# New hypothyroidism, frustration worries, and starting meds again after ignoring for weeks



## Kahla59 (Dec 20, 2016)

After months of frustrating levels of brain fog, which gave me quite a bit of trouble with college classes, I finaly went to health center at the school seeking answers. They did a blood test and I was told my thyroid was underactive, along with having a few vitamin deficiencies, and given a prescription for levothyroxine and told to come back at the end of winter break for another blood test. After noticing the prescription had enough allowed refils for 6 months shortly after leaving I became a bit more concered and started doing some online searching, read some things about hypothyroidism, how it tended to be a lifelong thing, called them back and had that detail confirmed, and became a bit frustrated with the person I had talked to. (I started reading about some other typical symptoms as well, but seing as they're things like fatigue and cold sensitivity and I was in college and working and had enough to cause fatigue on a normal basis and I typically get cold easy, always have, I'm not really sure about toher symtoms aside from my brain fog.) That was the day before thanksgiving, at the time I didn't have any way to get to other health care providers to see other people about it. At that point it was two weeks before finals and I had so much going on I didn't have the time or energy to do much more than get the medication and give it shot. I got half a week in just feeling a whole new kind of weird, at breaf fleeting times a bit mentally sharper but with severely decreased motivation to even to study or focus, even suddenly not giving a crap I even continued and finished off my classes. And just not like myself at all. Like 'me' was just in the back of my head yelling 'Hey, snap out of it, do something'. Then I work one more with enough of myself back and decided I just could do the that finals coming up. So I stopped taking the pills, deciding I'd worry about it after finals finished. A week later thinking how good it felt to be 'me' again. Still very mentally foggy, but...me.

Now finals have finished and I've avoid talking the levo still, as I had a job interview today that I didn't want to screw up. I have plans to start searching for another doctor to see about this and talk to more. But now the time has come to consider if I'm going to start taking the pills again until that point, after all with the holiday it will be a bit harder to get in someplace. I'm desparate to put an end to my foggy brain but scared of loosing myself again and how odd i felt on the levo. I know it wasn't that long that I was on it, maybe it's normal when adjusting but I don't know, and like I said it just scares me and I've very aprehensive about doing it again. I mean I typically don't feel right anymore as it is, but... I've gotten use to the original weird, you know..?

I'm not three weeks out from diagnosis without much treatment and do have concerns about leaving it so any longer than needed but... idk. I had planned on starting the levo again tomorrow but not sure I'm going to be able to bring myself to do so.

I'm not even really sure what i want out of this post. I'm just frustrated and scared and not sure what to do or think about any of it. Any advice or anything would be appreaciated if there's any to be had. if nothing else it felt good to type it all out and get it out of my head a bit....


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## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

First thing: get copies of your lab work from the health center (inlcuindg the reference ranges) and post them here. Always, always, always get hard copies of all results.

Adjusting to thyroid medication is a process. It takes time. But if you are hypothyroid, finding the right medication and the right dose is worth the time and discomfort. There are many other options than levothyroxine, but without seeing your lab results, it's hard to advise.


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## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

If it helps - my niece was in a similar situation as you during her college years, took a low dose of levothyroxine for a few months and was able to stop. Not everyone can do that but if your body is in need of thyroid hormone taking a pill a day for ligfe is not a big deal. It's a hormone ( or biodentical)

You may also request Vitamin D, Ferritin ( note when in your cycle the lab is) and B-12 being low in any or all will also contribute to fatigue


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## my3gr8girls (Mar 18, 2016)

It takes 4-6 weeks for the levothyroxine to build up in your system and for you to get the full effect of it, so you want to take it consistently for at least that long in order to get a good idea of how you are going to do on that dose. For me, taking it in the morning was not helpful and I felt like I'd been hit by a bus all day. I decided to switch it to nighttime and that made all the difference. I have even tried to go back to taking it in the morning and I don't do well. So, if you need to play with the dosage times in order to be able to tolerate it, this may help you. Just remember that you have to take it on an empty stomach so if you take it at night, allow 2-3 hours after eating before taking it.


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## Kahla59 (Dec 20, 2016)

@joplin1975:
That may be a bit delayed since I went through the school center since I'm away for the holiday but I will look into doing so. Reading more I was starting to think that should have, or at least payed more attention while there to what some of the numbers were exactly.

@Lovlkn:
Aside from the b12, those were the ones I was told I was deficient in, Fe and vitamin d. Also a little bit calcium wise. I am taking vitamins for those, but am trying solve the initial problem and fix my diet more, like making sure to by the orange juice with added vitamin D and calcium vs the one that isn't, and jut eating better in general.

@my3gr8girls: 
The thought of 4-6 weeks of that just to evaluate one does and then maybe have to then adjust and wait again is quite a scary thought... Especially considering the next semester will be starting back up in few. Now I'm faced with that I should probably just suck it up and get it started and hope to even out by the time school starts again, but that means I'm not going to have much of a relaxing break that I severely needed if I'm dealing with how I taking it the whole time.

Unfortunately do to how my schedule ends up being and when I can eat, I had started, may have to continue with just setting my alarm to wake up in the middle of the night and take it in order to keep it away from food I don't really have any other consistent times to use. I get home late usually during the school year and end up eating close to bed and tend to have to eat right away after getting up if I want to fit in breakfast (ah the joys of mixing work with a 16-19 credit hour per semester major...).

