Levothyroxine And Ringing In The Ears (Top voted first)

I was recently diagnosed with Hypothyroidism after having my thyroid tested and my TSH was 5.9. I have been taking Levothyroxine since the end of June. The middle of July I started having non-stop ringing in my ears and still continues. I also have experienced severe hair loss and cannot put weight ON. Is it okay to stop taking Levo to see if the ringing in my ears stop? I really don't want to be on this medication, but don't want to cause additional issues as I'm getting married soon. Appreciate any sound advice.

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Thank you very much for your feedback. I agree that diet has a lot to do with our overall health and well-being. I am on a very strict diet eliminating gluten, wheat, dairy, soy, and sugar. My diet is helping my gut but very difficult to put the weight on. I am going to cut back on the thyroid medication to wean myself off versus going cold turkey. My Endocrinologist was no help when I told him of the ringing in my ears and didn't seem to care much what I was experiencing. I guess I'm at the point where I have to self-diagnose and treat accordingly.

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My personal experience was that yes, I got ringing in the ears and a frightening swishing sound in my head. I have no thyroid due to thyroidectomy after Th cancer. The noise was slight at first but then as my doc reduced my Levo because my TSH was too low (which was a total stupid, uninformed conclusion), the ringing and swishing became louder and louder. When she dropped my dose to 100mcg Levo (from 130) I thought I was going to die, I could hardly think due to the white noise in my head. I went round to different doctors until I found one who would give me an NDT (Armour Thyroid to be specific). Within 1/2 hour of taking my first dose, the noise had abated 95%. It took just 1/2 hour to fix 2 1/2 years of being kept ill by incorrect dosage of a crappy drug, Levothyroxine. I do still have a faint ringing which, after strenuous exercise, disappears altogether. Not sure what causes that phenomena - but it holds clues to the ear ringing.
I think it is basically dose and the amount of T3 you have in your blood. If you have too little t4 (regardless of TSH) you do not have enough available to make optimal quantity of T3. If you have low T3, you will feel ill. If you cannot convert T4 to T3 then make sure you are on an NDT because you will get it from the pill in a decent proportion. Don't trust a doctor who cannot even get your T4 right to give you T3 in the correct proportion. Switch to NDT as soon as you can.

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Hi Bella,

Sorry to hear about your experience on Levothyroxine... I've heard a lot of stories about some of the severe side effects that people reported during treatment and I know if it were me in this position, I'd stop taking it as well after informing the doctor. However, the possibility of withdrawal symptoms may also be something to take into consideration, whereas tapering off may be appropriate...but then again everyone responds differently, so I don't know if tapering is "always" recommended or not (taking post #1 into account). Perhaps that's something you and your doctor can determine if you felt it was necessary.

I just think it's important to follow your gut instinct/intuition when it comes to deciding if Levothyroxine is right for you. Personally, I discovered various types of foods that are known to exhibit thyroid boosting effects (e.g. Brazil nuts, macadamia nuts & hazelnuts - due to their high selenium content; all types of fruits except citrus fruits; seaweed / spirulina - due to higher iodine content; beans, etc...). Also it is equally important to avoid foods that can hinder thyroid performance, such as various cruciferous vegetables like kale and cabbage. There's a lot more research that goes into this, but I just wanted to share a few examples.

I hope this helps!

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Re: Elizabeth (# 8)

I was on Armour for 25 years for Hashimoto's disease. I went in for my yearly level check and came out with low TSH level "outside the norm" but all other levels normal and I was experiencing no symptoms. In fact I had been feeling rather really well. Didn't matter to the new doctor who said tests don't lie and she considered me to be Hyperthyroid even though there were not symptoms to indicate that I was Hyperthyroid. She refuses to prescribe Armour and instead switched me to Levothyroxine at which time she dropped the dosage "to bring the TSH level back into line." I started getting ringing in the ears on day 2. It is constant. I described this to her in an email and named it as my number 2 problem when I saw this specialist for one month check up. (#1 being brain fog) She dismissed my reports of the number of hypothyroid symptoms that have redeveloped. Dismissed ringing in the ears as "must be caused by something else and it was just a coincidence it started when I took the new medication". Dismissed feeling cold and increased brain fog as a "nocebo" saying that I expect to feel lousy since they changed the medication I have taken for 25 years. I have been prowling the internet to find out if there is a link. The tinnitus pages do show a correlation between ringing in the ears and low thyroid. The thyroid pages have people saying it's medication related. I just know my experience and whether my levels dropped with the change and so low thyroid is causing the ringing or whether it is the medication change to Levothyroxine, I don't know but I do know it's real and it's not a symptom or side effect I want to live with!

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This is purely, purely anecdotal but perhaps if a researcher is reading this it might mean something. I reported before that I now have a slight residual ringing in my ears. I have noticed, and have repeated this experiment with the same results, that if I have a ridiculously hot spicy meal (with lots of garlic) and drink a large glass of strong red wine, then the ringing disappears - until the next morning when it comes back.
One of the spices (or the wine) fixes it - I don't know which one yet, but I will try to find out and report back.

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Are you still doing well on the Armor? I developed tinnitus after my TT and to this day ring 24/7. I have tried all levels of Synthroid trying to calm it to no avail.

