anyone been overmedicated?

I am just wondering if anyone has experienced symptoms of being over medicated but their blood test results keep coming back as normal?

I can't begin to tell you the hellacious journey I've been on being overmedicated with thyroid medicine. It's been 2.5 years. I went gluten free starting 4 years ago and suspect this or maybe hormones after having my kiddo 6 years ago finally settled down, but overtime hyperthyroid symptoms began creeping in and then just amplified. It was nightly heart palps, insomnia, frequent urination, insomnia, panic, tremors, feelings like electricity, tingling, hair loss, weight loss despite eating, shaking. JUST AWFUL. I'm still in the journey but finally an endo thought maybe I was over medicated. What has been weird is my lab work never reflected it. I initially thought it was my thyroid meds but my labs were within range. Then I chased all these other theories ruling out any possible hormone related issue (PCOS/perimenopause/etc). Even ruled out adrenal tumors, vagus nerve disruption, etc. You name it, I tried to find the answer. Finally after reducing my dose 2.5 years later I'm getting some reprieve! Back when symptoms started I was at 90mcg Armour (so like 150mcg levo), then was switched to 100mcg levo for a long while, then to NP thyroid (that was TERRIBLE and I often wondered if I was on the FDA recalled batch for super potency) and most recently, finally, working my way from 88mcg to 75mcg. I suspect I need to go even lower. The most frustrating thing is the lag time between decreasing and symptoms resolving is so long. It's hard to tell if some stuff is hypo from decreasing too quickly (like bizarre muscle twitching at night when falling asleep) or just coming down off such a high dose for so long. If anybody has any thoughts on how long to step down and their experience decreasing dose, I'd love to hear their journey! It's been miserable. I've read a lot of journal articles on how thyroid hormone, particularly excess thyroid hormone plays into catecholamines. From what I've gathered it basically exacerbates adrenaline (epinephrine/sympathetic nervous system) symptoms due to not allowing the typical break down of epinephrine. It just hangs out in the blood longer. Definitely explains the panic like symptoms! I also had a horrible acne like folliculitis rash this whole time and read that catecholamines increase lipase in the blood which in turn allows for higher free fatty acids in plasma. Fungal folliculitis feeds on free fatty acids. So if anyone is having acne or malassezia overgrowth problems that tidbit might help!

hi laura... a lot of your symptoms i have been experiencing and let me just say i feel you when you say its miserable! the insomnia is the worsr which i see you experienced as well.... what was your insomnia like? i never had issues sleeping until being prescribed armour. are you still experiencing the insomnia?

This whole thread has helped me realize i am not going absolutely crazy. All the symptoms are the same, but my bloodwork looks normal. My dr did advise me to stop the levo (jusy a 50mcg dose that he gave me bc my TSH was 5.26) that ive been on for 5 weeks. i stopped a week ago, and today is the first day I'm kind of feeling more like myself.

Thank you to everyone here who has shared. I have come here often for hope and encouragement that this really could be from a medication and not some strange breakdown out of the blue.

I do not believe anxiety comes from taking medications, anxiety is a mental illness, which is triggered from past experiences and strange circumstances.

i have been having terrisblel muscle pain and muscle spasms , frequent urination and increased anxiety i had bloood work done and my level is .51 tsh i never like being bellow 1.. ive been over medicated before so I DONT KNOW WHY I DIDNT PUT 2 and 2 together this time I Guess I WAS BLAMING ANXIETY AND MENTAL HEALTH FOR my symptoms and the pain became unmanageable. I went twice last week for different blood work and finally i requested tsh and sure enough I AM APPROACHING HYPER I CALLED MY endo today and left him a message of my labs to request a med change i did not hear back from him as of tonight i still haven't taken my levothyroxin yet for the day and usually take first thing in the morning and its now 8 pm i think instead of taking my 150 mg dose Ill just take 100 I TAKE 3 /50mg levos to make up a 150 mg dose so its easy to reduce to 100 mg any one have any advice

