# Seaweed cause Anxiety?



## ThyroidMan (Dec 26, 2015)

So I took RAI September 2014, I didn't go hypo or at least I didnt feel hypo until April to June time frame. I tried getting levo from my endo, but my TSH was like 5 then it climed to 6 and they said its normal. But eventually my TSH reached 9 sometime around June and I was really feeling hypo, I couldn't lose weight and my joints we're clicky and had dry skin. those were the major symptoms for the most part. They finally ordered me my meds, but it was coming thru the mail and said I'd have to wait a week or maybe two weeks.

Because of this, I decided to eat a ton of sea weed, since it has iodine. Thought it would help the hypo symptoms while I waited for the meds in the mail. It was dried sea weed, the kind you use for suchi roles. I ate some in ramen, and even ate some by itself later on that day. I consumed an absurd amount. It made me feel a little lethargic/ sick at first. But then a couple days later I started to get anxiety. I wasn't sure why, but I assumed it was because I was hypo for too long. Not sure if that is possible to get anxiety from not getting enough T4/T3? Maybe it was because I was hypo, the adrenal glands overact? Idk. But I soon got the levo in the mail and thought it was make the anxiety go away with all my other hypo symptoms. It made the anxiety way worse, it was insane. Was going crazy, but the hypo symptoms like clicky joints, dry skin went away and I lost like 20 pounds in 2 weeks. I tried complaining that I was hyper, but they said to stay on the meds (125 mcg). They said it takes 4 weeks for the body to get used to the medication. I didn't make it that far, went to the emergency room and the doctor there reduced my levo to 60.

My question is what caused the anxiety? Is it possible taht the sea weed caused it? Could the thyroid have taken up the iodine and created too much hormone? But I did RAI and that RAI definitly did make me hypo over time. Or is it that because I was hypo maybe it affected the adrenal glands and it cause anxiety somehow? If my thyroid could of made me hyper like that, then why am I even taking these medications, when I can just take enough iodine to make me in the normal range? Is this possible?


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## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

> My question is what caused the anxiety? Is it possible taht the sea weed caused it? Could the thyroid have taken up the iodine and created too much hormone? But I did RAI and that RAI definitly did make me hypo over time. Or is it that because I was hypo maybe it affected the adrenal glands and it cause anxiety somehow? If my thyroid could of made me hyper like that, then why am I even taking these medications, when I can just take enough iodine to make me in the normal range? Is this possible?


Cause - maybe, who knows, maybe....

With RAI your thyroid hormones may ebb and flow up and down. It often takes several doses to completely kill off the gland. The reason you use drugs such as levothyroxan instead of iodine is more related to having an accurate amount of hormone ( or iodine) to replace your thyroid hormone that is no longer being produced.

You should avoid iodine when you have Graves and having a thyroid diagnosed and dosing yourself huge amounts of iodine is only going to make you ill . as it did.

How long have you been on T4 replacement? Since Oct 2014?

How often do you have labs drawn? What do they draw? FT-4 and FT-3 will give the clearest picture at time of draw.

Do you take your replacement hormone prior to of after your draw? This will have an effect on your lab results so you need to be consistent. Morning draws are best and no med's prior to the draw.


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## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

Iodine is generally contraindicated for people with thyroid disorders, so it's certainly possible, if you were consuming obscene amounts.


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## ThyroidMan (Dec 26, 2015)

Lovlkn said:


> Cause - maybe, who knows, maybe....
> 
> With RAI your thyroid hormones may ebb and flow up and down. It often takes several doses to completely kill off the gland. The reason you use drugs such as levothyroxan instead of iodine is more related to having an accurate amount of hormone ( or iodine) to replace your thyroid hormone that is no longer being produced.
> 
> ...


I started thyroid replacement sometime in July this year. Thats about 9 months post RAI. So its been about 6 months now. I went down to 50mcg and then later went to 75 mcg and both lab tests for that said I was bellow range for Total T3. Idk what the diffrence is for T3 total and Free T3. I'm going to ask for ft3 and ft4 next labs, my endo said its not that important . . . but usually its just TSH and total T3.

I usually take my levo in the morning and do teh blood tests in the afternoon. I didn't know that it could affect the blood test, I thoguht t4 was slow acting so taking it that day wouldn't affect me much? But i did hear about t3, something about skipping the does before the blood test. I'll do that for my next test though.


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## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

I take my synthroid before the labs. Usually I take it at 5:00am and then have my blood drawn over lunch. It's never really seemed to have impacted my results.


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## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

joplin1975 said:


> I take my synthroid before the labs. Usually I take it at 5:00am and then have my blood drawn over lunch. It's never really seemed to have impacted my results.


I think the key is consistency.

Once someone starts tracking labs - consistency of lab draw and medication ingested to eliminate reasons for lab differences.

Someone else just shared they take meds in morning and lab in afternoon. I go much longer from med's to draw, which is why I likely feel best with free's in the mid vs 3/4 of range. I'm considering changing time of draw to see where I am mid day.


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## jenny v (May 6, 2012)

I think consistency is key, too, but I also think that taking Synthroid before labs isn't as big of a deal as taking Armour or another NDT before labs, since those contain T3 which has a shorter half life.


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