Levothyroxine Side Effects (Page 5) (Top voted first)

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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age 50 had cancer and a total thyroid removed 26 yrs ago. Synthroid meds 225 combination of two pills. All other meds. Generics lower my tsh. My total tests come out to 2.0 Need to be at 1.0. This is thyroid tests. Weight is out of this world for my frame size. I use to be very petite. Persons that have not seen me in a long time. Think i like to eat alot. Not so. Comment can be hurtful but what the heck I'm still here. Hubby, grown adults kids (four) one grandchild etc. Keep your heads up. the brain buzz goes away. think positive. Walk, talk to good friends. Family first.

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hi, i recently had a total thyroidectomy sept 29 this yr, and have to take levothyroxin sodium every day... my dosage has been upped to 200 a day now and i seem to be ok on it... i regularly have bloods done to check it as i do also for my calcium levels... i did feel dizzy in the begining but not for long...i used to get tingling and numbing in my face and fingers but apparently that was due to my calcium levels being too low, but im ok now thanks to calcium (sandocal 400) on a daily basis. .ive started having is palpataions and an anxiety rush, they dont last long but i do have more energy and can cope with more during the day than i could b4 the op.... i find walking helps me to cope with any extra energy , but i dont feel tired like i used to which is brill as i always felt tired and lathargic for years... i have however, not been as hungry..and am actually eating less...hope this helps anyone. cat

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I just happened upon this post becuz I have an appt tomorrow with the endocrinologist becuz my hair is continuing to fall out and I'm very self conscious about it.this started when I was first diagnosed with hypothyroidism and was taking Synthroid. After almost a year of hair loss I asked my doctor what could be causing out. Hair loss can be a side effect of Synthroid. She changed my medication to Armour Thyroid which is a natural, not synthetic, and my hair loss stopped PLUS the med was cheaper. Things were great until last year when the pharmacies never had enough in stock to full my prescription and after 3 or 4 months of getting partial refills and having to run around to different pharmacies just to get a months supply the pharmacy told me they can't get it any more becuz they're no longer making it. I was really upset becuz now I'm forced to take Levothyroxine, which is generic Synthroid and immediately my hair started falling out again. My MD says that I may be able to get the other type thru the endocrinologist as they can make their own formulas? Anyway, I hope so because I'm literally going bald.

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I was prescribed levothyroxine by m Dr about 1.5 yrs ago. I swear it is making me unable to concentrate, focus my attention on anything, unable to read and absorb anything. I plan to stop taking it for a few days to see if my symptoms get better. Before I started taking this, I was sharp as a tack. Now, I feel like my brain is turning to mush.

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I'm 33, diagnosed with Hashimoto, started 25 mcg of Levo a day - after two weeks of taking it, I was constantly out of breath, felt lightheaded and panicky, woke up with rapid heat beating and out of breath. (My TSH dropped, T 3 and T 4 as well - so, clinically, it was going into the right direction). They reduced my meds to 12.5 mcg and last night (after taking the 12.5 mcg dosage for only two days!) I was woken up with no breath at all, heart pounding, I felt like I was dying. I'm incredibly scared that this whole thing messed up my heart because I've never experienced anything similar before. I'm afraid to even go to sleep. I'm seeing the doctor on Monday. Reading about your experiences helps so much!

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Ok, There is nothing else from the nhs so try this. My Gp suggested taking it with food to offset the stomach problems and it helped but I also needed stomach meds for a month (ppis) to settle it down. Then I needed to give myself days off to keep from being bloated again. It was then I found out about starting low and increasing the dose really slowly so I take it alternate days at a low dose and will slowly increase it maybe even 6 monthly until I get to where the Gp wants and I want without heart futter, bloating, indigestion and a mussy head. I also may lose my temper the next time some well meaning twit of a doctor tells me there are no adverse side effects!

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I am 31 years old and diagnosed with underactive thyroid recently and i am taking SYNTHROID. I don't know what the difference with that and LEVOTHYROXINE. I am taking 50 mcg and I don't feel weird at all, I actually feel better and more energy for me.

