Levothyroxine Side Effects (Page 5)
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I was recently diagnosed with an underactive thyroid. I have been taking levothyroxine for almost two weeks. For the last four or five days I have had a weird feeling. It is hard to explain. I don't really feel dizzy but I get a strange feeling in my head. I guess you would describe it as a head rush. Has anyone else had this feeling and will it go away as my body adjusts to the levothyroxine?

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I am on 112mcg and have experienced the same thing in my right eye. I would best describe it as a weight on my eye, irritation and a feeling as if the right eye lags and takes a second to catch up to whatever I'm focusing on. I went to the eye doc and she said that any thyroid issue could effect the eyes slightly won't help. I am going to start taking eye vitamins which I just bought on amazon and will update if you are interested.

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I get that to dizzy and now I'm itchy around my eyes and under my chin I've been on this for years and years I just wonder if they need to switch my med

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I just stopped taking my 50mcg of levothyroxine that I'd been on for nearly 7 years. My joints started hurting after about 6 years of taking it without noticeable side effects. It got to the point that I was about to apply for disability - after x-rays, MRIs, physical therapy, stretching, heat, etc. However, my joints still hurt after a couple of weeks without taking it. It may take longer for some than for others. I'm going to give it a couple of months to see if the joint pain goes away. After that, I'll decide whether to try the Armour desiccated thyroid after I read all about it.

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Urban I sure hope someone took you off this medicine!! That is an allergic reaction! You must read the warnings before you start taking any medications so you know what one is. The first bad reaction to taking any medication even over the counter is what you are experiencing with mouth, tongue, lips, cheeks, and throat. I have had it happen on a Sulfa antibiotic and it was scary as all get out and I was 19 yrs old. The thing is though I had always went to the doctors with my mom and I would hear my Mom talk about her allergy to Sulfa and Valium and those were what happened to her she would advice the Doctor. So that was in my mind when It happened to me!
Thank God so when I first noticed it I called Doctor, went in to ER, and had already stopped taking the medicine. Then just about 10 years ago the same thing happened on long term 6 weeks into it with Naproxen, a anti-inflammatory for RA. It was even worse with my gums swelling and bleeding when I woke up out of the blue, 6 weeks into taking the medicine and then went on to find out the stomach pains was my stomach raw. It looked like a piece of raw meat after the test where they look down there and it had been hurting me and I had been eating yogurt with it, or something as it said on the bottle. But I missed the part where it says contact your doctor immediately if it bothers your stomach A LOT I guess. But I hate to go crying to the doctor at every turn, and I should have, and I was stupid not to as I ended up off work for some 2 months for it to heal. And I thought the lips, tongue, gums, swelling and bleeding was bad enough with it and it could have stopped my breathing in my sleep. Medications are bad news and its a good idea to always tell someone close to you if you are taking a new one so they will know what is up. I keep all my medications together in a plastic container and a list of what and when I take them in a toss away notebook I write each date, time, dose in each day.

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I have been taking only 50 mcg of levothyroxine for about 7 years. One year ago - that's 6 years after I started taking it - I began to get hip and knee joint/tendon pains out of the blue. I had no idea that this could be a side effect of levothyroxine since I'd been taking it so long. This week - mid-October 2015 - I am stopping taking it. I recently wasn't able to get my meds for 2 weeks. During that time, my joints felt better. As soon as I started taking lvthxne again, the joints hurt so horribly I couldn't walk. Two days later, after stopping taking it, my joints are close to normal feeling. The physician in charge of me never once looked up the side effects of the two common drugs she prescribed even when I complained for months. Older women- who are the main ones who get low thyroid and tiredness from it - seem to be held in low respect as far as intelligence. Please do not accept this treatment from your physician. They just hate when you look things up on the internet (which i can understand if you are someone who doesn't understand how to do scientific research) however, they sit there in the consult room and do exactly the same thing on the internet while speaking to you, because they believe their training has provided them with superior access to facts. Fortunately, those of us who understand are also able to access that information and make our own self-diagnoses with success.

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If u are on levo u van look forward to weight gain I games 25 in 6 months know another who gained 100 over a year get off levo bad stuff also messes with heat beat

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My insurance did not cover armour cost me 21 aonth would rather pay than die on levo also if ur Dr tells ur insurance co u have side effects on levo they might pay for armour

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Levothyroxine is toxic junk and should be pulled from the market. There are hundreds if not thousands of people reporting terrible side effects after being put on this drug. But do you know who else has hypothyroidism? Hillary Clinton! Do you think she takes Levothyroxine? Of course not. She was prescribed NDT, Natural Desiccated Thyroxine (Armour to be exact). I think you should all go back to your doctors and tell him/her that you want NDT, if it's good enough for Hillary then it's good enough for you.

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Ive been of thyroxine I hated it havnt told doctor I reckon im still withdrawing from it,, constipation hair loss,,, tummy pains horrific,,, etc,,,, foggy head Im hoping im doing the right thing knocking off cold turkey its just an experiment....

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This is horrendous! Your dose is probably somewhere in the middle of the dose you are being offered. You do not have to take one standard pill, let's say that there is a standard pill at 125mcg which makes you sleepy but the next one up is 137mcg but that makes you hyper (palpitations etc), you can get any dose in between by mixing these two values. I used to take 130mcg by taking 125 except for two days a week when I took 150s which rounded down to 130mcg which was perfect.
Please try this out with your doc, it sounds as if you are in-between standard doses and s/he should be able to work this out. If s/he can't you should look for another doctor because this is pretty basic.

