# Horrible headaches,,,,,



## sjmjuly (Mar 23, 2012)

Does/has anyone else had horrible headaches with hashi's? I am having them DAILY now, and wonder if this is an undermedicated issue. I am only taking 1/2 grain of Naturethroid and have been there for two weeks now. These are awful tension type headaches.


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## Cymry (Nov 12, 2012)

I don't know if the headaches I've had in the past have all been related to Hashi's or not, but I do know that since I've been on iron for anemia (I was diagnosed with anemia a month before being diagnosed with hypothyroid last Fall), the headaches have been less frequent and seem to be mostly less severe. I used to come home very tired at least once a week and/or with body aches and/or a headache. Some days I went to bed straight away after getting home. I always try everything I can do (hot bath, warm rice sock/cold pack, OTC pain reliever, OTC allergy pill) before I call on the heavier stuff (muscle relaxer, Fiorinal) to get me relaxed and to sleep. All I want to do with a headache is to sleep it off. Sometimes my headaches are hormonal, and nothing I take helps -- it goes away when it's ready. Sometimes they seem weather-related (before a rain event). Sometimes they are tension-related (usually at the end of the day). I know anemia is tied to headaches somewhat but I don't know if it's tied to Hashi's. I wonder if you might ask your doctor for something like a muscle relaxer or another strong headache med for those headaches that take you to bed. I had my muscle relaxers originally for sciatic back pain, but when I confided in my doctor in April that I took them more often for headaches, he said he had no problem with me doing that since headaches are often muscle-related. Still, I do everything else before reaching for the stronger stuff. Ask your doctor if it could be a med issue.


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## surge (Aug 15, 2012)

YES!!! It's one of my most reliable signs that I have swung low is that I start getting lots of headaches again. If my tsh is over 3, I'm getting headaches, some times I wake up with them every morning until the higher dose kicks in. I agree with Cymry that often these headaches are hormonal-- clustering near my period-- but they don't happen every month, only when I'm low, so that just goes to show how inter-related this all is...


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## sjmjuly (Mar 23, 2012)

Well I am off my thyroid meds AGAIN. The headaches, head tension and just all around feeling "head" crappy, I stopped taking it again this morning. I see my doctor next week. I felt MUCH better off the meds even when my TSH was 9.48 and both free's were low. I just don't understand this disease.


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## surge (Aug 15, 2012)

good luck sjm. It's exhausting to deal, I know. Last summer, I was on and off meds many, many times. Finally, settled on 25mcg levoxyl, but was kicking and screaming and miserable even still. And every time I started feeling hyper, I'd call and beg to be taken off the sauce. The endo on call had to patiently tell me 25mcgs wasn't the problem. His advice was to suck it up and see if it helped. It didn't. But I don't think I would have fared any better without meds. In fact, when I was without meds, I would get pretty serious hypo symptoms after several weeks. Were you having any hypo symptoms without? Or was it just a numbers issue?


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## jrohrigj (Aug 30, 2012)

I have no diagnosis, but have been dealing with headaches everyday for the past week and a half. This is the second time this has happened. I had headaches daily at the beginning of 2012.


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## bigfoot (May 13, 2011)

Yep, persistent headaches here, too. They seem to be hanging around when I'm under-medicated or leaning towards hypo. Sorry to hear you are still dealing with trying to find a dose you can handle -- this stuff is very frustrating.

:hugs:


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## sjmjuly (Mar 23, 2012)

I finally ended up in the ER last night because of these headaches. They gave me some pain killers and sent me home. Also had a CAT scan and I have a brain and it's fine. I am back on my Naturethroid and the doc wants me to increase but take 1/2 grain in the morning and another 1/2 grain in the evening. She really thinks these headaches could be from undermedication, but my body can't take 1 grain all at once. 
They gave me Percocet in the ER and holy cow did I sleep last night! Best sleep I've had in 20 years. 
The headache is weird. Not a migraine and not a real throbber, just annoying pressure like my head is in a vice. And of course (being a woman) I keep coming up with the worst, awful horrible diseases. The lastest one is Hashimoto's encephalopathy because I already have hashi's. The ER doc looked at me like I was nuts when I told him that. (He was very sweet though and didn't make fun of me!)


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## bigfoot (May 13, 2011)

Ugh, bummer to hear about the ER visit. Your headaches sound familiar. For a while allergies were really bad this spring, but the headaches seem to come and go as they please, pollen be damned. I think splitting the Nature-Throid dose is a good idea to try. Maybe that's just too much T3 all at the same time otherwise. The Hashimoto's Encephalopathy is an interesting angle -- every doc I've suggested it to laughed it off, also. (Although it is supposedly very, very under-diagnosed.)


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## sjmjuly (Mar 23, 2012)

bigfoot said:


> Ugh, bummer to hear about the ER visit. Your headaches sound familiar. For a while allergies were really bad this spring, but the headaches seem to come and go as they please, pollen be damned. I think splitting the Nature-Throid dose is a good idea to try. Maybe that's just too much T3 all at the same time otherwise. The Hashimoto's Encephalopathy is an interesting angle -- every doc I've suggested it to laughed it off, also. (Although it is supposedly very, very under-diagnosed.)


From what I have read it's VERY rare and I don't think alot of the medical field are familiar with it. Probably because it is so rare, nobody studies it.
Though I don't have the symptoms (just the headache) I have had a CT scan and an MRI - both were normal.
I am perimenopausal too and that may have something to do with the headaches. I did a 24 hour urine test and will have the results next week. Then I will know where the rest of my hormones are.


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