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I had been taking Levothyroxine for 7 years. My original complaints were dry skin, slight sluggishness. My Dr. said it was due to low thyroid and put me on meds. At first it fixed all the symptoms but after a few years I started to notice that I was hurting all the time and slowing down. I just thought that I was getting older and it was a fact of life. The pain and muscle problems I was experiencing were coming on sooo slowly that I was not alarmed. I mentioned some of these problems when I saw my Dr. but she thought it was related to stress and being somewhat over weight. As my check up showed I continued to have low thyroid my meds were increased from 50mcg to 100mcg. My problems increased, still slowly, and I became more and more miserable. I could no longer be as active as I had been,I love being outdoors, or as active with my grandchildren as I wanted. I could not get off the floor without help, could not lift a pan off the stove with one hand, had a stiff neck so bad that I had to hold my head with my hand and lift my head back up after rinsing my hair in the shower, nor could I jump off the ground. These are the worst things I felt but there were many more. Last May by accident I did not refill my prescription on time for the first time in seven years. I was unable to get it for three days. Within that time I was 100% better than I had been in years. No more head aches, muscle aches, stiff neck, weakness and I could JUMP. I was shocked to say the least. I quit my meds and just enjoy life!!!!! I went to see my Dr. 6 mos. later and she was not real happy with me to say the least. She said she would bet her license that it had nothing to do with the meds. She wanted me to go back on them and said we could try a lower dose. I did just to see if she was right. I understand that low thyroid can do harm to a persons heart so I was willing to try again. Within 24 hours the head aches were back. Within 3 days the muscle aches were back. I took the meds for about 2 weeks, suffering the whole time and then called her. She told me to stop the meds and had sent me to an endocrinologist. I just went to see him today and he has suggested Armour Thyroid which is made from pig thyroid. I don't suggest anyone stop their meds but for those of you that are having so much trouble please continue to stay on your Drs. and get some answers. I'm not done with mine yet but I am being active in my own health care. Quality is as important if not more so than Quantity. Good luck

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Hi Nina, Every cell in your body needs thyroxine to make energy so when your body has been short for a while and then it gets some (levothyroxine in your and my case) everything goes a bit potty. Things that seem to help is to take it slow.... probably slower than your Gp has considered. My TSH was in the hundreds too and T4 4.6 and I started on 50mcgs which gave me so many weird symptoms.... to cut a long story short I was advised to backup a bit and take it really slowly, alternate days, and only introduce increases by 25mcs a week (yes, a week) and it really helps. Slow is OK, it won't do you any harm but just means it takes you longer to get rid of the symptoms. The consultant suggested I looked at taking maybe 18months to get to the optimum dose. Hope this helps.

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My daughter was born without a thyroid gland, misdiagnosed as Downs Syndrome at 6 months and not discovered until she was about a year old. She is now 36 and keeping her on the right dosage has been a struggle. My best advice is to go to a specialist. She did the best when I took her to a pediatric spec., until she married at 21 and now has no insurance. They took her off the real thyroid and she has since been on both synthroid and levothyroxine. She never had a weight problem until forced to take the synthetic drugs, which her Dr. says are better. But, she now weighs around 236 lbs., and can't lose the extra 100lbs. She does exercise, my grand kids, her and I did a 5K last summer. She and I also did a 10K, and 2 half marathons, but it is really hard on her. Her knees hurt and she hates being so heavy. We hope to get her into a spec. this summer who deals with hormone issues. The guidelines keep changing and most G.P.'s can't keep up with everything. I know that it was recently stated by the AMA that the "traditional" dosage is much too low for most people. She suffers the typical symptoms of hypo, thin hair (almost bald) on top, unable to lose weight, always cold, tingling in her hands and feet, and yet her Dr. says that she is in the normal range. This is a very serious condition and I hope you find, or have, a Dr. that you trust and whom is willing to listen to how you are feeling.
BTW, because of what happened to my daughter, she has been written about in several medical papers, ALL states are now required to test for thyroid levels at birth, it would have saved my family a lot of hard times if she had been tested.
Good luck

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I feel like a complete different person since ive started this medicine! Feel lost, ive also lost motivation to do things I enjoy. I still am extremely tired despite having started the medicine. I seem to have new symptoms everyday, get terrible aches in the body as if ive just worked out and my body aches. I find it difficult to be active due to the tiredness but I hope I can soon strt to lose weight.

