# Can you have "flare ups" on medication?



## bbdailey

Hey I was wondering if it is common to have hashimoto flare ups when you have reached your correct dosage of medication?


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## Andros

bbdailey said:


> Hey I was wondering if it is common to have hashimoto flare ups when you have reached your correct dosage of medication?


That is a very good question. Are you having one? What are the symptoms?

It would be my humble opinion that many things could trigger a flare even though the patient heretofore may have been sailing along feeling great.

An illness or other stressor could do it.


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## bbdailey

I am not currently on medication but I believe that is what happened when I was on the medication last august. I was feeling better for the first time in a LONG time and then I had a colonoscopy. Around 5 days later I became very depressed and felt awful. I ended up stopping the medication and thought that it may be a side effect. I then tryed the levo a month later and was on it for 9 weeks with no improvements. That is when I decided it must be celiac disease causing all my symptoms so I stopped the medication and continued with a very strict diet.(I had been Gluten free since May) I have been very strict with my diet and seem to have no mental improvements. I just went through a very stressful period and started to feel worse(not worse because the stress but what I think may be a flare up). Then it all hit me!! It must be the thyroid thats causing all the problems and I have been going through flare ups and trying to find other reasons for feeling off. Does this sound right? A colonoscopy can be very rough on your body and I believe it started a violent flare up. I was probably lucky that I began to feel better originally but when I tryed the medication again a month after the colonoscopy I probably didnt see any results because my Hashis was acting up and I needed to give it more time.

I am going to the doctor tuesday to try and get started on the medication again and this time I am going to STAY on the medication knowing that I need to give it time!


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## Andros

bbdailey said:


> I am not currently on medication but I believe that is what happened when I was on the medication last august. I was feeling better for the first time in a LONG time and then I had a colonoscopy. Around 5 days later I became very depressed and felt awful. I ended up stopping the medication and thought that it may be a side effect. I then tryed the levo a month later and was on it for 9 weeks with no improvements. That is when I decided it must be celiac disease causing all my symptoms so I stopped the medication and continued with a very strict diet.(I had been Gluten free since May) I have been very strict with my diet and seem to have no mental improvements. I just went through a very stressful period and started to feel worse(not worse because the stress but what I think may be a flare up). Then it all hit me!! It must be the thyroid thats causing all the problems and I have been going through flare ups and trying to find other reasons for feeling off. Does this sound right? A colonoscopy can be very rough on your body and I believe it started a violent flare up. I was probably lucky that I began to feel better originally but when I tryed the medication again a month after the colonoscopy I probably didnt see any results because my Hashis was acting up and I needed to give it more time.
> 
> I am going to the doctor tuesday to try and get started on the medication again and this time I am going to STAY on the medication knowing that I need to give it time!


Very glad to hear you have a doctor appt. Tues. as it was a concern that you have been sort of administering to your self w/o benefit of labs.

When you do get the labs, if you want, post the results here with the ranges and let us have a look.

Have you had antibodies' tests and ultra-sound of the thyroid?


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## bbdailey

I have had antibody testing but no ultrasound. My thyroid doesnt seem swollen or irritated so thats a bit confusing. I dont know if it is because im a bit younger(23 male) that its not swelling or anything.(that i can tell of) Ive had thyroid levels checked a ton but here are the latest. Im not positive that the ranges are 100% accurate because they are from memory but I believe they are at worst very close.

TPO antibodies- 252

Sep 2011
TSH-2.2 (.5-5)
FT4- .97 (.8-1.8)
FT3- 3.1 (2.6-4.2)

I was on the 50mcg for 9 weeks then checked levels again
Nov 2011
TSH- 1,7
FT4- 1.19

I was not feeling better but when I look back I suspect my hashis was acting up because I would be so tired one week then very anxious the next.

It confuses me that my labs are "normal" yet my symptoms are keeping me from living anything close to a normal life. Ive read on this forum that I may need to supress my TSH and get my FT3/4 in the upper ranges. I also have heard that it can take a couple years for it to show up in the bloodwork after the symptoms started and like I said I am a younger male and these symptoms started recently(in the last 2/3 years) and they started QUICKLY. So that confuses me but I think I may try and get a referral to a team of doctors that look into anything and everything that could find something else(although I feel like they already have )


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## CA-Lynn

What exactly is a thyroid flare up? Are you referring to thyroid storm or something benign by comparison?


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## bbdailey

I am unfamiliar with the term thyroid storm but I assume they are the same. The "flare ups" Im talking about are the flare ups with hashimotos that cause the symptoms like anxiety/depression/brain fog/etc. to show up. In my case I already have these symptoms but I can definately notice when they worsen from what I assume are these "flare ups".


