Remember my thyroid saga?

It was a rollercoaster ride of results going up, then down, and then upside down in a loop-the-loop. Not really. It was quite boring actually. Anyway, long story short, my GP diagnosed me with Hashimoto's thyroiditis last year, but I wasn't entirely happy with the diagnosis and thought the levothyroxine made me even more depressed and tired after I started taking it.

But I think I'm going to have to be on something now. My GP measured my TSH again and in 3 months it's gone from 5.6 to 11.2.

Bah humbug.

Well, I'm glad at least that someone's tracking this aspect of your health issues. Hope you are ready now to address it!

I'm pretty sure that Levothyroxine and synthroid are basically the same thing. They are T4, which converts to T3 by your body. Armour is T3. My mom (deceased) and my sister have Hashimoto's and my sis-in-law had thyroid cancer and is on steroid replacement. Both my sister and sis-in-law have struggled a lot with side effects and both of them are on a combination of the Armour and synthroid. Endocrinologists are the specialists who treat this, but in the US, the primary care docs handle uncomplicated thyroid issues, so my guess is that it is similar in the UK. If you have any specific questions, I'll ask my relatives for you. My last TSH was 4.26. My sister(s) nagged me that they think that's too high, but my doc says it is in the normal range so I'm not dealing with it right now. Sorry you are having to go through this...with my genetics, I may not be far behind you!

My sister complained of both heart racing, and feeling jittery, while also feeling exhausted all the time which sounds like hyper thyroid, but actually she found out that she was hypothyroid, which was confusing. My sis and SIL both complain about forgetting things and brain fog. They are both in their fifties, so some of that comes with age, but they claim it is much worse than that. My sister also says that no how much she diets, she can't lose weight. So I don't know if that's helpful, and those symptoms sound more like thyroid not being stabilized, and not actually side effects...but both of them seem to have had a tough time finding the right dosage of meds to control symptoms. My SIL had her thyroid removed from thyroid cancer, so I guess that's a bit of a different case.
The only test I've had is a TSH. I probably should go have a physical sometime this spring, so I'll ask my PCP about antibodies testing. I'm feeling pretty good right now....I actually recovered quickly from my last stomach flu bout (like a non-crohnnie...amazing), so I'm not highly motivated to see any docs for awhile.
I'm due to call my sisters soon, so I'll ask more questions and let you know if I learn anything useful.
I think when you get one auto-immune problem, you are at risk for another so I guess we're doomed...but then again, we don't even know if Crohn's is auto-immune...so confusing!!

@starreyedgyrl - I couldn't agree with you more. I know the world doesn't work like that, that life is unfair, etc. etc., but I still feel like I have had enough illness to last me five lifetimes.

@gumby - Yeah, that's the problem. The symptoms of thyroid disease often seem to be rather vague and could be caused by any one of a number of things. One thing I can unequivocally relate to is the brain fog. Sometimes I feel like I struggle to put a coherent paragraph together without going all over the place. I've always had a bit of that, but it does seem to be particularly bad lately. The only person I knew in real life with hypothyroidism was a friend of my mum's: she is sadly deceased now. But she apparently had trouble with getting the right dosages and having problems as a result. Seems to be a common problem, unfortunately.

Too true about not even knowing anymore if Crohn's is autoimmune :-/ I have no way of knowing if the Crohns and thyroidism is even related. The only reason I think it might be is that my thyroid was going nuts at a time when my Crohn's was also extremely active. But on the other hand, I can't find any strong correlation between autoimmune thryoid disease and IBD either, so I dunno. Irritating.

Anyway, I'm glad you're feeling better. I don't blame you for preferring to enjoy it rather than chasing down more tests. Let me know what your sisters say.

I took 50mcg levothyroxine just before going to bed and feel dreadful this afternoon, after having been all right for the past few weeks.

Why does every single med in existence just make me feel worse? I can't handle this crap. Nothing works. Everything just ****s me up royally.

Thanks, sparkleplenty.

I just can't take a med which makes me feel this bad. I have just been stupified all day. Took forever to write one post (on another forum).

Suppose I'll stop the Levo for now.

I feel like I've been run over by a 10-train truck: dazed, stupified, slightly dizzy/light-headed. I'm used to brain fog, but this was 10x worse than anything I've experienced recently. Along with that, I felt more emotional and easily upset. Again, me being upset is nothing new under the sun, but I've been working hard lately on not giving in to every passing low mood. Today I just did not have the strength to do that; I felt entirely overwhelmed.

So yeah, if you could ask her if that's normal and, if so, when does it pass, I would appreciate it, gumby :-/

PS: It does finally seem to be lifting, but it is 10pm already...

Hmm, the things I took last night were melatonin (<1mg), Otrivine (nasal spray) and hydroxyzine :-/

I have to take the Otrivine, because my nose gets blocked without it and I cannot sleep with a blocked nose. The other things I could skip for a night. Don't think the melatonin does a lot, if anything, anyway.

Hi NCOT,
I haven't forgotten about you. My SIL just hasn't called me back yet. Sorry. I'll write back if I learn anything useful!

Hi NCOT,
My SIL finally called me back. She thinks your doc is going to tell you to try to give it two weeks to see if your body will get used to the medication. But she said if it is really that intolerable, then maybe he can give you a lower dose to start and let you titrate it up. She isn't sure if Armour is even used with Hashimoto's, but that may be something else to ask about. Either way, I think you need to call your doc back tomorrow. You can't just ignore it, as your thyroid is critical to the functioning of your whole body. (I'm sure you already know that.) Let me know what your doc says. Hopefully once you find a stable dose, your body will adjust and it will be no big deal.

Trust your instinct. I've read about people noticing a difference between the generic and brand name with thyroid meds. There are other options. I'd still push for trying a different one. Titrating might be another good option too. It's been so long for me I don't remember what dose I started at.

Sorry it's been easy. I'm sensitive to meds too, but synthroid was one I didn't react to and after a few weeks I really noticed an improvement. I hope you can find something and that you'll see an improvement too!

It sounds like you feel guilty for having trouble with this treatment. This is not something you have done "on purpose." Your doctor's job is to help you get better. Perhaps s/he appreciates a challenge and will be excited to try and solve this puzzle. Don't worry about your DR's feelings here! I am sure there is no dread on your DR's part.