thyroid medication side effects
Posted , 3 users are following.
5 years ago I had a Total thyroidectomy and radioactive iodine after that. Everything was successful.
Was taking for 3 years Synthroid 125mcg. Was working great and then the past 2 years the medicine has caused such bad side effects that they even tried unithroid, tirosint, levoxyl, levothyroxine, armour, compounding all give me bad gastrointestinal side effects, IBS, heart palpitations, and muscle spasms in my right shoulder and back. When I was on for 3 years my numbers were perfect. Now i am hypothyroid because the side effects are so bad it's hard to take the full dose.
Has anyone experienced bad side effects like this from thyroid replacement medicine?
Would be much appreciated if someone could shed some light on this. The doctors are baffled and i need the thyroid medicine to survive.
Thank you.
0 likes, 15 replies
danielle2500 maria61122
Posted
i'm sorry u are going through this, i was good for 5 years on tirosint and then I got horrible gastritis and reflux and started getting side effects from it, heart palps, chills,, stomach burning, reflux, i tried synthroid and the same happened, i''m trying wp thyroid now, i've been dealing with this since december, it's been awful, i don't know how good the wp thyroid is working
maria61122 danielle2500
Posted
Thank you for the information. I hope you feel better soon. This is not easy. All the best.
danielle2500 maria61122
Posted
thank you, what gastro issues are you having? what are you taking now?
maria61122 danielle2500
Posted
Gerd Ibs, I am trying tirosint sol liquid medicine Supposedly the purest and cleanest of the thyroid meds. I take prilosec otc for gerd and Levsin for ibs.
danielle2500 maria61122
Posted
what dose of that? can u please let me know how it works? i got some samples but afraid to try it 😦
danielle2500 maria61122
Posted
do you take it sublingual or just swallow it with water?
maria61122 danielle2500
Posted
100mcg sure i will let you know. its worth a shot.
maria61122 danielle2500
Posted
i just swallow the liquid and then drink water
danielle2500 maria61122
Posted
ty, so far does it bother your stomach or reflux?
maria61122 danielle2500
Posted
Stomach and GERD it bothers a little so far. But I take prilosec for that. But right now I am in the trial and error process.
danielle2500 maria61122
Posted
ok, hope everything goes well, let me know how it works.
what dose of prilosec? 20mg?
Guest maria61122
Posted
Hi maria61122, not sure if you are aware of this, but thyroxine can also be administered as an injection.
Maybe you could try it for a while until your gastrointestinal problems subside. It might not be very practical, but permanent hypothyroidism is not an acceptable long term solution.
Also, whenever you are switching from one brand of thyroxine to another you have to be monitored at close intervals as your dose will probably need to be adjusted. Problems with palpitations occur more frequently when patients are taking supplements containing a combination of thyroid hormones T4 and T3.
As an alternative to taking your thyroxine in the morning on an empty stomach you could try taking it in the evening and with some food. In this case, your dose might need to be adjusted again as you thyroxine absorption might be somewhat reduced. If you plan on trying this, find out first what food groups inhibit the absorption of thyroxine and try to avoid eating these before taking your medication.
Guest maria61122
Posted
Not sure what happened to my previous post: Here is is again.
Hi maria61122, not sure if you are aware of this, but thyroxine can also be administered as an injection.
Maybe you could try it for a while until your gastrointestinal problems subside. It might not be very practical, but permanent hypothyroidism is not an acceptable long term solution.
Also, whenever you are switching from one brand of thyroxine to another you have to be monitored at close intervals as your dose will probably need to be adjusted. Problems with palpitations occur more frequently when patients are taking supplements containing a combination of thyroid hormones T4 and T3.
As an alternative to taking your thyroxine in the morning on an empty stomach you could try taking it in the evening and with some food. In this case, your dose might need to be adjusted again as you thyroxine absorption might be somewhat reduced. If you plan on trying this, find out first what food groups inhibit the absorption of thyroxine and try to avoid eating these before taking your medication.
danielle2500 Guest
Posted
I asked my doctor for an injection and she said I can not do that, that it's not available.
How would they dose with the injection?
Guest danielle2500
Posted
Intravenous (IV) dosage or Intramuscular (IM) dosage
Adults
Initially, 50% of the previously established oral dosage, given IV or IM once daily in patients unable to take oral doses. Some patients may need titration after this initial dosage selection to maintain euthyroid status. If the patient has previously taken their oral medication as directed on an empty stomach, the PO bioavailability of levothyroxine approaches 80% and thus some clinicians use up to 80% of the previously established oral dosage when applying conversions. Based on medical practice, the relative bioavailability between oral and IV administration is estimated to be 48% to 74% and differences in absorption characteristics of patients and how they take their oral medication necessitate the use of TSH measurements a few weeks after initiating therapy to ensure proper dose adjustments.