They SAY IT IS NOT SCIENTIFICALLY POSSIBLE. iS ANYONE ELSE HAVING HTIS PROBLEM I'M REALLY FRUSTRATED FROM IT.
My tyroid medicine is making me sick. Does anyone know why I can't get my Doctor's to believe me?
Question posted by capem on 1 March 2010
Last updated on 21 November 2021 by dolliemjs02
Added 1 March 2010:
SORRY I ACCIDENTLY LEFT OUT THE 'H' IN THYROID AND DON'T KNOW HOW TO EDIT IT. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I HAVE USED THIS WEB SITE. ALSO I MEANT TO SAY 'THIS' PROBLEM
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12 Answers
dolliemjs02
21 Nov 2021
I don’t have an answer to your question but I have been having problems since I started taking the thyroid medication in 2017. I never had abdominal problems until I started taking Levothyroxine 100 mcg daily. Now I have a diverticulitis and it flares up quite often and when I take the medication first thing in the morning with the water it makes my stomach hurt and cramp.
BORNINUKGIRL
4 May 2020
I was just put on Levothyroxine, been feeling dizzy and nauseous for no reason since I started it 2 weeks ago. Can't stand up without feeling like I want to pass out or throw up. No other medical conditions to substantiate the symptoms
catalana
13 Sep 2019
Please go to: California Center for Pituitary Disorders and read it.
Also read: Australian Prescriber Modern management of thyroid replacement therapy
I found the answer to my thyroid treatment in those 2 pages.
msmustang1981
14 Sep 2019
Was thyroid medicine making you sick? What was your answer?
catalana
14 Sep 2019
Because as I have discovered recently, the medication should be 1.6 x T4 mcg/day per kilo (body weight). Not 50 mcg or 75 mcg. In my case 78 kilos x 1.6 = 124.8 mcg of T4 per day.
Of course there is a way to do that, not just to go and take the full amount but increasing from where one is. Increasing 12.5 every 2 weeks I think it is (I've got the information on my bedside table). I started doing it and my worse symptom, very slow pulse, shows a bit of a recovery. I am only on the first increase of 12.5 mcg of T4. It has to be done as they explain in the 2 links I have sent before. One from US and the other one from Australian Prescriber. Or you can do more harm to yourself than good. I hope it is clear.
msmustang1981
13 Sep 2019
I am in the same boat - have been for the last 18 months and it’s awful! This happened after successfully and easily taking Synthroid for 8 years. I have all of the side effects mentioned in all of the comments here plus more. Doctors tell me it is impossible. I am so sick of being sick! I’ve had my pituitary checked, adrenals, and cortisol. Everything checks out well, but yet I remain so sick if I take any thyroid medicine. I’ve tried them all - brand, generic, T4 only, T3 only, T4+T3, and NDT and they all evoke the same terrible side effects in me. I feel so much better if I can skip a day or two but then all the hypo problems start setting in and I have to take something. It’s no way to live. It’s awful to need a medication to live well but not be able to take it.
Shaddie
28 Aug 2019
I really feel for you. I have been unable to take any thyroid medication at a therapeutic dose because of the debilitating side effects including rapid heart rate, heart palpitations, Flushing, feeling like I’m crawling out of my skin, crying jags, extreme anxiety and depression… Just to name a few. The only medication I have been able to tolerate is Tirosint , and even that took me three months of titrating up to be able to take the lowest dose which is still not therapeutic. No Dr has been able to explain to me why I am unable to take this medication, and why the side effects are so terrible for me. If anybody has any answers to this mystery, I would sure love to hear what you’ve got to say. Good luck. I envy those people who can just take the pill and get their levels right.
