Thyroid out of whack!

Nurses General Nursing

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Hi everyone. I'd just like to get some information about hypothyroidism. My TSH level was 301. I guess that's pretty high-it freaked my doctor out. I am currently on 200mcg of synthroid daily. I take it in the morning on an empty stomach like I was told to, rarely skip doses, and I still feel like crap. I've always been a little bit overweight, but now I just FEEL like a stuffed pig. My hair is thin and brittle still, nails the same way. My face is puffy and I cannot stand the cold weather-it's like it "hurts" to be in the cold for any length of time. I've been on the med. for five years and I still can't take any weight off and I still have all the symptoms. My TSH goes up and down like crazy. If I do miss a dose, I can feel it. My energy level is sky high for a day or two, then the next day I can hardly get up. Does anyone have any suggestions about any natural thyroid enhancing vitamins or anything to comment on about this? Thank you

Charnell

Funny this thread should come up this morning. I was talking to my best friend last night and we got on the subject of her thyroid problem (she is a Hashi's patient)... LONG story but she has gotten no where with any doctor she has seen. She is excited because she has an appt with a new doctor... get this... he is peds/adolescent endo that has agreed to see her because she can not find any good endos in the area... She has heard he is pretty good.

We joke around about how hard it is to find good docs period these days. I searched for 3 years for a good orthopod for my knee and sadly probably had two unnecessary surgeries in the process of finding my wonderful doctor... so I keep telling her it is her turn to find her doctor! Now if I could just find one that can figure out a way to help me get my hypoglycemia in check without putting me on a diet that I end up with kidney stones from I would be a happy person! LOL

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fyi : Soy products can block thyroid function... Are you eating a lot of soy?

Good luck with the endo.

Good point!!

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Funny this thread should come up this morning. I was talking to my best friend last night and we got on the subject of her thyroid problem (she is a Hashi's patient)... LONG story but she has gotten no where with any doctor she has seen. She is excited because she has an appt with a new doctor... get this... he is peds/adolescent endo that has agreed to see her because she can not find any good endos in the area... She has heard he is pretty good.

We joke around about how hard it is to find good docs period these days. I searched for 3 years for a good orthopod for my knee and sadly probably had two unnecessary surgeries in the process of finding my wonderful doctor... so I keep telling her it is her turn to find her doctor! Now if I could just find one that can figure out a way to help me get my hypoglycemia in check without putting me on a diet that I end up with kidney stones from I would be a happy person! LOL

Kidney failure vs. kidney stones.... excuse me, I'm thinking.....

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Kidney failure vs. kidney stones.... excuse me, I'm thinking.....

Well... when the diet really wasnt working and I was still having dips into the upper 40s after eating an "approved meal".... then ended up with the stones a couple of times it seems to be it was an easy decision. Maybe if everything had been working... anyone that has ever had stones knows that it is NOT a fun thing... I have been through 6 reconstructive knee surgeries, etc and lets just say that the stones by far won the pain contest!

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

i've been surgically hypothyroid for over 30 years due to complete thyroidectomy and radiation therapy following diagnosis of cancer. something just doesn't sound right about the symptoms you are describing. if you miss a dose it should take a couple weeks to feel the effects, not a few days. if you are taking the generics, that may be the problem. some people have to take the brand name synthyroid or they have some problems with allergic kind of reactions to whatever they use to compound the generic tablets. the long term effects of hypothyroidism include dryness of the skin and brittle nails. even though you are receiving synthyroid, it is not the total equivalent of the body's manufacture of t3 and t4. after 30 years i can tell you that my teeth have become brittle as well and i tend to get skin problems really easy. there is a syndrome of symptoms that occurs in long term thyroid replacement patients. it includes skin problems. i've never felt that i had a problem with the cold, but i've noticed that when i have even the smallest fever i start chilling and feeling cold. i've felt like crap when my tsh levels were still high or when they were normal. it may have been because i was using generics. i never kept track of it because it was all so subtle that i never complained to my doctors about it. you don't want to go to the other side which is being hyperthyroid. that's just bad. i've been truly hypothyroid twice in order to have body scans done following the radiation therapy and it took every ounce of energy i could find to get out of bed and get moving.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
i've been surgically hypothyroid for over 30 years due to complete thyroidectomy and radiation therapy following diagnosis of cancer. something just doesn't sound right about the symptoms you are describing. if you miss a dose it should take a couple weeks to feel the effects, not a few days.
exactly. thyroid hormone replacements such as synthroid tend to have very long half-lives and linger in the body long after the person has taken the last dose. even the synthetic stuff has a half-life of 7 days, meaning that one or two skipped doses should not cause any noticeable effects. even a week of skipped doses of synthroid wouldn't produce many symptoms because the half-life is so long.
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Well... when the diet really wasnt working and I was still having dips into the upper 40s after eating an "approved meal".... then ended up with the stones a couple of times it seems to be it was an easy decision. Maybe if everything had been working... anyone that has ever had stones knows that it is NOT a fun thing... I have been through 6 reconstructive knee surgeries, etc and lets just say that the stones by far won the pain contest!