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well, today i didn't take the medicine and i feel soooo much better-the dizziness is gone , still feel a little anxious but i went out w/my daughter and spent the day shopping w/her w/o feeling like i was ill and unfocused-still have some aches and pains in my legs but i see now that sometimes the side effects of a drug outweighs the benefits (for me at least) AND i would NEVER recommend going off the medicine w/o doctors say so...hoping tomorrow is even better than today!
seems to me my thyroid isn't all that LOW it's prob NORMAL on the low end -i will ask for the report next time so i can see... i was miserable on the meds...but glad to hear my spaciness last few mos was due to the drug and my mind wasn't going!

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Yes. I've noticed green urine as well since I've been on it going 3 weeks.

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I started taking levothyroxin 2 weeks back (25 mg) for hypothyroidism and I hate it. My throid level is 3.77 and my doctor wants it to increase. I am 46 years old and female. It makes me feel dizzy, its almost like a head rush. I am perpetually hungry and if I dont eat something every few hours I feel like a vaccuum has been turned on inside my stomach. I feel weird sigh

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doctors make me laugh! It is our body so we should know how and what we feel. When my doctor told me it was anxiety I laughed to myself and said she is not listening to me. It happens after I take the pill I told her, few hours later and on and off all day and night. Fine, send me to psychiatrist well psychiatrist told me nothing wrong with me, its the doctor cause she wont listen to me and and she said it is side effects from the thyroid pill. She was going to send a letter to my doctor telling her I am sane and its the meds., who knows what is gonna happen now. Called my doctor and left message with the nurse to tell her I stopped the pill and that doctor has to find me another med, but so far nothing. Cannot believe doctors think the know it all and they dont because if they did I would not be in this position. Years ago I was treated for high blood pressure and I never even had it. The pills made me blow up and I ended having to go to a nephrologist for my blood pressure and he monitiored me and said I never had blood pressure and why the hell was I put on meds. Had to stay on a water pill for months to get the fluid and swelling off me, doctor said if your put on a medication that you dont need, your body rejects it and you start to get symptoms. So as you see, I guess I can say that I scared of new meds and doctors and my reasons are valid. Good luck to you and to all.

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To anyone on this medicine: please ask your doctor about natural alternatives to this. If he doesn't know (and he probably won't - if he's honest he'll say so), ask your pharmacist (always the best person to ask about drugs.).

Today's doctors have little training in drugs; the pharm company reps visit the docs and push their drugs, and the docs take their word for it regarding their products. Many, many of todays drugs are dangerous, over-prescribed, unnecessary - please educate yourself and look for alternatives.

Also - any doctor who prescribes this drug to help you lose weight should be shot. Find a new doc, get off the drug, and get some exercise.

For menopausal women: please educate yourself! Docs are prescribing unnecessary (and dangerous) drugs for thyroid, pre-osteoporosis, etc.

What is normal for you may not be normal for someone else; but all diagnosis are given based on statistics. It's a 'likelihood' game, barring obvious and severe illness.

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I get this "burn" in the base of my skull. Is this really worth it? However, it has stopped all the hair loss.

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are you guys aware that there are natural medecines for hypothyroidism, Some doctors will not prescribe it for you. The will refuse. $$$$$ Some doctors however will. Do your research. Doctors do not always care about what is best for you. They need sick people to make money.... Also did you know that the fluoride in your drinking water is aggravating your thyroid problems? You really need to do research and not trust the doctors blindly. Take charge of your health. Get informed

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Interesting you should have that side effect. I've been on Levothryoxine for a year and a half now. My main side effect has been hoarseness but I have had a sore throat for several weeks now that won't go away. Wonder now if its the medication!

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Hi Mindy, Get your GP to give you a short course of a PPI (even your pharmacist may be able to give it to you). A short months course sorted out my stomach problems. (PPIs reduce the acid your stomach produces)

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