Thyroxine side effects. Twitching calf muscles

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I have been on 125mg of Thyroxine for the last 11 years. In the last 6 months I have been having twitching calf muscles and hypersensitivity of the nerves and skin in my arms and legs. The doctors say I'm stressed or just anxious orthat it is trapped nerves and they have ignored it. Yesterday in desperation I halved my dose of thyroxine and the twitching has stopped despite the GP saying my levels of thyroxine are ok.

Has anyone else had this side effect with thyroxine or am I just clutching at straws? Any help would be appreciated.

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3 Replies

  • Posted

    Hi. I too have twitching calf muscles. Had it for over 7 years now. I take 125 mcg of thyroxine too, but the twitching started before the thyroxine was first taken. Ask your GP to refer you to a Neurologist. My twitching is caused by a prolapsed disc in the lower back which presses on a nerve. I take 600mg of Gabapentin for pain relief at night but put up with the twitching and back pain during the day as Gabapentin is deadly stuff which fogs my brain and makes independent living very difficult . I am a pensioner and live alone. Take my advice and get help from a Neurologist. Stand up to your GP and demand a second opinion...it is your right to ask for this.
  • Posted

    Many thanks for the advice Sylvia. I did pay to see a specialist neurologist. He ruled out any serious conditions ( motor neurone etc) and suggested trapped nerves but I get these twitching nerves in the arms as well. I find it difficult to think I have a trapped nerve which affects all 4 limbs. I'll see how my reduced Thyroxine carries on and see if the twitching recedes, then it's back to the Gp.

    Sorry to hear that the back pain has such a debilitating effect on you. Did you see the BBC health programme "Trust me I'm a doctor" 2 weeks ago? They are testing antibiotics on people with serious back pain after spectacular results abroad. The presenter said that if he had serious back pain, he would volunteer for the trial. May be worth considering.

  • Posted

    Hi girls I have had the same symptoms as you but have also felt a wee bit tired and twitches in both hands which sometimes cause me to drop things. I had a routine blood test and they found I had an under active thyroid. They put me on thyroxine but the symptoms still continued. My G.P then decided to check my calcium levels and low and behold they came back low. Today I started Adcal but have to routine in 3 weeks for another blood test. Heres the thing my G.P wanted to know what causing the low levels of calcium and has decided to test me for a rare condition called Hypoparathyroidsm. This clicks into my thyroid levels being under and spasms, twitches sometimes confusion etc was wondering if uz to could have the same condition. Its maybe worth a look into xxx

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