Light periods after taking levothyroxine, scared

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I am 24 and about a year ago I was diagnosed with underactive thyroid and was given levothyroxine. I noticed that my period flow changed. I now have very light periods lasting three days and i dont fill the pad anymore. I am freaked out because I read that this medication can cause pre-menopause. I stopped taking this medication due to a change in my insurance but I recently started the treatment again. Has this happened to anyone?  I am scared and worried that this will cause infertility problems since I plan to have children in the future. I am also scared of stopping this medication because I heard about the effects of low thyroid. 

Help!

 

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9 Replies

  • Posted

    Hi ive been on levothyroxine about 8 months and my periods became lighter and shorter i was also spotting inbetween went ti docs who arranged a scan which all shown everything is normal and docs are not not worried here if you wanna chat
    • Posted

      Really Tammy? Okay so because I've read so many negative stories about this particular medication. Has it changed recently with time?

    • Posted

      Yeah Tammy.  That's what the docs say. But there's a huge difference between periods stopping because of hypothyroid disease and real menopause. 

      I'm fortunate that in my 20s I had a hypothyroid attack following a chemical exposure, where I had double periods, two weeks on, two weeks off. Apparently, this is an early sign of chemical toxicity... However, five years later, a cyst shows up on my thyroid... All the signs of hypothyroid disease... Looking back at old blood tests of TSH, it showed mildly high...

      Skip forward after years of cleansing and dieting... A blissful ten years free of thyroid symptoms other than the static cyst. Then, wham! Following Several nuclear power plant events, all of a sudden, I've got these weird periods again, two weeks on, two weeks off, same other symptoms. Docs can't figure it out. They keep sending me to Gyno bc I have stomach pain. Stomach pain due to gluten sensitivity, spotting and frequent, heavy, long  periods due to hypothyroidism. I only recognized it bc the exact same pattern happened in my 20s due to the chemical exposure, known to cause thyroid disease. Other than those two times in my life, my cycle has been extremely regular.  Good thing I put it together and realized I'd had thyroid disease way back, as well as a relapse. Otherwise, I'd have bought into the early menopause stuff. 

  • Posted

    Hi Stephanie, yes, thyroid medication can lighten your period. I also had this with the levo. I'm older, so you know how it is, that docs are like, oh, it's bc you're getting older. But thyroid meds affects the pituitary's production of TSH. It isn't as if you can just separate out one pituitary function from another, if the pituitary is suppressed, it likely affects more than one area.

    You're fortunate that you're young, as it's easier to recover. I've used acupuncture to help get things back on track throughout the last few years of severe thyroid disease. Please do read the many posts here on levothyroxin. I've seen a few posts where people have eventually been able to work with this medication, but tons of posts about horrible side effects, hot flashes, liver and kidney disease, arthritis, fibromyalgia, severe migraines, bone loss... I was horribly ill on this medication, and don't feel I'm particularly special in that I became so il. There are many clinical case studies on young women with no other health problems, showing that this medication causes liver lesions at the lowest dose after only one month. 

    Here's how it went for me... I was on the levo for over two years, it didn't work at any dose, I gained 50 pounds and I became so ill, I was bedridden. I weaned off with a glandular, but got fed up with manufacturing and formulation changes (across the board with these meds) and went off the meds altogether, in favor of a natural approach. I found amino acid therapy to be as effective as the meds (when I'm able to take it).

    When I was on the meds, my period was lighter than usual. When I quit all the meds, my period stopped. Now, off all the meds for six months, it's come back and won't stop.  I've got so many health issues, I can't even tolerate the amino acids at the dose I need, I know I'm hypothyroid, but I'm still feeling so much better without the meds... Two weeks on a period is just another thing, and at least it feel a little more normal now. It's just another thing, and it will resolve itself shortly.

    I should say that prior to my thyroid attack my cycle was like clockwork. The hypothyroid can cause spotting and shorter time between cycles due to low progesterone, aside effect of low thyroid.

    Because of the extensive influence the thyroid has on the entire hormonal system, I found a hormone cure book to be very helpful as a reference whenever my system gets wonky. The thyroid goes down, this eventually shuts down the adrenals, and other hormones... Down the line. So some help rebooting things is important.

    Hope that helps give you a long term perspective so you can make good choices to help yourself heal. There are many posts about dietary and supplements for thyroid treatment.

    Good luck honey.

    • Posted

      Hi Catherine, 

      Oh how unfortuntate I am sorry about all that you have gone through because of low thyroid. I hope you have been much better. Well so far the only side effect I have experienced is a lighter period. But I am still worried since I dont know what is worse the effects of thyroid medication or not taking the medication at all. 

      Best of Luck and thank you for sharing your story with me(:

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