Does anyone think it would be a bad idea to maybe for the first week just take the pills every other day just to ease into it more instead of full on right away? During the short time I did take it, near the end I missed one day due to waking up late and felt better in the in between day then the days around it after having taken the pill (meaning better then before taking them at all as well).

Also has anyone else had issues with food with this? I mean with the thyroid thing in general not the levo. Seems like I have more problems mentally after eating anything much. I don't know if big meal are just too much of an effort on my system now or what, or if I have some other problem. I had initially thought maybe some my problems were food related when it all started months back. I felt a bit better when I just didn't eat. I've got it on the list of things to ask when I find another doctor aside from the school center but in the mean time...

Thanks everyone for the replies, and getting through my long rant of a post in the first place.


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## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

If you are low in D, you need supplements, The doctor prescribed dose I took was 50K IU weekly for 12 weeks, then after some trial and error I discovered I need to take 5K IU daily to maintain 3/4 of the range.

Ferritin will require supplementation as well and if you have monthly cycles, you will likely have low ferritin after. A wicked cycle of high and low but it's the way it is so deal with it as best you can. Floridex is a liquid that absorbs well and can be less harsh on your system,

Be sure to take your iron and calcium supplements at least 4 hours away from your levothyroxine dose.

What levothyroxing dose do you currently take? Skipping days is only going to cause spikes in days you do. If it's an issue taking the dose you are taking, ask for a lower dose and take daily. It will take several weeks to build up in your system


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## Kahla59 (Dec 20, 2016)

The levothyroxine dose is 50MCG. As far as the vitamin's I've been taking a 500IU pill is vitamin D a day as instructed, and then a general multi vitamin with Fe and calcium, as as told. I've been taking those in the evening to keep them away from the levo. The person who gave me the diagnosis never bothered to even mention that, luckily I did some research on it that night and figured out to do that from the start. She was very...unhelpful. I'm trying to find a better doctor but that's slowed by the holiday and one I found not taking my insurance type.


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## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

It's hard to advise without seeing those labs, but perhaps you should think about taking 1/2 a pill every day for six weeks. It's better to be as consistent as possible.


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## Kahla59 (Dec 20, 2016)

Got a copy of the labs. For the Thyroid section they just have the TSH test which came out to 7.490 uU/mL with a reference range from 0.358 to 3.740. Curious now as to why the calcium was on the list she gave me for vitamins to pick up pills for. Looks like that was on the higher end the normal range.


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## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

> TSH test which came out to 7.490 uU/mL with a reference range from 0.358 to 3.740.


You are very hypo - your body is screaming for thyroid hormone.


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## BurntMarshmallow (Feb 26, 2016)

If you are low in iron, you will need a separate iron supplement. Taking a multivitamin is good, but the minerals in a multivitamin all compete for absorption with each other. For example, calcium and zinc compete with iron. Iron supplements should be taken separately from a multivitamin, and usually they recommend you take them on an empty stomach with something acidic like vitamin C. Normally orange juice would be good to take the iron with, but not if it has added calcium.

The body likes to keep very tight controls on blood levels of calcium. Blood levels of calcium have very little lot do with the calcium in your bones. As long as your calcium is within the range of the lab, then it means your body is doing it's job of maintaining a proper calcium level in the blood.

Your doctor probably recommended taking calcium because since your vitamin D levels are low, it generally means your bones are at risk of losing calcium. Taking Vitamin D and calcium will help prevent bone loss. Boron is another important mineral for storing calcium in your bones.

Keep in mind that doctor's only have certain vitamins and minerals that they test for, not because those are the most important things, but because those are the ones that tell them something about how the body is working, and also because labs have the technology to test them. Most vitamins can't be tested accurately with a standard blood test, and we also don't need to test for certain vitamins because we know that certain conditions will automatically make you low or high in various things.

If you've been hypothyroid for a while, there are certain processes in the body that haven't been working very well for some time. It means that certain vitamins are lost, or not absorbed, or not metabolized properly. These are: all the B-vitamins, vitamin A (not beta carotene), D, zinc, iron and protein. In addition to errors in metabolism, low thyroid causes digestion problems and low stomach acid, which is one more way that you can't get nutrition from food very well. (A digestive enzyme can help with that.)

Like you, I did not experience a great improvement from thyroid medication. I started out with a TSH of 9.5 and got to a TSH of 3.4 with vitamins, minerals and diet. I had many ups and downs though, like a car that starts and stops, until I figured out exactly what my body was missing and replenished it.

There's a good book that might help: "The Thyroid Connection" by Amy Myers, MD. It has a 28 day plan to get better. I only found this after I had already solved most of my own symptoms by trial and error with vitamins and diet, so I didn't actually do the 28-day plan, but I think this book would have saved me a lot of time.

You could also consider taking thyroid medication, maybe 25mcg instead of 50mcg, for a while until you get your TSH down, along with the diet and supplements. Then you can wean off the thyroid medication slowly. I think looking back that I would have recovered with fewer ups and downs had I gone that route from day 1.


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