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Muscle Twitching after Reducing Thyroid Meds

Posted , 7 users are following.

corinne74478
corinne74478

Hi Everyone -

I saw a recent thread on this with a similar topic but i was hoping to bring it up again. About a month ago, i dropped my armour thyroid meds in half (30 to 60). At first, i felt ok. Then within 2 weeks, i was experiencing extreme depression, anxiety and headaches, as well as odd nerve sensations in my legs. Immediately following this (week 3), i started getting non-stop muscle twitching all over my body for about 2 weeks now. It is quite concerning and makes me think that something else is going on. Has anyone else ever experienced this?? I'm increasing my thyroid back up now in hopes it will fix it.

0 likes, 9 replies

9 Replies

  • sandy13371
    sandy13371 corinne74478

    Edited

    yes I've experienced the same thing. I have a unique story in that I went gluten-free and unbeknownst to me my thyroid kicked back in so I was becoming extremely over-medicated. I slowly dropped all thyroid medicine. about January 1st I made my final drop from 25 MCG of Synthroid to zero and within about 3 to 4 weeks I suddenly started experiencing tingling and twitching in my lower legs and feet. I had severe other symptoms from the over-medication but definitely the tingling and twitching in my lower legs that has lasted since January when I made my final drop of medicine when I made my final drop of medicine and I do believe it launched me into being hypo even though my blood shows high normal. I've done tons of reading and red this sometimes happens. I did have an EMG done just to check the nerves and it was normal. so I think the twitching and tingling is from so I think the twitching and tingling is from your body adjusting to last medicine

    • corinne74478
      corinne74478 sandy13371

      Posted

      thanks Sandy. it is the oddest thing. i also have general fatigue in my muscles in the morning when i wake up. dont know if that is from not sleeping enough because of the twitches or adjusting to the meds.

    • danielle2500
      danielle2500 sandy13371

      Posted

      what dose of synthroid were you before? Have you done any testing after dropping the last dose of synthroid? This is very interesting that going gluten free helped so much. What were your labs when you went hyper? Do you also have hashimoto?

    • laura06827
      laura06827 sandy13371

      Posted

      Hi, are you still on this website? I'd greatly appreciate hearing more about your experience. I too went gluten free 4 years ago and starting 2.5 years ago entered what has become the journey from hell. I would experience nightly heart palpitations, hot flashes, tremors, anxiety, insomnia, etc. Thinking immediately it was thyroid, followed up with labs and they were within range. So then I went on a terribly long journey chasing other theories. Flash forward years later finally a doctor thought I was over medicated and started dropping my dose. I'm finally feeling better but it's taking so long. I still have periodic bad nights with heart palps/anxiety/insomnia but they seem to correspond with certain times in the menstrual cycle (I have ruled out every possible hormone problem, it is most definitely thyroid). Most recently though I have been experiencing intense muscle twitches, particularly worse at night when falling asleep. Can you tell me more about your experience and how long it took you to feel better? Had I known going gluten free would start this crazy journey I don't think I'd have ever gone through with it (of course I'm committed to it now but geez!).

    • laura06827
      laura06827 sandy13371

      Posted

      The other bizarre thing is my labs never showed hyperthyroid despite having classic hyperthyroid symptoms. If you google hyperthyroid it was me and the frustrating thing is my doctor still doesn't think it's all hyperthyroid but these symptoms are absolutely hyperthyroid: heart palps, frequent urination, tremors, insomnia, anxiety, decreased weight despite eating (20lbs...I went from 135 to 115) hair loss, night sweats, etc. I saw on another post you experienced the same thing with lab work. My dose when all this started was 90mcg of Armour (150mcg), which in hindsight is such a high dose for my height and weight. They then switched me to 100mcg of levo. Most recently I've been reduced to 75mcg. Do you have any estimated length of time it took for your symptoms to resolve? Including the muscle twitching and what do you think was the cause of this? Going hypo or residual come down from hyper? Thank you again in advance for any insight. These overmedication forums have been so helpful and a Godsend.

    • sandy13371
      sandy13371 laura06827

      Edited

      Hi Laura yes I am still on the site - and yes you sound very similar to me and what I've been through. Unfortunately I still am not well. This has been a 3 year nightmare for me as well. What we are thinking is when I switched from Synthroid to Armour I developed histamine intolerance - and THAT has been a big part of why I feel so bad. THEN shortly after that switch I went gluten free AND doc gave me more meds so I became very overmedicated. Your going gluten free made your thyroid work better/less antibodies and yes yes yes you are overmedicating even though your bloods don't show it - the blood tests are just so unreliable in this situation! My overmedication took a long, long time to work through - seriously over a year! But finally, those symptoms got better. But it has been so hard for me to tell because all along I've been dealing with histamine intolerance and didn't know it! Working on that now. I am happy to email privately or have a call - so much we could discuss - I know how miserable you have been! I am on FB at Sandy Montgomery Roth or I can send my email if you don't have FB. Oh, and I STILL have the twitching/tingling and I have had nerve condution tests done - all normal. I firmly believe it is because I still do not have my thyroid meds right but again, I am finally working on the right things.

  • MtViewCatherine
    MtViewCatherine corinne74478

    Posted

    Ideally, you need to slowly taper you dose up or down.

    Dropping your dose in half is very hard on the body. And there is, yes, an extensive lag time, making it difficult to know what symptoms are caused by the meds and what are caused by changing the meds.

    Try tapering the meds down more slowly next time to give your system time to adjust.

    I also strongly recommend taking essential amino acid supplements as you taper down your dose, to help ease the symptoms.

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