Donna00112
10 Feb 2019
I am not a professional. I was diagnosed with underactive thyroid in October, 2018. Started on generic Synthroid. Since this time, I have become more and more tired, gained weight, headaches, nausea, and listless, and brain fog. Talked with doc who prescribed this. They suggested I consult with my endocrinologist. Did so. Endo said I have been on too high of a dose. Only way to correct this is to stop taking it for six weeks. Then, blood work. Then, a determination will be made as to how to proceed. I'm frightened about this.
sugarsheila
25 Aug 2018
Recently there was a recall of bad batches of Synthroid. I choose to use Armour Thyroid because it’s derived from natural and not synthetic sources. My doctor in California refused to give it to me because she said “studies haven’t been done on it,” even though I’d been using it without problems for years. That was the Kaiser doctor. I really have to shop for doctors who listen and are philosophically on the same page about health care. It’s becoming harder to find doctors like that because everything is going to a corporate medicine platform and doctors have less freedom in their practice. Hope you feel better soon.
MissJR34w
20 Jan 2018
I was taking that one also and my doctor said no it’s not that but finally we removed other medications and found out yes it was that one and now my file says not to give
GeesinD
20 Nov 2017
I have the same problem and have been told the exact same thing. I downloaded the prescriber's insert for Synthroid where it clearly states that some people have a hypersensitivity which can cause myriad symptoms including nausea. Print it out and show it to your doctors. There is a hypoallergenic form of levothyroxine in capsule form called Tirosint. Unfortunately, there is no generic form of this medication and it can be expensive, especially since many insurance providers do not seem to have it on their formulary. Something I find extremely unfair considering it is not my fault that I cannot tolerate the junk used in the base of all brands of levothyroxine. I was so nauseous after I took it that I would gag for hours. I put up with it and my doctors telling me that they never heard of it or that is not possible for over a year. Two doctors told me not to take it with a full glass of water as that was causing the nausea.
So I tried taking it with a tiny sip of water, no difference. I took it without water using my saliva to get it down. Did not help. So, I began getting up at 3 am every morning to take it so I could try to sleep through the nausea for three hours. That did not help either. I hope my experience with this helps you. Stay positive, do not give up and most importantly do not stop your levothyroxine despite how sick it is making you as your hypothyroid symptoms will return and you could possibly end up in a myxedema crisis or even worse, a myxedema coma which is usually fatal. Good luck, I hope you feel better.
Billie22
4 Nov 2018
You know I have not been on it but a few months but every night I feel baggy and like I am going to get sick I am really tired of the way this pill is making me feel and in the morning I take it on a empty stomach and feel like crap for quite a while finally I feel a little better around noon then I can move around a little more I told my primary about it but that not to long after I started it but I think it has gotten worse so she is going to have to figure something else out because I can not keep going like this I am tired all the time do not feel like doing anything feel sick all of the time now I have got strep and a sore tongue so I feel for all of you I know what you are saying thank you for letting me Express myself..
cswift2054
12 July 2017
Thank you so much for asking, and YES I am having this problem. It happened before. All of a sudden I felt icky all the time. I finally traced the cause to my levothyroxine. It turned out my local pharmacy had changed generic brands. They were very nice and just ordered from a different lab for me.
Why don't doctors believe us? Because they have been told repeatedly, mostly by pharmaceutical companies, that generics are exactly the same as the original. We know they aren't. The government allows a certain percentage of error (I've heard 20%) but more importantly, they all have different background or "inactive" ingredients
itsmetoo2
1 March 2010
What are the problems you are having? Maybe we can find some documentation?
capem
2 March 2010
Basically an over all feeling of sickness that starts a few hours after I take it, sometimes sooner. My head goes numb. I get lightheaded and sometimes I wake up at night with a rapid heart beat. I also get flushed. I never had any of these symptoms until I started taking synthroid but they just keep telling me it's not the medicine. Thanks for help.
itsmetoo2
2 March 2010
I am shocked that your doctor is prescribing medication and does not know the side effects.Everything you spoke of is listed below including flushing is also listed as a side effect of the inert ingredients. You need a doctor you can trust. I would look around to see what other doctors are out there. Do not feel bad this is not your falt you chose the doctor that does not believe in you.
