# hashimotos muscle cramps twitching



## barrineau

i was diagnosed with hashimotos, have very high antibody levels still , my tsh t3 and t4 have normalized on tirosint. been having muscle cramps, joint pain and muscle twitches. endo denies this is from antibodies, meds or the hypothyroidism. i also have bad headaches and blurrey vision as well. mri negative, thyroid US showed multinodular goiter. any one have the same symptoms...


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## Andros

barrineau said:


> i was diagnosed with hashimotos, have very high antibody levels still , my tsh t3 and t4 have normalized on tirosint. been having muscle cramps, joint pain and muscle twitches. endo denies this is from antibodies, meds or the hypothyroidism. i also have bad headaches and blurrey vision as well. mri negative, thyroid US showed multinodular goiter. any one have the same symptoms...


Welcome to the board. When you have time, we would like to see what antibodies were tested and other labs run. Please post results and the ranges. We need the ranges.

Tirosint has a "lot" of side effects.

http://www.drugs.com/pro/tirosint.html

And the muscle pain "could" be caused by a statin, Metformin (and other oral diabetes Rx) and Quinalones (Cipro, Fluorquinalone etc..) So, you would want to rule the above in or out.

The other possibility is electrolyte deficiency which actually happens to be quite common in those of us with autoimmune anything.


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## barrineau

i was tested for Tpo and the AB antibodies. my Tpo ab were 1611 (range 0-34). antithyroglobulin ab were <20 range 0-41. last tsh was 2.030, t3 2.03 t4 1.01. electrolytes were all good on cmp. didnt do magnesium level though. and im not on any other medications other than the tirosint. i was diagnosed in november of 2010 and all of these symptoms have come on since then, i was thinking either medication related or related to increase in antibody levels . i never had any symptoms or any other health problems until my thyroid started this autoimmune process. just frustrated that docs cant give answers...

ive read other threads that people have had muscle pain and twitches since becoming hypo.. just frustrating that i cant get docs to tell my why or agree


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## hochelaga

I hear ya! At times I have had such horrible cramps of the feet, ankles, and calves that I thought surely it must be one of life's worst tortures.

There are so many variables involved with this condition/disease. Check everything... iron, minerals, adrenals. Also your meds. I was taking dessicated thyroid right from the start (for 7 years) only to have recently learned that it's the wrong medication for me.

Elle


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## Andros

barrineau said:


> i was tested for Tpo and the AB antibodies. my Tpo ab were 1611 (range 0-34). antithyroglobulin ab were <20 range 0-41. last tsh was 2.030, t3 2.03 t4 1.01. electrolytes were all good on cmp. didnt do magnesium level though. and im not on any other medications other than the tirosint. i was diagnosed in november of 2010 and all of these symptoms have come on since then, i was thinking either medication related or related to increase in antibody levels . i never had any symptoms or any other health problems until my thyroid started this autoimmune process. just frustrated that docs cant give answers...
> 
> ive read other threads that people have had muscle pain and twitches since becoming hypo.. just frustrating that i cant get docs to tell my why or agree


Did you go to the link for adverse effects I provided on the Tirosint? Did you see anything there that applies to you?

Also, consider low ferritin to be a cause of muscle cramps. I forgot about that one.
Ferritin http://www.thewayup.com/newsletters/081504.htm


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## hochelaga

Thanks for the link on iron, Andros


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## Andros

hochelaga said:


> Thanks for the link on iron, Andros


You are welcome! I love that link!


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## Andros

Andros said:


> Did you go to the link for adverse effects I provided on the Tirosint? Did you see anything there that applies to you?
> 
> Also, consider low ferritin to be a cause of muscle cramps. I forgot about that one.
> Ferritin http://www.thewayup.com/newsletters/081504.htm


I meant to say that your doc did not run the FT4 and FT3 but ran the T4 and T3 instead. These are totals and include bound and unbound hormone as well as rT3 for the T3.

The Frees are unbound hormone available for cellular uptake.

So, it is hard to tell by your TSH alone. I do suspect that you are undermedicated.

