Depressed and tired, just want to sleep

Your doc should have let you try the 88 first going down 25mcg is to much at once. Why don't you call office and ask. That's why you feel so awful. 

the instructions on my thyroxine says take at the same time every morning on an empty stomach about an half hour before food. I'm afraid some of the symptoms you describe you just have to learn to live with. I could quite happily sit in a chair and stare into space all day and given the opportunity I sometimes do. I am nearly 67 years old and do a part time job every day getting up at 4.30 Monday to Friday I have got to keep going and not give into it. Talk to your doctor sometimes they can treat some of the symptom. 

I have so many thoughts, but at the top is that we hypothyroid folks need to be proactive in making sure we have a doctor who will listen to us and who understands thyroid disease. When docs go through med school, they are taught to test with TSH and treat with T4, but that is oversimplistic and doesn't work for many of us.

Now, my other thoughts:

- I can't comment on the tight band around your head - I hope someone else can help on that point.

- My friend switched to taking her thyroid meds at night and swears by it.

- There are some medications and supplements that interfere with  thyroid meds, including certain antiacids. An online search will help you figure out if you're taking any supplements or meds that affect T4 absorption.

- My mood goes low when my meds are off. My doc prescribes thyroid meds by symptom alleviation for me, which is a life saver, but I also monitor my heart rate and blood pressure regularly to make sure I'm not becoming hyperthyroid. If she went by TSH alone (which it sounds like yours might be doing), I'd be immobilized by fatigue.

- Adrenal function can affect hypothyroid treatment. This is checked with oral cortisol levels collected at certain times during the day. (Blood cortisol levels are only accurate when diagnosing Addison's disease which is an irreversible, complete lack of functioning adrenal glands.)

- Switching to Armour (T3 and T4) helped me a lot since I don't seem to convert the T4 to T3 well, and T3 is where our energy comes from. This is also the reason that a panel of thyroid tests is needed to assess how you should be medicated.

What have I forgotten to mention? There is so much to learn when we have thyroid disease, and there is a lot of information online that is easier to access than reading through forum posts. I will PM you with the sites that I found that helped me. Please fight your blues and read, read, read! Educate yourself so you can help your doctor or know how to evaluate a new one! I am sad when I hear of yet another new thyroid patient feeling frustrated. Expect more from your doctor!

The advice from FrannieNN is absolutely right on. Read, read and read it again. You need to understand everything your Doc is saying - because, as you have just found out, it is not always the correct advice. My Doc. too wanted to reduce my dose to 100mcg. Before I collected his Rx for 3 months I thought I would try it out for 6 weeks. I went from 125 mcg to 100 mcg. After 5 weeks I had to stop - I thought  I was going to die! I too had the colosal headache with a swishing noise in my head with tinnitus  and I could hardly move, that can't be good. I did a complete thyroid panel blood test before and after my 100 mcg test and not a lot changed numbers wise just a slight reduction in everything - which was all low to begin with, but the symptoms were not like going from day to night but like going from night into a black hole! You have to report these symptoms back to your doc ASAP and if s/he isn't sure what to do next, get another doc - that's what I had to do. Look into Armour Thyroid as FrannieNN sugests, it's got T3 in it which is what you need for energy. Your doc could put you on some cytomel (T3) as well as your T4 - but since they can't get the T4 dose right I didn't trust mine with introducing another incorrectly dosed drug. At least with Armour the two will go up and down together.

Oh, and for what it is worth, they try to keep the doses as low as possible because they think "running hot" causes osteoporosis or stroke - I have not read the literature on that but my feeling was that osteoporosis or a maybe-stroke in a decade sounded better than dropping dead in the supermarket in a couple of days.

I prefer not to wait for next week 

you may have some alarming neurological symptoms of hypothyroidism

I suggest :

to check your TSH and T4 now 

see psychiatris for depressive symptoms 

change the dose  timing to morning  

see your doctor ASAP

do some exercise like walking with a friend or group of friends so you will not be bored 

Hello Libby:

You have the right as we all do, to say to your Doctor, I realise I may have a high blood level, ...."And I want to remain on such and such dose, and I will sign any paper work if needed."  Thank You!

Sadly, doctors are not us, and they do not "feel your symptoms" and are going by a blood test.  You need to call up your doctor and explain all of your depression and feeling bad to him. 

I know the meds come in standard dose increments but reducing it too fast is not recommended at all.  This is a hormone and reducing it fast will cause your body a "withdrawl" as your level decreases and it is dangerous to your health for them to do so. It is supposed to be a slow decrease.

You can also contact a patient advocate or CEO of the clinic or hospital you go to.

I hope this helps you,  Shelly