side effects: just say no!

Hi there....be sure to have tests done to check your levels of hormones like estrogen and progesterone.....also your dheas and testosterone.....they have all been a factor in my weight gain and pain level and thyroid function to do with symptoms....I am so glad you are getting off of that med. I am on armour now and loving it......I was on levo for seven months with no relief.......I needed the t3 included and now everything is getting back to normal.....of coarse with the hormone replacement also....I am able to lose weight again and also feel normal and have my life and strength to walk again......no more water weight.......or constipation......I am no longer estrogen dominant.......good luck to you......

Yes we need need forums like these as when being diagnosed we are just as much in the dark as before diagnosis. I sufferd 20 years before finally going into a Thyroid storm.. But once diagnosed I was put onto 250 mg of Levo the next day.. Nothing was said about certain foods I shouldn't eat or taking my meds on empty stomach! and there was definitely nothing said about the horrid side effects of Levo. My Gp didn't explain blood levels or how it works! Everything i now know about Hypothyroidism has been from my own research and from helpful sufferers of this condition on forums such as this one. I hope you well soon!

i have had my thyroid removed 13 months ago & all of a sudden the past month my health has taken a nose dive.. pain constantly in my ribs, hips, frozen shoulder, and all of a sudden past two weeks i have excruciating pain in my foot to the point where ortho thought i had stress fracture but nope. went to rheumotologist & he did all kinds of blood work, 23 xrays & bone density. i got back on march 11th for those results. sleep? what is that? i am a pretty strong willed person but this has really gotten the best of me and im very quick tempered too. bad headaches frequently. before this i had non was taking 125 mg and was tired & no energy so upped it to 150 energy level is up but the rest is horrible

Good for you - hope you feel better soon

I am so happy that I stumbled onto this forum.  I have also been on Levothyroxine for 5 years.  The Doc put me on it for having a slightly low thyroid reading on my blood test.  Shortly, after that, I started having sleep problems. Doc told me to take Benedryl to sleep. Then I was diagnosed with High Blood Pressure and put on meds.  The BP prescription was changed 6 times in 18 months due to either too high or too low BP results.  I started having severe leg cramps, but told I was not drinking enough water, so I drank more water and peed more.  Leg Cramps continued and got more severe.  Then I was put on meds for Depression, ended up in emergency room with severe side effects including VERY HIGH BP 230/110.  Then BP meds changed again, my BP went down so low 80/40, I could not pick up my legs.

I said, enough is enough.  BP at 80/40, non-stop leg cramps, unable to sleep.  I stopped all meds four days ago.  

No more BP meds: BP is now 126/62

No more Levothyroxine: no more leg cramps and my energy level is normal

and now.....  I can sleep thru the night with Benedryl.

Have not had my appointment with my Doc, but am monitoring my BP closely and have been able to maintain between 100/60 evening/morning readings.  130/60 at work.  

Fellow workers said I was wrong to stop taking everything, but I am feeling so much better.

I have been on Levothyrozine since 1999, I was OK up until last year, when slowly over time I started getting side effects and my Thyroid actually went into hyper active at Christmas, now dropped back to underactive and I went back onto Levothyroxin and now suffering extreme side effects.   Insomnia, aggitation, irritability, continual heartburn and that is on the good one which is made by Mercury.   The other one is made by Activas and the side effects of that are extreme feeling of being unwell all the time, headaches, fatigue etc.   That's just the ones I have experieinced.   I am in the process of trying to get switched to Sandoz but this is proving to be difficult.   From the research I have done lots of people are effected by this product and a lot of people like me think it's the chemicals they use to reduce the Thyroxin into tablet form that cause the most problems.   I am going to ask my GP if they can precribe the oral liquid form of mercury Levothyroxine to see if that helps me at all, time will tell.   I get the feeling we have to fight for all this as Levothyroxine is a lot cheaper than the few alternatives.   One of the alternative is Armour but this isn't licenced in the UK although we can get it, some GP's will precribe it but most won't.   It costs quite a lot of money to buy privately anything up to £200 for 3 months supply.   Wish it was licenced as the reports say it is much better than Levothyroxine as it is a natural substance as oppposed to synthetic.   I hope you get somewhere as your symptoms are really bad worse than mine.