How much Tirosint are you on and how long have you been on it? Also, in the future, ranges would be appreciated as different labs use different ranges.

Your TPO is very very high.

TPO
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003556.htm

http://www.medlabs.com.jo/docs/Leaflet-17.pdf


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## barrineau

thanks for the reply. i looked back and the t3 and t4 were both the "free" values. i dont remember the exact range on my free t3 but i do remember that it was only 0.2 from being low. so its definatly on the low side of being normal. my free t4 range was 0.78-2.19 and i was 1.01 on that. i read some where that with hashi's you can still remain symptomatic with levels on the low side of normal, that hashi patients feel better with higher free t3 and free t4 values. has anyone else heard or experienced less hypo symptoms as there free t3 and free t4 levels increased??

also i have been taking 125mg of tirosint 4xper week, she changed me to taking it at bedtime since she thought some of my headaches may be occurring as the medication peaks. i take it 4x per week due to me working night shift. but she says that it all equals out to the same weekly dose due to it binding to protein and being released slowley. i have been taking this dose for about 3 months now.

another question i have is that i can almost feel my thyroid gland squeeze and a sharp pain run across the front of my throat sometimes. of course this puzzled my endo as well and she said that she had no idea what would cause that either...

i knew that my tpo was very elevated at 1611 with 0-34 being normal, but i dont have anyone elses levels to compare them too that is going through hashi's do you know what most hashi tpo levels usually are...


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## Andros

barrineau said:


> thanks for the reply. i looked back and the t3 and t4 were both the "free" values. i dont remember the exact range on my free t3 but i do remember that it was only 0.2 from being low. so its definatly on the low side of being normal. my free t4 range was 0.78-2.19 and i was 1.01 on that. i read some where that with hashi's you can still remain symptomatic with levels on the low side of normal, that hashi patients feel better with higher free t3 and free t4 values. has anyone else heard or experienced less hypo symptoms as there free t3 and free t4 levels increased??
> 
> also i have been taking 125mg of tirosint 4xper week, she changed me to taking it at bedtime since she thought some of my headaches may be occurring as the medication peaks. i take it 4x per week due to me working night shift. but she says that it all equals out to the same weekly dose due to it binding to protein and being released slowley. i have been taking this dose for about 3 months now.
> 
> another question i have is that i can almost feel my thyroid gland squeeze and a sharp pain run across the front of my throat sometimes. of course this puzzled my endo as well and she said that she had no idea what would cause that either...
> 
> i knew that my tpo was very elevated at 1611 with 0-34 being normal, but i dont have anyone elses levels to compare them too that is going through hashi's do you know what most hashi tpo levels usually are...


If you are having pain in the thyroid, you do need a sonogram or RAIU. Seriously!

Thyroid cancer symptoms
http://www.cityofhope.org/patient_care/treatments/thyroid-cancer/Pages/symptoms.aspx

What your doc said about the protein is true but it would be good if she ran a T3 uptake test. If high, protein is low; if low, protein is high. Inverse relationship.

T3 Resin Uptake or Thyroid Uptake. (T3RU) This is a test that confuses doctors, nurses, and patients. First, this is not a thyroid test, but a test on the proteins that carry thyroid around in your blood stream. Not only that, a high test number may indicate a low level of the protein! The method of reporting varies from lab to lab. The proper use of the test is to compute the free thyroxine index.

http://www.amarillomed.com/howto/#Thyroid

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003688.htm


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## barrineau

hey thanks for the protein info. i will definatly look into that. i did have a thyroid ultrasound done. is showed a multinodulargoiter, my endo said that it wasnt anything to worry about and that we would just monitor it every 6 months for any changes


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## Andros

barrineau said:


> hey thanks for the protein info. i will definatly look into that. i did have a thyroid ultrasound done. is showed a multinodulargoiter, my endo said that it wasnt anything to worry about and that we would just monitor it every 6 months for any changes


You might like to get a copy of that sonogram. There has to be "comments" on it and while it may not worry the endo, you should know the results.

That is my humble opinion.

You are welcome. It is my pleasure if I can be of any help!


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