"Synthroid Side Effects - for the Professional
Synthroid
Adverse reactions associated with levothyroxine therapy are primarily those of hyperthyroidism due to therapeutic overdosage. They include the following:
General
fatigue, increased appetite, weight loss, heat intolerance, fever, excessive sweating;
Central nervous system
headache, hyperactivity, nervousness, anxiety, irritability, emotional lability, insomnia;
Musculoskeletal
tremors, muscle weakness;
Cardiovascular
palpitations, tachycardia, arrhythmias, increased pulse and blood pressure, heart failure, angina, myocardial infarction, cardiac arrest;
Respiratory
dyspnea;
Gastrointestinal
diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal cramps and elevations in liver function tests;
Dermatologic
hair loss, flushing;
Endocrine
decreased bone mineral density;
Reproductive
menstrual irregularities, impaired fertility.
Pseudotumor cerebri and slipped capital femoral epiphysis have been reported in children receiving levothyroxine therapy. Overtreatment may result in craniosynostosis in infants and premature closure of the epiphyses in children with resultant compromised adult height.
Seizures have been reported rarely with the institution of levothyroxine therapy.
Inadequate levothyroxine dosage will produce or fail to ameliorate the signs and symptoms of hypothyroidism.
Hypersensitivity reactions to inactive ingredients have occurred in patients treated with thyroid hormone products. These include urticaria, pruritus, skin rash, flushing, angioedema, various GI symptoms (abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea), fever, arthralgia, serum sickness and wheezing. Hypersensitivity to levothyroxine itself is not known to occur."
capem
3 March 2010
Thank you very much for your help. I will look for another Doctor who hopefully will believe what I am telling them. I really appreciate the information.
itsmetoo2
3 March 2010
I just found this site to help you in your search for a doctor...
http://www.thyroid-info.com/topdrs/index.htm
capem
4 March 2010
Thanks again! I found two doctors on the list within a 30 minute driving disatnce. You made a very frustrated person feel much better.
Inactive
1 March 2010
Try talking to a pharmacist and I think you will get a much different answer. Pharmacists know all medicines backwards and forwards, and you may have to change doctors if you keep having problems and your current doctor doesn't believe you.Thyroid conditions are pretty bad and can take a while to regulate. Make sure you get your bloodwork done on time. I hope you get some answers and relief soon.
capem
2 March 2010
Thank you. I will talk to my pharmacist. I actually did go to another Doctor.
They also said it's not possible. Thanks again.
bestwon
28 Feb 2017
Did you ever get an answer to not being able to take the thyroid medication. I have the same problem and have gone all the way to mayo clinic and Cleveland clinic and they tell me the same thing. Strange thing is I took the meds for 20 years and all the sudden one day they started making me sick and have been doing it every since then.
Sylvia Hink
5 April 2017
I was on thyroid medication for 23 years and all of a sudden got very sick. After I stopped taking, all symptoms went away. I had diarrhea, blistering headaches, nausea, a rash on face and ringing in the ears. Went to see endocrinolist & we tried several different thyroid drugs. Finally, I was able to tolerate a compounded slow release. Eventually, this started making me sick. I have decided to stay off for a while & see what happens. Can't live with these symptoms!
Gabbydog
15 Aug 2017
I too was told by several Doctors that it was not possible. But in fact is. I had an undiagnosed Adrenal tumor that was releasing exsesive amounts of adrenalin into my system causing horrible side effects. The Synthroid would trigger a response in my adrenal glands. I have since had the tumor removed and still have not found a med that lowers my Throid levels without making me feel sick.
Jcmay61
2 Nov 2019
I had my thyroid removed 35 years ago, taking meds doing fine Until I hit menopause! Meds make me sick doctor thinks I'm crazy, stop talking them felt better.what should I do?
Jcmay61
25 Nov 2019
Had same problem, taking synthroid and levothyroxine for 35 years then all the sudden made me sick! I told doctor I'm not taking it anymore!! He put me on Armour feeling better just have to wait 3 more weeks for blood work. Sorry you're not feeling well, hope this helps
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thyroid disease, hypothyroidism
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