Sounds like a high protein, low carb, GI diet. Isn't it best just to work with the Glucose levels vs. fighting them? Instead of low carb/high protein, what about extra protein?

Maybe this is overly simplistic (could well be, I'm not calling this fact, just thinking outloud ... on line) but what about peanutbutter and crackers every couple of hours? Keep the carbs and the protein in check, keep the meals small, quick, and convenient with lots of very small but workable snacks?

I had kidney stones once and for me it was due to uric acid. I actually started drinking ... WATER! LOL I could literally go for weeks and never would a drop of water pass my lips. It was Diet Coke only. It only took one episode of kidney stones and I quickly learned to drink water and a lot of it.

If you must stay on a low carb/high protein diet, can you at least monitor your uric acid levels and maybe combat it with a little Allopurinal?

BTW... my last post... I didn't mean that to sound exactly as it ended up sounding. My humor was not showing but instead sarcasm came through loud and clear. That really isn't how I intended that to sound. Last night it sounded funny, honest!!!

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i've been surgically hypothyroid for over 30 years due to complete thyroidectomy and radiation therapy following diagnosis of cancer. something just doesn't sound right about the symptoms you are describing. if you miss a dose it should take a couple weeks to feel the effects, not a few days. if you are taking the generics, that may be the problem. some people have to take the brand name synthyroid or they have some problems with allergic kind of reactions to whatever they use to compound the generic tablets. the long term effects of hypothyroidism include dryness of the skin and brittle nails. even though you are receiving synthyroid, it is not the total equivalent of the body's manufacture of t3 and t4. after 30 years i can tell you that my teeth have become brittle as well and i tend to get skin problems really easy. there is a syndrome of symptoms that occurs in long term thyroid replacement patients. it includes skin problems. i've never felt that i had a problem with the cold, but i've noticed that when i have even the smallest fever i start chilling and feeling cold. i've felt like crap when my tsh levels were still high or when they were normal. it may have been because i was using generics. i never kept track of it because it was all so subtle that i never complained to my doctors about it. you don't want to go to the other side which is being hyperthyroid. that's just bad. i've been truly hypothyroid twice in order to have body scans done following the radiation therapy and it took every ounce of energy i could find to get out of bed and get moving.

question... have you ever taken anything with both t3 and t4 in it such as thyrolar? i was on 360mcg of levothyroxine qd (both synthroid and levoxyl) and it didn't touch my tsh. i just don't respond to that drug. so now i'm taking cytomel. normal dose is supposedly around 50-100mcg/day and i'm taking 200mcg twice daily and it is hardly touching my tsh.

the about.com ladies suggested i talk to my doc about thyrolar and after their explaination, it made a lot of sense. you can take in t3 but that doesn't mean your body will convert it to t4 (or maybe that is the other way around, i always get t3 and t4 mixed up) so if you take both t3 and t4, it makes a huge difference for some folks.

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Ohhhh do I feel your pain. I truly wish that I could go back to the days before I had thyroid probs. I am VERY cold sensitive in the winter ...AND very heat sensitive in the summer (even more so). It is a rare moment when I don't notice my body struggling to either cool or heat itself back to normal. It's awful. Ditto on the brittle hair/nails/skin thing too. And I am also guilty of the occasional missed dose and wow do I feel it. GROUCHY is my #1 signal (pharm instructor explained this one to me). Someday when I am not a student nurse and have good insurance, I will be glad to see an endocrinologist and straighten myself out. Until then, I am just "holding up"...that is how it feels.

Please let me know if you find anything that works for you. I would LOVE to know in the meanwhile, as my insurance won't allow me to see an endocrinologist and my regular doctor doesn't take my thyroid issues seriously. :(

~J

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I was a pharm teacher and one missed dose means... nada. Nothing. It doesn't matter. It's the type of drug and how it works. One missed dose is absolutely nothing. Your body CAN'T know the difference.

The mind is an amazing thing.

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Exactly. Thyroid hormone replacements such as Synthroid tend to have very long half-lives and linger in the body long after the person has taken the last dose. Even the synthetic stuff has a half-life of 7 days, meaning that one or two skipped doses should not cause any noticeable effects. Even a week of skipped doses of Synthroid wouldn't produce many symptoms because the half-life is so long.

Thank you. As I wrote in a PM you are quite correct. One missed dose CANNOT be noticed simply by the way the drug works. It isn't possible. More pharmacology and folks would understand why this CANNOT make a difference.

You are on the money, thank you for setting the record straight!

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Thank you. As I wrote in a PM you are quite correct. One missed dose CANNOT be noticed simply by the way the drug works. It isn't possible. More pharmacology and folks would understand why this CANNOT make a difference.

You are on the money, thank you for setting the record straight!

And thanks for acknowledging that I'm right 'on the money'. ;)
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