Glad I found this! I also am sorry for anyone who is or has experienced going through this ordeal! I am over medicated on Levothyroxine and have been for quite some time now. Approximately almost 2 years in fact! It finally came to light this past September when I randomly showed up at my endo's office and basically demanding blood work. I had an appointment but until December 30th and I had been seeing my regular gp for my symptoms but nothing was helping. She kept thinking anxiety even after chest x rays, and an ekg. i was shaking uncontrollably, had insomnia, heart palpatations, chest pains, felt like i had the flu constantly because i hurt all over, i was constantly sick to my stomach, cold and hot flashes, along with so many other symptoms. Even after showing up at my Endocronologists office they did not order the blood work. The next day I managed to get an appointment with my GP and she once again assumed I had severe stress or anxiety but did a full work up and and the EKG. Sure enough my endocronologist called me the next morning wanting me to come right in to her office. I was severly over medicated. In fact she instructed me to go straight to the pharmacist and pick up heart medication and cholesterol medications and be on bedrest. To stop my Levothyroxine for 1 week and then take a lower dosage. I did not make it to the pharmacy because I ended up having a heart attack and went into cardiac arrest from the over dose for so long. So here I am now and still my levels are too high and I knew it because of how I felt! I was being told to give it time. Today I slept all weekend and the upset stomach has kept me from being able to keep anything down this whole weekend. I keep being told that it will all work out and I am lucky I have a strong heart because most would not have survived. I reply it isnt going to be with all the hard work they keep placing on it to this day. It has been a very very very long time since I have felt anywhere near normal. Nothing about me has been normal and it has dictated my life for two years now. When I found this sight and posting I finally had some hope that things may eventually return to normal. Not soon enough for me! No one understands that i have not been able to or can not go to a dinner because i randomly get so sick i have no control over it. I get phases of extreme fatigue and have not been able to get out of bed . That my carefree adventurous spirit and attitude has been dulled by days of not being able to walk without a cane. That some days I can not button things because of what it has done to my bones. That my memory has been affected greatly and even had cat scans and x rays for a tumor or anything causing this. So thanks for posting and giving me hope on this journey to recovery and normalcy! Barbie

Thank you for posting anyone who has been on this journey feels validated by your thought full post . Again thank you.

Hello, is there anybody still using this thread ? I think im overmedicated . I had thyroid cancer in 2009. I feel f'n weird . My new GP raised my dose need to talk. thanks

New here! Wanted to see if anyone would respond to how long it took you to completely get over being over medicated? Mine is quite complicated it seems, since I had not been taking my meds for 8 months and thought I needed to go back on them. I decided to start taking what I had at home (Armour)and after about 10 days realized they weren't agreeing with me (started having sweats, anxiety) I thought they possibly had gone bad or something changed in them. I had my blood work drawn and my Dr. told me my thyroid looked good and it was normal range. I was really confused and thrown off by this because of the reasons of my dry hair, skin, missed period, mined you I was feeling good and excercising. That is always the first signs of my thyroid being off. I had no anxiety, sweats prior to) I told him i was confused because of my symptoms and asked could me taking them for those 10 days have affected my blood results, he said it was possible, I guess. So we decided to go back to my usual Levothyroxine 50 mg which I had taken for some time. After about the same amount of time taking them I realized I was being over medicated. I had my blood drawn again and yep my numbers were going down like I was going into hyperthyroid, my numbers had never been that low before. Anyway, I had horrible anxiety, worry, major night sweats, nervousness, jitters, my thoughts and mind were all over the place, like Pandora's box had been opened. I was feeling worried, sad, guilty, etc for things that did not worry me or concern me prior. Wished I had never started them but can't undo what is done. 😦 Never been one to worry or have anxiety. In the mean time I went to my obyn to have a check up and found out I was in POST menopause. Like what, how. I always had easy, normal periods, no major signs of really even being in perimenopause even. Now all of a sudden I have been thrown into POST menopause. Now 7 weeks since I stopped the meds I have slowly gotten rid of most of the symptoms. Still having some anxiety, moods, etc. Crazy thing is now I am having some cramping, etc. that I wasn't having weeks, months back. Wondering if my body is trying to revert back and adjust back to having a period??? It has been so hard to figure out whether the thyroid meds have anything to do with the menopause and what symptoms, etc. My Dr. says no but I question it, if your thyroid helps regulate your hormones then why can it not have an effect on it in my opinion. I've looked for info. but haven't found anything on it causing menopause, etc. Just left feeling very confused and overthinking everything. I'm 47. Just want to see how long it took to really get back to your normal self from the thyroid meds though??? Maybe it can help me regulate and gauge where I am and which is what. Thanks!!

i know this is such an old thread, but it was so reassuring to stumble upon it. I have been going through the exact same things, anxiety, heart palpitations, frequent urination, muscle spasms, and pains. I was only on levothyroxine for 3 weeks and only at 25mg. I've been off levo for 6 days and back muscle pains and spasms are gone but heart palps and anxiety are still there - those actually only started after 3 days off meds (I think the meds are still causing it circulating in my system tho because I've had a full cardio work up and all was good with my heart). i was super subclinical. TSH of 5.8 (at an ER at 12 am). T4 and T3 were normal but i have elevated TPO and TGAb antibodies. i was super low iron and ferrtin (<8) and b12 (73) and once i began correcting that with infusions and injections i think my thyroid probably started self correcting . plus i completely changed my diet and lost a bunch of weight all around the same time. docs write me off for being anxious but my normal GP has been really great working with me and agreed to stop meds immediately once i shared my concerns. just hoping this stuff gets out of my system quickly so i can really understand whats going on with my body and if i need to try a different med or hopefully no meds at all because i wont ever try this one again!

Hi dizzydoll ,

I just want to say thank you for posting this . I am so relieved to read your post .

Am going through this at the moment and looking everywhere for info / advice .

Have reduced dose a few days ago . Hopefully in a few weeks I can reflect on any changes with more clarity .

Thank you .

Wishing you all,the best .