Anyone else on Levothyroxine? *Just got my Armour thyroid, pg 8*

[redhen]

I'm on it...
I'm still exhausted all the time...I have to admit that i dont take it like i should though..
I skip days, weeks at a time..

I find when i take it sometimes i cant sleep at night very well....yet, i'm STILL flippin tired! UGH!
But..i AM taking it regular now..(as of this week) because i am going to do IVF in a couple months...so my thyroid levels have to be safe to carry a baby and maintain a pregnancy...
Also i'm only on 25 MCG's

 

[littlefarm_bighappy]

I've been on it for five years, 75 mcg. My weight has yoyo-ed but that is due to not eating right. When I eat right and exercise my weight goes down.
I am having an issue with insulin resistance, and just lost a baby at 8 months pregnancy due to pre=eclampsia.
I do sleep better but I attribute that to Nuerontin, a drug that seems to control my back pain, anxiety, and migraines.
FWIW, all of my paternal aunts have hypothyroidism and it happened at age 30, just like mine.
When I don;t take the levothyroxine, I get tired, my skin gets bad, and I start losing my hair.
Natural supplements to support the endocrine system are a great idea but I WOULD NOT LISTEN to the suggestions to stop taking your synthetic hormone. THis is a hormone that you need to stay alive and the safety rates have been proven through years of record keeping. People stay on this medication for the rest of their life and do fine, and the statistics overwhelmingly support this. It takes a while for the medication and endocrine system to balance out and going off of it will just send your system spiraling out of control again.

 

[mandieg4]

I've been taking 125 mcg since last March now and feel better than I have in years. It took about 7 months of adjusting the dosage before my levels finally came down far enough and I still have some symptoms but the major symptoms went away almost immediately. The first clue I was having problems was that I was loosing all my hair. At first I didn't think it was a big deal because I had just had a baby and that always happens, but when the baby was two years old and I was still loosing a ton of hair every time I took a shower I figured something was wrong. It was the mental problems that finally sent me to the doctor. I couldn't focus for nothing which was taking a toll on my performance at work. I was getting 8-9 hours of sleep every night and was still exhausted all day long. I'd scream at the kids for no reason at all and it scared me. The Levothyroxine made me nauseous for the first couple weeks but after my body adjusted it was fine. The weight does bother me, I gained about 20 before I went on the medication and just cannot lose it for anything. I've held steady at 180 for the past year, despite exercise and a good diet. I've finally decided as long as I'm in shape and feel good, I don't care what the scale says.

 

[jerseygirl1]

I wish I knew which one it was, if/when I find out, I will post it here

 

[M@M@2four]

I've been on levothyroxin for 15 years now. It is very important to take it at the same time and should be every day! I take mine in the morning before I eat! If I accidently skip a day, I can tell--I'm more sluggish and just out of it.

 

[2ndtimearound]

I take it also - a tiny little dose, but before they started my on it 12 years ago, I had the steady weight gain, head to toe joint pain, puffy eyes, fatigue, etc. There are some things to watch while getting the dose right, but I definitely feel better and now have the ability to lose weight (I'm about 3 sizes smaller), all good things. It's kind of weird, because here I have hypo thyroid and my sister has Graves disease (hyper thyroid) Go figure.

 

[KDbeads]

I've been on it since Feb of last year. OMG the improvement!!!! I can get through my day without feeling like I'm overly exhausted. I don't peel every time I take a shower anymore, seriously I have major over exfoliation problems off the thyroid meds, docs told me for years I just needed to learn how to bathe properly

. My hair is growing back in, actually I shouldn't say back... I've never had this much hair. The severe life altering evil moods of PMS are GONE!!
I can still sleep 10 hours at a time if I don't have work or have other things planned but I can get up after just 4 hours of sleep and not feel like the walking dead.

I feel better, the weight is SLOWLY coming off, about a pound or so a month, standing at 15 less than this time last year with no additional changes to diet or exercise.

I am on 25 mcg. I've been diagnosed with subclinical hypothyroidism, as in my levels are borderline and I have had most of the symptoms for years and there is a big family history behind me.

 

[NancyDz]

I'm the opposite, I have Graves. Find a yahoo group for Hypo... I'm on one for Graves and it is AMAZING the knowledge that these people have on this group.. they have really helped me understand what is happening, my options for meds , etc and what to expect. I know for Graves, many docs arent that well versed in the meds, etc... make sure you are seeing an Endocrinologist... they have much more knowledge than the normal family doc.

Good luck!

Nancy

 

[farmerlor]

This is one of the oldest drugs out there and has stood the test of time regarding really dangerous side effects. I've been on it for years and at this point (well, at least when I get off my pain meds from this surgery) it will be the only prescription drug I take as I've found natural alternatives for the rest. It has completely cured most of the problems that I went in with though menopause has brought many of those symptoms back. All the women in my family are low thyroid as a side effect or secondary presenting symptom of PCOS.

 

[cjeanean]

Thanks for all the replies! I had no idea that the carpal tunnel thing I was feeling was attributed to hypothyroidism, I just thought I had carpal tunnel! That makes me happy, it would be awesome to use my hands without them hurting! On the days that I take my meds at the right time (like 8am) I have a perfect day and perfect sleep, but the kids just had almost 3 weeks off school because of Christmas break and snow days so I'm on the screwiest schedule right now. I can also sleep as long as I want to if I don't have anything going on, and stay up till 5 or 6 am, but I'm not completely exhausted anymore. I feel like a normal person!!!

My already crazy abnormal menses were weird this month too, like almost completely nonexistant. My last normal period was April 2006, which is when I quit smoking and when I started gaining weight. Has anyone else seen any differences in their periods?

I guess what prompted this post was an appointment I had yesterday at the free health clinic. I don't have insurance, so I go to the clinic to get bloodwork done then I go to a local dr who only charges like $30/appointment. The local dr is the one who diagnosed me with hypo, but when I went in to the clinic they told me that I was too fat for an accurate blood pressure reading (I'm a size 18/20, and I have NEVER been told that before in my life!). They also told me that my TSH was normal, so apparently they didn't get the memo about the range of "normal" changing, they're still basing it on being 5 or above. When I told them that I gain weight even when I diet and exercise, and the only way I can lose is if I completely quit eating and exercise, I pretty much got called a liar "just like every obese person who comes in here to be seen". I'm sick of being stereotyped because of my weight, if I was a skinny person coming in there they would have wanted to run all these tests and blah blah blah, but because I'm overweight everything that might be wrong is because I'm fat. If I do overeat it's on stuff like salad and steamed vegetables, I've never been one for overly processed foods and such. I don't drink soda and I don't eat stuff that would survive a nuclear explosion. Finding out about the hypo gave me hope that I might weight 160 again like I did before I started gaining weight, that maybe the pounds will slowly drop off as my metabolism catches up.

I am super curious about the thyroid medication that causes cancer, though....both my sis and my dad have hypo too, and I don't know for sure what they're on.....