# Methimazole Side Effects?



## jezebel423 (Oct 16, 2012)

Hi All,

I was diagnosed with Graves disease and started taking Methimazole yesterday (working up to 30mg a day.) I took the meds and noticed a couple of things and I'm wondering if I could be having side effects so quickly. Firstly I noticed a weird taste in my mouth when eating/drinking- it's not metallicy but it's not good either. Also I noticed I feel sort of flushed in the face, and I'm REALLY tired. I couldn't move for what felt like hours last night.

Is this too soon for a reaction? If it IS a reaction, will it go away with time?

Thank you!


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

jezebel423 said:


> Hi All,
> 
> I was diagnosed with Graves disease and started taking Methimazole yesterday (working up to 30mg a day.) I took the meds and noticed a couple of things and I'm wondering if I could be having side effects so quickly. Firstly I noticed a weird taste in my mouth when eating/drinking- it's not metallicy but it's not good either. Also I noticed I feel sort of flushed in the face, and I'm REALLY tired. I couldn't move for what felt like hours last night.
> 
> ...


If I recall correctly, that may be a reaction from thyrotoxicosis ( high level of thyroxine), not the med.

But; maybe you should check w/your pharmacist (did you get an insert w/your med?) and/or call your doctor about this.


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## jumpingbean (May 29, 2012)

I had a severe allergic reaction to Methimazole over the summer. It was not pretty! I had swelling all over my body; especially my face and hands, and I had red welts everywhere. The itching was HORRIBLE. I also had a fever of over 103 for quite some time. The scary thing is that the reaction didn't occur until after I'd been taking the medication for several weeks. I don't think it was high levels of thyroxine for me but who knows? Either way, I wouldn't want to go through it again. I had recently started taking PTU and was feeling pretty good until I found out my liver enzymes were elevated so I stopped taking it. Now I'm in limbo and waiting for an appointment with a good endocrinologist in the area. This Graves Disease is really frustrating sometimes. :\ Hope you feel better soon!


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## Sandbar (Nov 6, 2012)

Jumpingbean, how big a dose of methimazole were you on when the reaction happened?

Jezebel, I've taken both methimazole and PTU and found that initial tiredness with both, it should get better in time unless you become hypothyroid. Weird taste...I had that more with PTU. Flushing I get when I'm especially hyper.

It's such a rollercoaster ride....we take these drugs, we hope for remission but the alternatives are so drastic radiation or surgery!


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## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

jezebel,

Are you still out there?

How are you feeling 2 weeks later?

When I went on Tapazole I felt horrible - got sore throats and then went into a deep depression because they took me from full blown hyper to hypo in a matter of 8 weeks. I think I remember the metallic taste too.

Please chime in if you are still on the board.


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## jezebel423 (Oct 16, 2012)

I'm still here, and still frustrated. The roller coaster is all too familiar!

I'm on the full dose of 30mg and now feel like I have a mix of hyper/hypo systems. My heart rate is down, which is great and I feel less anxious. However, I still have tremors in my legs and I'm still having insomnia issues. The insomnia issues have changed, though. Before I was waking up at 3 and not falling back to sleep for hours. Now I'm waking up repeatedly throughout the night (as many as 10 times) but I fall back asleep. The annoying thing is that BEFORE I started the meds I had gotten to the point where I was sleeping normally, and it came back after the meds started.

I think my main issues now are that I feel like I have are a loss of taste and an onset of a little bit of depression.

I'm almost ready to say out with my thyroid because the whole situation is so frustrating. I'm not going to do that, I'm going to keep trying but it's hard because I just don't feel like me and I hate that.


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## Serenia (Sep 27, 2011)

jezebel423 said:


> I'm still here, and still frustrated. The roller coaster is all too familiar!
> 
> I'm on the full dose of 30mg and now feel like I have a mix of hyper/hypo systems.


30mg?? I think that is TOO high. I think that may be contributing to your symptoms.

I was never taking more than 15 mg when I started MMI and its been dropping every since. I am now on 2.5 mg daily - but I was diagnosed almost 3 years ago.


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## StormFinch (Nov 16, 2012)

I'm currently on 40 mg per day with minimal side effects.

For me, the first two months on MMI were the worst. The side effects eventually passed though. Mine were similar, but rather than loss of taste everything tasted way too salty. As for the insomnia, I've *never* slept well or with any kind of schedule. You might try some magnesium and/or valerian at night to combat it. It also took longer for the tremors to go away than anything else for me.

For now, just take it easy and be good to yourself.


