Levothyroxine And Fainting (Top voted first)

I was a perfectly healthy 14 year old until I grew very tired and went to see a doctor. We got blood work done & my tsh level was 150 (very bad) so my endocrine put me on 88mcg of levo. Im a little over a month into taking it and I've become very short of breath, having trouble excersising and today I fainted. I felt really nauseous and within 1 minute I passed out. Has anyone else experienced this?? I don't think it's normal but I'm curious if or how they fixed it. thanks

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Greetings from Lys again re Levothyroxine. Over the years I experienced symptoms of nausea, being very shaky at times, especially after being in the gym, at times when I felt nervous, cold or excited and prior to doing events as a public speaker. I put this down to my body having too much adrenaline. I grew up in Swaziland, lived in South Africa, moved to Hong Kong and now find myself living in the USA. Since I live my life with Hashimoto Thyroiditis a condition that also is the core issue to Celiacs disease, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and among a host of other things Adrenal Fatigue. In South Africa and Hong Kong I used a Homeotoxicologist as my health practitioner. I saw one person who treated me on a wholistic level. Whole note not hole, as I was dealt with as a whole being. Relocating to the USA found that the only main form of treatment is Synthroid or thyroid medication in the Levothyroxine family. Interesting when collecting my Synthroid from my pharmacy it would include a flyer giving background information - including the fact that your doctor should treat you for adrenal issues first and foremost prior to starting the Synthroid should you have an adrenal problem. This is where the problem started for me. MD's would tell you that adrenal fatigue is all in the mind and that using homeopathic treatments are seen as quackery. I also discovered where I used to consult only one dr in South Africa and Hong Kong I would end up having to see a bunch of doctors to treat my Hashimoto condition. Seeing so many different doctors I found very frustrating is a lot of things would fall between the cracks as the team I had to deal with did not consult one another. I started to experience extreme bouts of nausea, dizzy spells also feeling as if I am nodding out - this was due to the impact of Synthroid on my adrenals.

After much struggle found an MD who also trained in functional and integrative medicine and who was ok with the fact that I am a very informed patient who choose to say I live with my condition and not suffer from it. My need is to be able to jointly deal with my doctor about my health condition and who would allow me to be active in deciding what is right for me and not. I choose the more natural way as the side effects of many medications suggested to me would have had me medicated out of my mind by now. By now my adrenals caused very low levels of cortisol - hence the shakiness and other symptoms. I discovered that Synthroid contains gluten and so too a lot of the generic forms of Levothyroxine. The only way I could avoid gluten, dairy and other ingredients like soy, corn etc was to have my T4 compounded at a compounding pharmacy. For my low cortisol levels I went onto a Physiological dose of Hydrocortisone ensuring to choose a gluten free brand. I now am introducing adaptogens like Ginseng, Rodiola and Ashwaganda and lowering the Hydrocortisone gradually as I am weaning off it. I now am also introducing a compounded T3 thyroid hormone which is the more active form of hormone that the thyroid, brain, kidneys, liver and other organs need. An option is to make use of Natural Thryoid Hormone like Armour or Nature Throid or any other type in that class. Due to the fact that they are all a combination of T3 and T4 find it works better for me to use the separately compounded T3 and T4 as I can adjust my dosage as is required by the outcome of my lab results. There again at times I may skip the T3 or even skip a day of T4 - I listen to my body and adjust accordingly. Do note that the use of T3 suppresses your TSH and Oh please do find a dr that looks beyond the TSH test and looks at your free T3 and free T4 levels - the optimum is to have your T3 around the middle of the upper quadrent of the lab reference range and your T4 around the middle of the second quadrant of the lab reference range. It is also important to test for your Reverse T3 so that you can be treated optimally with your Levothyroxine and a combination of other options like iodine or adaptogens.

Being dizzy and wanting to nod out could be that your Levo or Synthroid is causing adrenal issues which in turn causes a drop in your cortisol levels. I am not a doctor just and informed patient and I would discuss the symptoms you have with your doctor. But nausea, profuse sweating, dizzy spells, headaches, pressure behind eyes, body aches, low levels of energy and problems to sleep well and waking up around 2 or 4 am all point to adrenal issues. Some find they may crash around 10 am 3 pm early evening and or may struggle to sleep. In my case I found using 1 drop of a progesterone and estrogen product has helped me to no longer have the profuse episodes of sweating. I also drink my adrenal cocktail a few times during the day. I take a methelated form of B12 as I had myself tested for the MTHFR gene defect and found that I have 1 copy of the c677t defect and therefore should avoid anything that contains folic acid and rather use folate and once you know your MTHFR status you are able to streamline the forms of supplements you should or should not use. Testing for MTHFR is used as part of the thyroid panel of tests done by my current doctor. It is important to know the ingredients to your brand of Levothyroxine you use. Some contain dairy, gluten, talcum, corn and a host of other things that could cause inflammatory aspects in the body. That is what happened to me.

