levothyroxine sodium & chest, arm and leg pains????

I have been taking levothyoroxine for over 25 years and I take very high doses. I suggest that you follow a heart health diet, i.e, no saturated fats, eat plenty of fresh veg and fruit. Include extra virgin olive oils in your diet. Buy some cold pressed wheatgerm oil and take half a teaspoon in the morning. Start to drink green and white tea regularly and avoid coffee completely. Massage the cold presses olive oil into the areas you feel pain. Drink enough water and make sure you are getting enough but not to much Vit C. Use herbs like thme, sage, oregano, basil, rosemary in your diet. And try to always have a positive outlook on life. Stay away from butter and cream. Avoid white sugar. Use good quality honeys. Stay off high fat content meats especially pork, bacon etc. Choose fish, or chicken instead. Eat lentils. Avoid too much starch. Take pleasant walks and hopefully you will be fine. Hope this helps.

thanks for you reply, its most helpful to hear from anyone in the same situation. I do lead a very active and healthly lifestyle already and look after myself very well. I will try some of the things you suggested but can you tell me if you experienced the pains I have described as the chest pains are very worrying.

Thanks

I had the same problems when I started taking levothyroxine - I kept turning blue too! I saw a specialist who tested me for Addisons (Adrenalin deficiency), but I tested negative. You should ask your doc for this test.

Anyway the specialist advised I start on a very low dose ie 25mg once every three days, then every other day, then daily, and to do this very slowly ie it took me 3 months to be on 25mg a day. This reduced the symptoms I had which were a bizarre combination of under and over active thyroid.

She couldn't explain why I was having this reaction, or intolerance, but her advice worked. I looked into it and a helpful person on a forum recommended that I take multivitamins and minerals, particularly selenium, iron and Vit Bs - as you need them to convert the thyroxine into usable thyroid. This helped, as did eating liquorice which helps support the adrenals (look up adrenal fatigue which often goes hand in hand with thyroxine intolerance).

Also ask your doctor to check out your heart: if you manage to raise your thyro level gently this will improve your heart anyway.

It also turned out I was allergic to cows milk protein which had inhibited my absorption of the vitamins needed to convert the thyroxine. People with underactive thyroid also have a higher chance of being allergic to gluten so it's worth asking for the blood test for this too.

Instead of me re-typing it all here, please read my experience above yours. It might help you.

As for the comment about people with hypo-thyroidism being more susceptible to allergies and other ailments, it's true. I believe that it's because the thyroid works hand-in-hand with the adrenal glands, which have many functions among which is the reaction to infections, allergies, pain, disease, sickness, etc. Poor adrenal response means your body is less able to fight off things that a healthy person's would. I believe that correct testing, diagnosis and effective treatment of the thyroid must be closely allied with similar scrutiny of the adrenal glands as they are interdependent glands.

Good luck with your health, I wish you well.

Re: My post is the one entitled simply: Levothyroxine. Dated: 29th January 2009 - 2:29PM.

Cheers.

Yes, I too experinced 'leg pain...longer i took it, the worse the pain became...my doctor didn't believe it.  I tried again, 'samething'....he then told me it was in my 'head' the leg pain.  Wow, can you believe that.  Since this man didn't know me and I had only seen him a few months, I gained another Dr. who stated he had only heard that once.  He belived me and started me on Armour 90mg.  That was 6monts ago.  My hair is 'falling' out and the 'brain fog, has totally cleared. 

That Dr. since died...I recently saw a new Dr, he too believed me when I mentioned the 'leg pain i had when taken levothyroxine.  He hadn't heard of anyone other than me experince that, yet he put it in my chart.  Still on Amour, however since it isnt' taken care of the problem fully he is sending me to a gland dr. 

The pain isn't in your head, 'and btw', I changed up the foods I ate too, 'yet nothing I did helped the pain, the longer I took the drug the worse the leg pain became....Getting off the drug, and the 'pained stopped totally in a couple of days.

I had to write to let you know, 'no you aren't the only one having the 'leg pain', mine was in both thighs. 

I have been on Levothyroxine 75mcg daily, for over 5 years.  As with most people, I did not associate any additional health problems with this medication.  My hair thinned considerably, I was having trouble sleeping, My BP rose and I found myself easilly agitated.  These symptoms were treated by my Physician by adding to my daily prescriptions.  Then, I stumbled across a book entitled "THE HAPPINESS DIET".  I am not keen on diets, but this book intrigued me.

 Essentially, it is not a diet book, it is a book on nutrition.  I started to follow the suggestions in the book.  MOSTLY, eat organic, range fed meat and eggs, no un-natural fats. etc.  Many people have advised me to eat this way in the past, but they never said "WHY".  Now, I know why.   I am not endorsing this book, but I think it has made me take a different approach to better health.  It took a ton of bricks to fall on me to get my attention.

After you change your diet, your body acts different.  Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.  With a better diet, my body reacted strongly to the medication I was taking.  Is this a good thing?  You tell me.

My BP shot up (250/110)  from a newly prescribed anti-depressant and I landed in ER. My nightly leg cramps accellerated to the point of being unbearable.  Doc changed my meds and my BP went incredibly low 80/40.

Re-evaluating this sudden change, I suspected that after eliminating toxins from my body, it started acting normal and I no longer needed all these meds. Certainly I did not need the negative side effects of Levothyroxine.   

Now that my body was purging itself of toxins, the medications were NOW "life threatening" 

Contrary to what health practitioners advise, I went COLD TURKEY and stopped all meds about a week ago.  LEG CRAMPS STOPPED IMMEDIATELY.  My BP has been staying in the normal ranges and I sleep better..... and I no longer feel agitated if someone pushes my limits.

Comments please.