# Methimazole 2 months, now Hypo?



## JasonJay (Oct 27, 2013)

Im very happy i found this wonderful forum with so many generous people willing to help each other out!

Im very sorry for the long post and any info/advice would be VERY appreciated.

Ive been suffering from a hyperactive thyroid for over 5 years now. I never took it seriously and learned to live with the symptoms, i was on and off methimazole for all of this time never taking it consistently as my endo ordered. Recently i decided to get back on the medication as i wanted to gain weight and start lifting weights again, My blood tests came back and were through the roof. I was put on Methimazole 20mg 2x a day (40mg total). I took it for 2 months. the first month and a half i felt great, i gained weight and felt wonderful my resting heart rate came down to 65bmp (before it used to be 100+bmp resting). I skipped both months of blood testing while being on the medication.

About 3 weeks ago i noticed my energy levels were sluggish and i felt at some points like i was in a daze, i had major brain fog at some points and was slower in most every way, felt cold. I needed way more sleep to feel good the next day. I feared i was going Hypo. I ran out of methimazole for about 5 days due to not being able to get a refill since i didn't get my blood work done. I finally went back to see the endo and she gave me a new refill, i filled the meds at a new pharmacy and they gave me a new brand of methimazole in a dark bottle "Methimazole Tablets, USP" by PAR pharmaceutical. For some reason after taking this new batch of meds i felt bad, they seemed to make me feel off and sick and numb almost.

The following day I had chinese food for lunch which i suspect had a large quantity of MSG in it, about half an hour after eating my thyroid felt like it was getting swollen and i had a hard time speaking due to discomfort. I felt my heart rate climbing and felt like my blood pressure was way up, i felt dizzy and foggy. I went into an emergency MD clinic where they took my stats my heart rate was at 116, blood pressure was high somewhere around 160/90 or something like that i don't really remember. They did an EKG on me which came back normal, drew blood with the intentions of testing my hormone levels, after drinking some water and calming down a bit my heart came back to around 80's bmp. I went home and took half an an old 25 mg atenolol tablet that i had for about a year which i never took before and went to sleep.

My t4/t3 levels from my emergency room visit (after 2 months of 40mg methimazole daily are):

Thyroxine t4 is 14.5 range is 4.5 - 12.2

T3 Uptake is 37.2 range is 22.5 - 37.0

TSH 3rd generation confirmed is .008 range is .36 - 4.42

T3 total, is 172 range is 60 - 181 (within range)

T4 Free is 2.02 range is 0.8 - 1.8

T3 Free is 5.3 range is 2.3 - 4.2

A few days after this incident i found that my adrenaline would come and go and i would get these panic attacks with a high heart rate and a feeling of blood rushing to my head which i never gotten before in my life. I was in a theater and got another one of these attacks so i took a whole atenolol which worked immediately to slow down my heart rate and calm me down. When i got home from the theater i felt EXTREMELY cold, i put on 2 pairs of socks, sweatpants, a sweater, and a winter hat to go to sleep in my bed. I felt really sick and my heart rate went to 47 bmp which made me feel horrible. My heart felt as if it was flip flopping and beating very irregularly and skipping beats, the back of my legs hurt and felt as if they buckled in bed under covers, i had stiff muscles, my circulation didn't feel right at all. I managed to fall asleep and the next day just thinking about what had happened gave me another panic attack with my heart racing so i cut off a tiny piece of a atenolol pill (maybe it was around 7mg) and drank it with a glass of water and my panic attack disappeared. Ive never felt more sluggish and useless and DEPRESSED in my entire life like i did this day, i felt like i was in a numb dream, i had ZERO appetite and couldn't eat anything, i felt emotional and drained. I had to call off work and spent the majority of the day in bed.

I have now been off the atenolol for 2 days and finally feel like my circulation is back, im not as cold and feel a bit better but the anxiety and panic attacks still happened both days. I have been off the high dose methimazole (40mg) for 5 days now, took 5mg yesterday only. I just want to feel somewhat normal again and out of this low energy and panicked state, I was used to the hyper symptoms but these new symptoms which i suspect are hypo symptoms are beyond bad and i cant stand them at all, i just want my life back.

My questions are, whats causing this change in my body? why don't i feel normal? could my thyroid getting way smaller to in 2 months be affecting my body? and now it just releases levels of hormone at random times trying to grow back since im off the methimazole for 5 days and when it does this im very easily anxious and it gives me a rapid heart beat and adrenaline at the times it does this?

thank you all for reading, Jason.