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That should read "a bit hard" Oooooops!

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My TSH is 5.1 and T4 is normal at 12.8 but I'm overweight and suffer with constipation and cold feet so my doctor has put me on 25 levo. Been on it just over a week, got a stiff neck and a lump in my throat, hungrier but as yet no weight gain. I'm worried about hair loss and weight gain, I'm in the UK so not sure if I can get NDT ? Any help is appreciated , will ask for my T3 to be tested too

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Hi Nick, I agree with your observations. I think the problem is that most doctors are medicating to TSH instead of the patient's symptoms. I have had two types of doctors. One let me self adjust and we found that 130mcg was perfect for me (on a synthetic). When that doctor retired my next doctor was so shocked that my TSH was almost imperceptible that she kept lowering my dose until she almost killed me! I then managed to get on Armour Thyroid an NDT so that I can do an end run around my doctor's inability to get my dose right. (Oh, and of course, I changed doctors - that's very important if you are feeling ill, it's not your fault it's your doctor's ignorance of the topic). And you must read, read and read some more, it's a big hard at first but slowly you begin to understand your condition.

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My tsh was 5.5 but my gp treated the symptoms which were horrendous I am now on ndt feeling really well fight for treatment

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I have just had a second thyroid blood test which shows 5.7. My GP says I don't need medication for it but after discussing with other people they are surprised at this. I had previously been given Thyroxine by a locum at the surgery but my own GP insists I don't need medication. I had to stop taking the Thyroxine as they made me feel quite strange and I experienced a number of side effects during the short time I took them. My GP has asked that I return to the surgery for repeat blood tests for Thyroid in 6 months' time. Is a 5.7 reading high and do I need medication for it?

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I agree with your suggested test - although a month may be too long. I too had terrible arthritis a couple of months into taking Levothyroxine and, like you, I felt that I would soon be totally disabled if I continued with that medication. I had one desperate month when I felt that if I did not change things right away I would no longer have the energy to even drive to the doctor's office yet alone tell him yet again that there was something terribly wrong with LevThx! Even now, when I am fit again, I cannot bear to think about it. I limped to the insurance office of the HMO and demanded proper care since I was paying them (actually, my insurance premiums were not the major objective). Then I had to closest thing to "divine intervention" that I have ever had. The lady in the insurance office had had the exact same problem! She immediately phoned her doctor and got me an appointment! I was put on Armour thyroid immediately and most of my debilitating symptoms disappeared within half an hour. HALF AN HOUR after two years of terrible suffering!
Look, you need T3 as well as T4. Either you are able to convert this for yourself (in the liver with all the catalysts present - you will have to get those measured) or you must take T3 via cytomel or get on Armour which will provide T4, T3, T2 and T1 (and probably T0).
Also, write to the FDA and tell them what Levothyroxine is doing to you, if no one tells them they will just let this drug company and uninformed doctors keep doing the same stupid thing - generating terrible health in you and then putting you on other drugs to "cure" arthritis, high blood pressure, insomnia, depression and chronic fatigue.
Change doctors if you have to and keep changing them until you find an intelligent one who has read more than one book on the endocrinology system and who isn't a slave to the ATA, which is where this mono therapy of T4 only has its origins.

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The only way to know is to stop taking it for at least a month. I had taken levothyroxine for over two years and the pain and stiffness slowly got worse over time. I was not on any other med and it took at least two weeks for the symptoms to get slightly better. At 3-5 months without levo I still had minor stiffness but pain was gone. At about 6 months I tried taking levo again just to see what would happen. After about 5 days of levo soreness returned so I stopped taking it. Right now I have been off levo for 18 months and am able to throw a ball with no pain, but 6 months ago throwing was still uncomfortable to do. My worst joint was my right shoulder. I couldn't touch my left shoulder with my right hand when I was on levo and I thought I was becimg cripple with arthritis. The dr that prescribed the levo referred me to a rheumatoid arthritis specialist after bloodwork showed inflammation. I then researched side effects of levo online and found others with joint pain and stiffness. I was losing use of my right arm. I believe if I was still taking levo I would be disabled now. I was initially prescribed levo for under active thyroid after a blood test. I felt fine but took the levo anyway. I liked taking it because it helped me lose ten pounds the first year. Levothyroxine almost destroyed my life.

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Not feeling well on this med. started having allergic reactions. Got allergy testing n it was all negative. Waiting on blood work. Tongue n lips go numb. Starting to think its the med since was tested for cats, nuts n mites. Everything was fine. Stopping taking it to see iff i get better.

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I have taken levothyroxine since I was 9 or 10 I'm now almost 22. For the past few years my hair has started to fall out terribly sometimes but not always I feel so exhausted all the time and lately the pain in my shoulder is worse I thought maybe it was due to the car accident I was in a few years ago but now the pain in my knees and legs and wrist is worsening I can barely walk the past few days the pain is so bad. Should I be concerned its related to levothyroxine??

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My answer to all of these problems was to get off this toxic junk and switch to Armour Thyroid!
I had all of the problems you are discussing for 2 1/2 years. Within half an hour of taking my first Armour pill 80% of my problems went away, then 95% when I got to full dose. Do not take Levothyroxine!

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