Levi lowered. Now shallow breathing and depressed.
Posted , 5 users are following.
I have been on 300mcg Levothyroxine for years with terrible fatigue continuing. My new ND swears it's because of too much Levo. (TSH undetectable, T3,T4 slightly over normal). He put me on 65 mg Nature throid, reduced the Levo to 150 mcg and things were ok. JUST ok. Not as good as 300 Levo. But he went ahead and lowered the Levo too 100 mcg, kept me at 65mg Nature throid. I feel horrible!! I'm depressed, flat out fatigued to the point of just lying in bed after work, and angry at everything and everyone. It's been less than a week on new dose. ??
0 likes, 7 replies
Tutu123 brun35406
Posted
It can take 8-12 weeks for a new dose to adjust and you may feel like this in the meantime. It would be worth checking if you are at the equivalent 300mg dose as I believe 65 naturethroid is equivalent to 100mg of levothyroxine. This means you're on 50mg less than you were previously which could also cause your symptoms.
Lots of people feel tired on levothyroxine I know I did! Give the natural meds at least 4-6 weeks to work coz they do take a while to kick in even with t3 in the mix. And make sure your dose is right.
Have you had iron, ferritin, b12, magnesium and calcium checked?
Also cutting out gluten often helps with thyroid fatigue if you haven't already
Tutu123
Posted
Sorry I misread your post that the doctors reduced the meds deliberately. Again, symptoms may improve after eight weeks and you will feel horrible in the meantime while your body adjusts. However the ranges aren't an exact science and I often find I only feel good when I'm at the very top of the t4 and t3 ranges
MtViewCatherine brun35406
Posted
Hi Brun, what you're experiencing is typical stuff. Here's some thoughts from my similar experience back and forth with meds, and with having been on very high doses.
1) 300mcg of levothyroxin is REALLY high! Most people max out at 200, even for higher weights and severe thyroid disease, or thyroidectomy. This isn't candy. Levothyroxin is strongly linked to bone loss, liver, thyroid, lung and ovarian cancers, heart failure, as well as virtually every autoimmune disease from lupis to arthritis. The higher the dose, the worse the side effects. Three years on a very high dose is extremely concerning. It is most likely you have long lasting medical side effects, and may not know it yet. So getting off is good.
2) Switching meds can be extremely hard on the body- every time I changed thyroid meds, I was horribly I'll. When I went on the levo, I was ill for weeks, when I went off and back on the NDT, I didn't leave my room for 4 days. Migraines so bad- well, they were unimaginable.
3) I'd give the NDT a little time, if you feel you can handle it. You likely will feel better once you're completely off the levo and have the NDT dose up to where you need it. If you don't feel like you can handle it, I still wouldn't go back to the levo. You already know it doesn't work for you. Keep in mind, you've got at least two weeks of withdrawl from the levo, so you can't blame all the initial symptoms on the NDT. I can tell you from experience that Levothyroxin side effects are way worse than NDT side effects.
4) I see you've dropped the levo down to 1/3 what it was, along with adding in a fairly low dose of NDT. This is basically an effort to lower your meds AND get you weaned off the levo. This is NOT an easy task, and I would certainly expect that a net drop in dosage, as you're doing here, would result in some symptoms. The fact that you feel like crap is totally expected, as you've dropped your dosage nearly in half. Kudos to you if you're able to function in any normal capacity right now.
5) Many people who've been through the hoops with trying various thyroid meds, find it more effective to use natural treatments, herbs, acupuncture, diet, amino acid supplements. In addition, a natural glandular non prescription supplement called ThyroGold is fantastic for use as thyroid replacement hormone. Many people on this site have tried ThyroGold and similar products. For me, I found amino acid therapy to be as effective as the meds, without the side effects. My mother has had her thyroid removed and she takes ThyroGold.
6) Thyroid medications undergo many formulation changes. I find these changes in formulations to be extremely detrimental to my health. This is one reason I finally got off the meds... Every time companies tweeted the formula, I'd get horribly sick.
7) I found it took easily more than a year to detoxify from the levothyroxin. It's been 1.5 years and I'm still detoxing. I swear I can smell the levo... Still! Ick!
Hope that helps!
brun35406 MtViewCatherine
Posted
MtViewCatherine brun35406
Posted
Brun, no, the levo on high doses puts you at risk for serious side effects. Also, keep in mind that with your TSH zeroed out, your pituitary function is extremely suppressed, which can effect other hormonal functions.
I was in a similar situation on really high meds. Seriously. Try the amino acids. They worked better for me than the meds and they can't hurt.
Lastly, even though your body is making lots of T3, you may have high rT3. High rT3 is often responsible for thyroid disease, and can be caused by heavy metal toxicity, by metals such as mercury and bromine. With high rT3, people often don't experience super high spikes in TSH, even though your thyroid symptoms are off the chart.
brun35406 MtViewCatherine
Posted
I do have some rT3, although the ND was surprised it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. When they lower the Levo my temperature drops way down, I'm freezing all the time, and just sleep. Yesterday I worked eight hours, and was out like a light right after work. This is absolutely no life at all.
?Im curious which amino acids you are taking? I would certainly be open to that, and it sounds like it works great for you! I'm trying to stay at 100 mcg. But, quite honestly, it's dangerous for me to even drive a car like this. It is THAT bad. I
MtViewCatherine brun35406
Posted
Hi. Brun, I understand what you're dealing with. From my experience, the blood tests don't give a complete picture of what's really going on. My tests before meds always came back "in range", though not optimal, even though I have a giant cyst on my thyroid. So it's been extremely difficult to treat.
ive been using "essential amino acids" plus extra phenylalanine. These are the ones your body doesn't make. You body uses the essential amino acids to make all the other amino acids it needs. Amino acids are used in the body to build proteins and enzymes. The enzymes in particular are crucial for the many reactions needed for thyroid function. I added the extra phenylalanine for a while because this amino acid is the precurser for tyrosine. Tyorsine plus iodine make thyroxin. Your body needs the other amino acids to out everything together and to make the different varieties of thyroxin. So you can see how this works.
i started out initially with really high doses of the aminos because I felt the meds were really detrimental for me and used the aminos to transition off the meds. It wasn't horrible. I took massive doses three times a day for a month,my hen slowly tapered off. Now I only take as needed.
Caution, that if your kidneys are already in trouble, as the meds and thyroid disease can result in general decline of organs, you need to be very careful that you aren't overloading your kidneys. The instructions say to take without food. I found the aminos can cause headaches, so I took them with food. To me, taking with food makes sense because in nature, amino acids would be found in meats and eaten with other foods. The phenylalanine in particular can cause headaches, so you can try that a little at a time. The essential caps have phenylalanine in them, so you can try that first. Also, keep in mind that when you go on and off meds, the pituitary and brain functions are effected, so this can also cause severe headaches.
i can pm you the brand name of the aminos I found. There aren't a whole lot out there of the essentials alone.