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## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

jezebel423 said:


> I'm still here, and still frustrated. The roller coaster is all too familiar!
> 
> I'm on the full dose of 30mg and now feel like I have a mix of hyper/hypo systems. My heart rate is down, which is great and I feel less anxious. However, I still have tremors in my legs and I'm still having insomnia issues. The insomnia issues have changed, though. Before I was waking up at 3 and not falling back to sleep for hours. Now I'm waking up repeatedly throughout the night (as many as 10 times) but I fall back asleep. The annoying thing is that BEFORE I started the meds I had gotten to the point where I was sleeping normally, and it came back after the meds started.
> 
> ...


Please post your labs and ranges before you went on methimazol please.

30mg is a fairly high dose.

You need to be sure you lab every 4 weeks - depending on where your labs were when you began you could go hypo very quickly.

I went full hyper to full hypo in 2-3 months and felt like I lost my mind - I had to hire a therapist to help me sort things out. It was medication induced hypo.

Please keep up on your labs and ask for copies and post them here and we will help you.


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## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

StormFinch said:


> I'm currently on 40 mg per day with minimal side effects.
> 
> For me, the first two months on MMI were the worst. The side effects eventually passed though. Mine were similar, but rather than loss of taste everything tasted way too salty. As for the insomnia, I've *never* slept well or with any kind of schedule. You might try some magnesium and/or valerian at night to combat it. It also took longer for the tremors to go away than anything else for me.
> 
> For now, just take it easy and be good to yourself.


StormFinch -

How long have you been on 40 mg?

Do you have any labs with ranges you could share? Please post with the dosage you were on at the draw.

40mg is a very high dose - you also need to be sure an dlab at least every 4 weeks. Be sure they run your FT-4 and FT-3 so you know how to reduce your current 40mg dose.


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## StormFinch (Nov 16, 2012)

Lovlkn said:


> StormFinch -
> 
> How long have you been on 40 mg?
> 
> ...


I'll pull up my labs as soon as I get a chance, just saw your message. I do remember my Endo commenting that both my frees were around 3 times what they should be though, and my TSH was hovering at 0.01 on 20 mg.

I've been on 40 mg, for the last week and have finally gotten rid of the high heart rate and palpitations on it. I'm actually having a TT on the 6th and guess I was making my surgeon nervous, :scared0015: thus the dosage jump.


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

StormFinch said:


> I'll pull up my labs as soon as I get a chance, just saw your message. I do remember my Endo commenting that both my frees were around 3 times what they should be though, and my TSH was hovering at 0.01 on 20 mg.
> 
> I've been on 40 mg, for the last week and have finally gotten rid of the high heart rate and palpitations on it. I'm actually having a TT on the 6th and guess I was making my surgeon nervous, :scared0015: thus the dosage jump.


December 6, 2012?

The dose you are on is probably so you don't "dump" during surgery. That is a good approach.


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## StormFinch (Nov 16, 2012)

Andros said:


> December 6, 2012?
> 
> The dose you are on is probably so you don't "dump" during surgery. That is a good approach.


Yes, a week and three days... can you tell I'm counting down? 

My thoughts as well Andros, thanks. I would hate to go into surgery with the kind of numbers I've had recently.

Here are the labs done a month and a half ago. Turns out I forgot to get copies of my most recent ones, but the numbers were pretty darn close to the same. I'm supposed to have more run later this week. The 3x comment was actually made about some earlier results. My TSH has been as low as .001.

Free T3 - 7.2, Range 2.3 - 4.2
Free T4 - 2.60, Range .89 - 1.76
TSH - .01, Range .51 - 6.20 (6.20, they're kidding right??? These were ran somewhere other than my Endo surgeon's.)


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

StormFinch said:


> Yes, a week and three days... can you tell I'm counting down?
> 
> My thoughts as well Andros, thanks. I would hate to go into surgery with the kind of numbers I've had recently.
> 
> ...


Yes; we need to have universal ranges; at least on the TSH.

And you were really hyper as of the lab results above.

We will all be counting the days w/you! You will be glad to have this over with!


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## StormFinch (Nov 16, 2012)

Andros said:


> Yes; we need to have universal ranges; at least on the TSH.
> 
> And you were really hyper as of the lab results above.
> 
> We will all be counting the days w/you! You will be glad to have this over with!


Tell me about it. AACE and NACB changed their guidelines, what... 9 years ago?

Oh, so VERY hyper. lol My numbers can rise or fall at the drop of a hat, (TSH has been as high as 64, as low as .001) and between med resistance and past side effects to both anti-thyroids, like itchiness or nausea, I am MORE than ready to have this done. I get the feeling I'm not going to miss the darn thing in the slightest. Thanks for the support Andros!


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