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I just wanted to add that on NIH.gov, they do list the following side effects to be associated with Levothyroxine:

shortness of breath
irregular breathing
extreme fatigue
fainting
nausea
sweating
...among many others

Ref: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0045910/#DDIC602749.side_effects_section

The drug monograph goes on to note that you should contact your doctor in the event that you do experience such symptoms while taking Levothyroxine, as they may require immediate medical attention (in some rare cases I presume). However, I'm not sure how anyone would get ahold of their doctor if they fainted or could barely breathe... Hopefully that doctor isn't on vacation either *knock on wood*.

But I do like Liys' (post #3) natural approach to boosting adrenal/cortisol levels. I would be interested in hearing if anyone else has had success with it as well!?

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Sami, you will be fine when you get the right dose. Too little synthroid makes you tired ... Too much of a dose makes you jittery, headache, hyper and feeling lousy. You have to tell the doctor right away if you don't feel normal, and he will have to adjust the strength of medication. You have to go by how you feel step by step and eventually you will get it right. I went through all of this while adjusting synthroid. Speak up. You will be o.k.

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Sami, you will be fine. Thyroid are bothersome until you get the dose right. Too little, you will feel tired. Too much, you will feel jittery in the chest, shakes, headache and feel lousy. You have to tell the doctor if you don't feel "normal" and he will adjust the dose. Speak up until you feel just right. I have been on synthroid many years and have been adjusted many times. Try to get the "brand" instead of the generic.

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I have been on synthroid/ levothyroxine for 19 years due to Hashimito's hypothyroidism. My endo tweaks my dosage every 6 months based on labs. It has only been the last 2 years or so that I've noticed extreme tiredness / feeling faint in the morning after taking my meds. To test the theory, I've started taking my dose two hours after eating and right before bed. It is working for me and endo agreed it is ok and safer this way. Might be worth a try? Good luck.

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Based on my own personal experience of being on Levothyroxine for 2.5 years I consider it to be a bad drug which should be recalled from the "market'. Get on Armour thyroxine as fast as you can. I just cannot believe they are still selling this Levo junk to poor suffering people. Don't they read the internet complaints, there are thousands of them. The people who are suffering on this drug are not a minority, they are the majority.

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This may be putting two and two together and getting five… but… I too was normal on Levo up until Jan 2013 then something happened. My Levo manufacturer (Forest) stopped making it and I had to change to a different Levo drug. I had 2.5 years from Jan 2013) of horrible symptoms. I just could not take it any more, I thought I was near death. I was desperate and went to the insurance office of my HMO and demanded a different Endo and a change to Armour Thyroid. This change cleared up all of the debilitating symptoms that I had and which I read here, and I am now normal. I suggest most of the people posting here make such a change.

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I've been on 100mcg once daily and never experienced any side effects at all that I've noticed except sweating profusely so if I was you I'd consult your doctor or pharmacist and explain to them what you're experiencing an let them know if it's anything to do with the levo or not. Hope you can get some answers and feel better

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Yes. I experienced the same thing. I went off it (after discussing it w/Dr). It took several months for the bad feelings to go away and to quit passing out.

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I had the same thing happen. I fainted several times. It got so bad I pulled the TV (big) off on top of me due to fainting. I quit taking it. After a few months I got back to feeling normal. No fainting since. Of course I talked with my doc about it before I quit taking it.

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I would get back to your doctor without delay. It sounds as if you are severely under-medicated. Your TSH was screaming for T4 but you are taking a minimal dose. But to understand the doctor's point of view, it's better to start low and go slow than give you too much to begin with - that reaction is worse.

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A Book titled " Thyroid Power" by Dr. Richard and Karilee Shames. I have Hashimoto's and take Armour and support my adrenal glands with supplements and diet. This book has been a great resource for me!

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Ann--Can I hear more about how you've been dealing with this?

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This will happen if you are taking too high of a dose. See your doctor and have lab work done.

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Ok so has anyone experienced this... I had my thyroid removed my levels have always been slightly high this last time she increased my meds about three months ago this week my levels are extremely low so now we've changed my meds agains today I had a flutter in my heart probably irregular heartbeat and felt like I was going to pass out.

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Holy that's exactly what I do.. but I started 4 years ago and have been on synthroid for 15 to 20 years

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Find a doctor who will put you on natural thyroid hormones. Go buy volume 1 and 2 of STOP THE THYROID MADNESS and learn what levothyroxine and synthroid does to the body. Then find a doctor who will give you a prescription for a natural thyroid such as Naturethroid. You are sick because your body is not getting everything that your own thyroid was giving you.

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Re: Connie (# 16)

Hey check out my thyroid last February of 2017 I've been on 200 mg just started feeling dizzy today

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With me it was.adrenals low Cortisol and potassium

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Please go and see a good endocrinologist or someone who know the TSH etc some surgeons do know well the functions of thyroid everyone is different no one person is same I suggest found one good doctor who you can trust and tell him and do some tests and avoid those up and down I use 150 thyroxine daily plus 200 on weekends because I have no thyroid because of cancer my case is different I do not recommend asking others this and that see a good endocrinologist who really know the system and do some tests and take it from there that is what I do in my case and it is wise move no ask others everyone is totally different

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