Complex Issues Around Prescribed Drugs

I've been treated for kidney cancer over a year, both radiation and chemo drugs. My oncologist began chirping about a borderline thyroid in blood work results from the start. I think this is important because it is evidence that the thyroid levels were not perfect even b4 chemo drugs. She kept wanting me to see a specialist but I felt perfectly normal and since the bloodwork showed borderline, I felt it was normal for me.  Months passed and according to the blood tests, the thyroid levels began to push outside of borderline toward hypothyroidism. Its rather confusing when the test result is a higher number and yet I am told my thryoid production is lower than it was before. Possibly the chemo was having a negative impact on an already borderline thyroid. I have been overweight for decades but have always had plenty of energy, more than most people. So... I question everything around these results.

Finally, the oncologist prescribed levothyroxine 100mcg and the monthly bloodtests started. I was already short of breath before taking this drug but it got a lot worse with the drug. Eventually, she took me off the levo completely because my numbers shot way down to the other extreme. Bloodwork ea month continued. 2 months later she put me back on it at 25mcg.  Then 50 and now 75mcg.

Its been a little less than a year since I started taking levothyroxine and the side effects have been the worst of any medicine I ever took including chemo drugs. I am short of breath, dramatically, walking 60ft will make me notice that I need to pause and get more air, etc. I cannot lift or do any work because of shortness of breath. I get diahrea almost every day and their answer is to then take yet another medicine to counter that... no, i refuse to start piling up medicines to counter effects of other meds. I have lost my eyebrows and eyelashes and it makes me look like a freak - its not the chemo, its this stupid levothyroxine.

During this time I have put myself on a low sugar/carb diet, not perfect as I still have some things with sugar/carbs but i stopped drinking sodas for example, which was all i ever drank for 50 yrs. I have lost 50lbs including 7lbs last month, while being told I am hypothyroid - if i was hypothyroid, wouldn't i be gaining weight, not losing it? I get the burning eyes every day, and actually feel like taking naps when I never did before taking this thyroid medicine. I feel my symptoms are actually opposite hypothyroid and it makes me doubt the test results. My oncologist does not even notice the weight loss reported on her charts each month which should make her wonder about this medicine, I think.

She puts too much faith in that stupid little oxygen sensor they put on my finger each month. My readings have been 90-95 except last month it just so happened to read 97 and she remarked that I must be less short of breath? I told her no that in fact I am more short of breath than ever. She acted like she did not believe me - the oxygen sensor is a very crude device and values will fluctuate 5pts in 5 back to back readings. Cold or warm hands or cold or warm oxygen sensor will throw the number off.

My last refill of levothyroxine had an alert that the size and shape of the pill has changed but it is the "exact" same medication as before. Well... no it isnt. When I take the new refill, the pills disintergrate immediately on my tongue and become very difficult to swallow. Previously, this did not happen. So now, with all the side effects and frankly, feeling way messed up vs before taking the levothyroxine, I want to stop taking it.

We are all facing a myriad of complex problems and below I will list them:

1. Our medical conditions and body makeups are all different

2. Our drs are all different - some are very good and some are not

3. The drug industry really is an industry and we are their prisoners

4. Drs today often prescribe drugs for kickbacks (money rewards)

Its bad enough that we face serious health issues. Worse that we do not really know where to turn for the truth. Our drs want to push medications and for the most part, no doubt, that is a helpful outcome but in the case of levothyroxine... i seriously wonder. We end up with more issues caused by the medicine than we had before taking it. The longer we take it, from what I read here, the worse these side effects can become. We do not know if we are truly depending on the medicine or not and cannot necessarily trust our dr about it because they are receiving royalties from prescribing certain drugs. Its a corrupt system and we are the victims. I did not take my levothyroxine today. My last blood result was over 80 after almost a year and up back up to 50mcg per day so... what is really going on? I dont think anyone can tell us.

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