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The ringing in your ears is probably due to the wrong dose of Levo and probably due to your being under medicated.
It is very difficult to get your doc to medicate you to "symptoms", they just want to medicate you to "TSH". That will guarantee that you will be under medicated.
There is another possibility for ear ringing, that is that your medication has increased your blood pressure, that's what it did to me and I had to reduce my BP in order to reduce the ringing in my ears. I did actually increase my Thyroid Meds at the same time so I cannot tell you which had the most effect.

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I have been on thyroxine for 7 years and never felt better, always had headaches, brain fog, and extreme tierdness so I went cold turkey three months ago and have never felt better, not totally back to normal but alot better. I have energy to go to the gym and do circuit training. Three days ago I decided to take my thyroxine dose and can say that by day three and I am feeling like crap, tierd, achy, brain attention loss, so I have decided to stay off it. Having said that, since i have been off it i have been taking maca powder mixed in yoghurt which helps balance hormone inbalance, worth looking into and trying for yourself. Any questions you can email me {edited for privacy}. I will be happy to help or just give support.

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Hi Bella,
I have had the exact same issue. Started Synthroid and 10 days later woke up with ringing in my ears. I immediately stopped the meds. I was feeling way worse on them than better. Still have the ringing and 4 doctors swear it’s not the meds! I’m at my wits end. Wish I never touched the meds to begin with. How have you been dealing with your tinnitus?

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Part 2
Karen.Aug 20th.
I said how I went away for a week and forgot my meds.only to find out I felt good.
Well Sept 18th.not gone back on meds.feel good.not as many headache's.most of ears ringing has gone.slight tiredness pm.but I feel so much better.
My doctor has not noticed I have not been for my repeat prescription.ive no reason to go.(I did try to go for advice)
I cant get appointment .always full.
But that's todays NHS I suppose.
Bella.where are you.not UK.sounds like you got a good health service.id advise you to look into stoping meds.
I cant see any problems at min.but I'm probably causing more thyroid problems for myself.but
I feel good at min.
All the best to all with meds/thyroid problems

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I got ringing in my ears, I worried a lot, I have not tested my thyroid prblm...but can thyroid treatment can cure my ringing in the ears....? Sorry for my English...

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My advice to you is to learn about natural thyroid meds. Firstly, your TSH is too high. That is why you are having problems. There are several natural thyroid hormone meds. One thing that you should start with is a book called STOP THE THYROID MADNESS VOLUME 1 AND 2. After reading it you will never look at synthetic medicine again. Most doctors were taught that in school and refuse to change dispersing methods even though it is keeping people sick. Do yourself a favor.

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Re: LAHs (# 5)

As for Armour Thyroid, I switched from Levothyroxine to Armour, and thought I would die. The ringing I had turned into cymbals crashing, I had the shakes, I was hot in a strange internal way, sweating like a cartoon, and felt burning in my muscles. Everyone reacts differently.

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I have ringing in ear. But did not know it was from my Levothroxine. My DOCTER just up my dosage
To 100 MG From 50 That’s when my ears started ringing noise. Been going on line and trying
All these so called cures. But nothing helped and very expensive. I am going to lower and break
The pills in half.

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All severe ototoxic drugs such as Levothroxine should be banned IMO, as I have permanent ear damage from one such drug and its driving me insane! The benefits from drugs (if they exist) sometimes does NOT outweigh the risks. In most cases the efficacy isn't worth the damage they can do.

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I have been on levothyroxin for a good while now.i just had a week away and forgot my pills.BUT I feel good.i don't feel as tired I have less headaches.less noise/ringing ear noises.and basically feel better without my pills
I don't think my doc will be happy but.do I really need them..IM gonna see what happens.

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I have also stoped taking levo. I lost 6 lbs in 6 months & I don't want to lose weight, my pants were falling off me, I'm 54 I didn't think there was much difference but I'm now more lethargic, my brother told me I can't stop this med, it's also impossible to see the Doc who put me on this

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Have been on Levothyroxine 75mg. for several years and been bothered with izzyness, when standing and moving around and bothers my eye sight. Can I stop taking this medication?

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I am taking Eutroxsig 75mcg and my TSH went up to 15, so the Dr increased my dose to 100mcg. I developed severe heart palpitations and went to ER one night. Did the usual heart EGG etc and blood tests, said it was ectopic beats and I was ok. So I read on a fb page where a woman had bad palps on Levo. I checked on the list of side effects and sure enough, this was one of them. So I dropped my dose and the palps decreased markedly. I told the Dr, and he said “unlikely to be the tabs.” He won't do a T3, said he never ordered one! I think this form of thyroxine is faulty. It is generic, and I know lots of generic drugs are not the same. Where is it made? Has anyone else experienced heart palpitations whilst taking this tablet?

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I wonder if generic thyroxine is as good as the brand name? I have read that drugs like thyroxine and epilepsy drugs have a narrow therapeutic index and generics only need to be within a 10% blood concentration of the correct dose and they are passed by the drug regulators of the country. This 10% is a big margin if you are titrating a thyroid dose. Just a thought.

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