  i was on levo for 20 years and all i can say is i have lost so many years feeling like crap i wish it was available to me right from the start   SO MANY YEARS OF FEELING DEPRESSED AND SAD  .  WHAT A WASTE
    • Posted

      Thank you for that Margaret, I have an appointment on Wednesday with a doctor who would rather prescribe NDT than levo.  The feedback is so helpful, more so than any doctor I have seen. 
    • Posted

      OMG margaret89120 I have all these problems for 21 years.  Doctors contributed it to evertything else, depression, age or stress.  What a waste is an understatement. I am so Mad!! We all deserve better from our Doctors!! 
  • Posted

    Hi moll, thanks for replying, I hope you get sorted soon.  It's a real battle with these doctors telling you that your normal while suffering with hot sweats and breathlessness etc.  he is sending me to a geriatrician next, don't know what he is going to do??

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