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## daisydaisy

from experience yes you can get flare ups, my mom does and so does my sister. hash is autoimmune and you have to find out what triggers the flare ups four your body. for most I find it's stress, illness ,overdoing it or even food sensitivities. autoimmune diseases cannot be cured but they can be managed. it's like a light dimmer switch, you can dim the flares based on lifestyle and proper meds . it's not easy. as well our thyroid changes, acts up, cells die off so that can cause the flares as well sometimes worse than other times. it's like a virus that lives in us that we can't get rid off. I just decided to go gluten free. I heard some people on hash flares ups take Ativan when the flares are bad. my sister gets jitters now and then as well do I. some days you feel like you walking on air and others tired and achy and then it passes. some days you can't think straight or focus and other times your go go go and then you overdo it and pay the price later.stress is a very big trigger. once hash gets turned on it's hard to squelch it back down, sometimes it takes months and months. it's not a fun disease. just to let you know my thyroid used to ache years ago in the early stages even thouh they said it wasn't swollen but I had symptoms on and off. I wish they had put me on meds then but they thought I would outgrow it. how .....archaic in their thinking


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## bbdailey

Thanks for your response daisydaisy!! I too have gone gluten free(8 months now) and it has helped alot. I thought that gluten may have been the answer and that I may have been celiac but I believe now that I need thyroid medication to get me back to normal. Cutting out gluten helped alot of symptoms and seemed to control the "flare ups" but it only got me so far. Mentally I am no where near normal and I am ready to start working again and move on with my life!!


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## Andros

bbdailey said:


> I have had antibody testing but no ultrasound. My thyroid doesnt seem swollen or irritated so thats a bit confusing. I dont know if it is because im a bit younger(23 male) that its not swelling or anything.(that i can tell of) Ive had thyroid levels checked a ton but here are the latest. Im not positive that the ranges are 100% accurate because they are from memory but I believe they are at worst very close.
> 
> TPO antibodies- 252
> 
> Sep 2011
> TSH-2.2 (.5-5)
> FT4- .97 (.8-1.8)
> FT3- 3.1 (2.6-4.2)
> 
> I was on the 50mcg for 9 weeks then checked levels again
> Nov 2011
> TSH- 1,7
> FT4- 1.19
> 
> I was not feeling better but when I look back I suspect my hashis was acting up because I would be so tired one week then very anxious the next.
> 
> It confuses me that my labs are "normal" yet my symptoms are keeping me from living anything close to a normal life. Ive read on this forum that I may need to supress my TSH and get my FT3/4 in the upper ranges. I also have heard that it can take a couple years for it to show up in the bloodwork after the symptoms started and like I said I am a younger male and these symptoms started recently(in the last 2/3 years) and they started QUICKLY. So that confuses me but I think I may try and get a referral to a team of doctors that look into anything and everything that could find something else(although I feel like they already have )


Out of this list; what antibodies have you had done and what were the results?

TSI
Normally, there is no TSI in the blood. If TSI is found in the blood, this indicates that the thyroid stimulating immunoglobulin is the cause of the of a person's hyperthyroidism. 
http://www.medicineonline.com/topics/t/2/Thyroid-Stimulating-Immunoglobulin/TSI.html

TPO (antimicrosomal antibodies) TBII (thyrotropin-binding inhibitory immunoglobulin), Thyroglobulin Ab, ANA (antinuclear antibodies), (thyroid hormone panel) TSH, Free T3, Free T4.

You can look this stuff up here and more.........
http://www.labtestsonline.org/

It would be in your best interest to get an ultra-sound of the thyroid.


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## bbdailey

I believe that I had only the thyroid peroxidase and thyroglubin antibodies checked. I was only positive on the thyroid peroxidase antibodies. Sorry about not having the exact test and numbers I need to gather those results soon.


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## Andros

bbdailey said:


> I believe that I had only the thyroid peroxidase and thyroglubin antibodies checked. I was only positive on the thyroid peroxidase antibodies. Sorry about not having the exact test and numbers I need to gather those results soon.


It may be helpful to start a folder with your test results and ranges (copies of.) And you can also make comments on how you feel at any given time. Over a period of time, this sort of thing is worth it's weight in gold.

We all would like to see you feeling better; it is no fun to watch life pass you by when one is unwell.

So, whatever we can do to help, I am sure we all will.

Have you read our Administrator's Hashimoto's story?

Read Nasdaqphil's Special Report on Hashitoxicosis here........ http://www.thyroidboards.com/hashitoxicosis


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## bbdailey

Thanks you Andros! I have not read the story and the link is coming up as an error. Is there another way I can find the story?


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## Andros

bbdailey said:


> Thanks you Andros! I have not read the story and the link is coming up as an error. Is there another way I can find the story?


I clipped off the tail end of the link. Try it now, please. Sorry about that!


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