P.S. im getting new blood work done tomorrow to see where my levels are at.


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## HotGrandma (Sep 21, 2012)

Jason. Sounds like you have learned the hard way like most of us the importance in getting labs drawn every 4 weeks. This thyroid stuff is serious business.


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## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

Jason,



> My questions are, whats causing this change in my body? why don't i feel normal? could my thyroid getting way smaller to in 2 months be affecting my body?


To start - you need to take your medications as prescribed and test FT-4 and FT-3 very 4-6 weeks. Going on and off medication without having regular labs is irresponsible to your health. While many of us can manage doses due to how we feel - we always have labs prior to making adjustments. You need to do the same if you ever want to feel well again. Your movement of thyroid hormones and possible overdose of your beta blocker is also to blame also



> Methimazole 20mg 2x a day (40mg total). I took it for 2 months. the first month and a half i felt great, i gained weight and felt wonderful my resting heart rate came down to 65bmp (before it used to be 100+bmp resting). I skipped both months of blood testing while being on the medication.


This is a BIG no no. 40mg of methimazole is going to make a hyper person hypo in most cases. You absolutely need to re- test every 4 weeks. There is a good chance they would have lowered your dose - thus avoiding a hypo state.



> I ran out of methimazole for about 5 days due to not being able to get a refill since i didn't get my blood work done. I finally went back to see the endo and she gave me a new refill, i filled the meds at a new pharmacy and they gave me a new brand of methimazole in a dark bottle "Methimazole Tablets, USP" by PAR pharmaceutical. For some reason after taking this new batch of meds i felt bad, they seemed to make me feel off and sick and numb almost.


Did your endo run labs when she refilled your prescription? It sounds to me like your body is experiencing being hyper.



> I went home and took half an an old 25 mg atenolol tablet that i had for about a year which i never took before and went to sleep.


Did the hospital not give you any atenolol? You really need to check with a doctor before doing something like this. I cannot believe the hospital would send you off with out a beta blocker.

So you mean these are after you were off the medication for 3 weeks?


> My t4/t3 levels from my emergency room visit (after 2 months of 40mg methimazole daily are):
> 
> Thyroxine t4 is 14.5 range is 4.5 - 12.2
> 
> ...


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## JasonJay (Oct 27, 2013)

hi guys thanks for the reply,

those labs are after taking the pills for 2 months 40mg daily, i missed about 4 days of pills before these labs were taken. But the day before the labs were take i did take the new brand of methimazole that didnt make me feel too well. What do these labs tell you?


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## JasonJay (Oct 27, 2013)

Jason; when were the above labs taken? We will be very interested in the results and ranges of your blood work tomorrow but according to the labs above................you are/were very hyperthyroid and you are lucky you have not had a thyroid storm....................yet!

Thyroid Storm Symptoms
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001437

Your T3 uptake is really high.

T3 Uptake test
http://www.drstandley.com/labvalues_thyroid.shtml (high, hyper---low, hypo)

The T3 uptake explained.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/e...cle/003688.htm

And if you have not done so, you really need to get RAIU not only so you know the rate of uptake but to see if there are any cold spots or other irregularities that would suggest cancer.

Thyroid cancer in patients with hyperthyroidism.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12876418

It is my humble opinion that you are in the advanced stages of hyperthyroid and your best bet would be to get the thyroid surgically removed when you get the thyrotoxicosis under control.

How are your eyes? Do you have a goiter? Myxedema?

This way, you can get your life on back on track. Please keep us in the loop as this can lead to very serious consequences if not treated properly.


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## JasonJay (Oct 27, 2013)

sorry to double post, thats what andros told me. Does everyone agree? to me it looks like i am within range of having a normal thyroid? where is Andros getting this from?


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## JasonJay (Oct 27, 2013)

to me it looks like i made major improvements thus far, my old numbers were through the roof and the new one look closer to almost normal, check the reference ranges


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## jenny v (May 6, 2012)

You need to look at your Free T3 and Free T4 numbers, those are still really high and out of range:
T4 Free is 2.02 range is 0.8 - 1.8

T3 Free is 5.3 range is 2.3 - 4.2

Those, coupled with your very low TSH, indicate you are still very hyperthyroid.


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