Levothyroxine Side Effects (Page 7)

I was recently diagnosed with an underactive thyroid. I have been taking levothyroxine for almost two weeks. For the last four or five days I have had a weird feeling. It is hard to explain. I don't really feel dizzy but I get a strange feeling in my head. I guess you would describe it as a head rush. Has anyone else had this feeling and will it go away as my body adjusts to the levothyroxine?

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I have been on Levothroxine for three weeks. The first two weeks, I felt light headed, foggy and nauseated. A friend of mine (who also takes Levothroxine) told me to schedule my eating properly while taking it, especially the first meal of the day. This week, I made a point to eat breakfast exactly an hour after taking it and I feel great! My stomach has tolerated the medicine fine for seven days now, the nauseating feeling went away. The light headedness and the foggy or 'drunk' feelings are now gone. I'm already feeling improvements in my energy levels and my desire to do things. My couch potato time has cut in half. My attention span is improving daily. My appetite has slightly increased, yet I have lost three pounds this week. Before the doctors found my thyroid problem, I was inactive, lethargic, depressed, and blah for quite a few years. I blamed it on age. I'm 46 and feeling alive again. I hope this continues, and I hope you all can get here too! Try scheduling three meals a day consistantly, with your first meal being within an hour of taking it. It did wonders for me.

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I have gone up from 125 to 137. My head feels weird.
My thyroid is way underactive so the dr. adjusted it.
I have no appetite, and I feel very anti-social, and very depressed.

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hey I was just looking up info on hypothyroidism and memory and saw your response. I'm 18 and diagnosed with hypothyroidism about 2 months ago. I've been taking 50mg of levothyroxine and am starting synthroid tomorrow. I'm studying to be a doctor and realized my memory is often foggy after reading textbooks, and was wondering after 1 year if you feel that your memory has improved at all? thank you

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I was originally diagnosed with Grave's disease (hereditary hyperthyroidism) back in 1985. I took the radioactive iodine treatment in 1988 (3 years treating with meds). I never had to take any meds again until 2001. At that time I was diagnosed hypo. I have been on meds ever since. My weight gain of 50 lbs never dropped. My meds have recently been increased to 175mcg. One difference, I requested "Synthroid" instead of generic. While I'm not losing the weight, I do have more energy. I never felt any of the other symptome many of you mention.
Try the brand name and see how you feel. I've heard many people feel better on that.
Good luck to you all

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I unfortunatley have side effects you guys have too. I've only been on this two weeks. My question is if you don't take these meds what's the major repercussions that any of you have incurred?

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I got put on Levothyroxine as my thyroid has not been working for many years, but the symptoms were ignored by GP.....I have recently chucked the lot in the bin, I have completely lost my appetite and at only 7 1/2 stone I cannot afford anymore weight loss, my hair is falling out and I have been suffering terrible depression. I got the funny feeling in my head every morning but it only lasted an hour or so. I don't think this drug is ideal for an awful lot of people, but is given because its cheap......gonna take my chances with the heart problems I previously had!

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I just happened upon this post becuz I have an appt tomorrow with the endocrinologist becuz my hair is continuing to fall out and I'm very self conscious about it.this started when I was first diagnosed with hypothyroidism and was taking Synthroid. After almost a year of hair loss I asked my doctor what could be causing out. Hair loss can be a side effect of Synthroid. She changed my medication to Armour Thyroid which is a natural, not synthetic, and my hair loss stopped PLUS the med was cheaper. Things were great until last year when the pharmacies never had enough in stock to full my prescription and after 3 or 4 months of getting partial refills and having to run around to different pharmacies just to get a months supply the pharmacy told me they can't get it any more becuz they're no longer making it. I was really upset becuz now I'm forced to take Levothyroxine, which is generic Synthroid and immediately my hair started falling out again. My MD says that I may be able to get the other type thru the endocrinologist as they can make their own formulas? Anyway, I hope so because I'm literally going bald.

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I was prescribed levothyroxine by m Dr about 1.5 yrs ago. I swear it is making me unable to concentrate, focus my attention on anything, unable to read and absorb anything. I plan to stop taking it for a few days to see if my symptoms get better. Before I started taking this, I was sharp as a tack. Now, I feel like my brain is turning to mush.

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hi marc... god help me then.... my concentrations is mush now and ive only bin takin it since begining of October.... lol

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I'm 33, diagnosed with Hashimoto, started 25 mcg of Levo a day - after two weeks of taking it, I was constantly out of breath, felt lightheaded and panicky, woke up with rapid heat beating and out of breath. (My TSH dropped, T 3 and T 4 as well - so, clinically, it was going into the right direction). They reduced my meds to 12.5 mcg and last night (after taking the 12.5 mcg dosage for only two days!) I was woken up with no breath at all, heart pounding, I felt like I was dying. I'm incredibly scared that this whole thing messed up my heart because I've never experienced anything similar before. I'm afraid to even go to sleep. I'm seeing the doctor on Monday. Reading about your experiences helps so much!

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I was on Levothyroxine for several years. My heart started doing all kinds of weird things. Palpitations, skipping beats, beating irregulary. Couple of time felt like it stopped completely for a second. Very scary. At night I would wake up with racing heart. I tried to tell Dr. and she said I had premature heart beat. I quit taking the pills and my heart is almost back to normal. However, just went to Dr. and she wants me back on the Levothyroxine again only 25 mcg instead of 75. I am scared to death to start taking it again.

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Im 16 years old and female and i was diagnosed with an underactive thyroid around 3 months ago and was put straight away onto 50mg levothyroxine, i experienced no side affects for the first 2 months and my symptoms did seem to improve for a while but then i went downhill, i went to my gp this week who said that my blood levels will need to be checked again in 2 weeks and i will need to be on a higher dose. however, i was admitted to a&e just last night with heart palpatations and an irregular heart beat and pain when breathing. however it did feel like they were in a rush to get rid of me. i have also been getting severe headaches over the right side of my head and these affect my vision and balance, also the doctor said that i have many lymph glands up. what does this mean?!?! i just want to be normal again. anyone have any advice?

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Hi Laura, I too got a funny heart beat (atrial fibrillation) that was put down as coincidence after starting thyroxine. I got all sorts of other problems too and ended up being offered more and more different pills to sort out the problems it caused so I stopped the thyroxine went back to being sleepy and got rid of all the other problems. I then explored more because I knew that I needed the thyroxine. If your thyroxine has been low for a long time it is vital to start on a low dose and work your way up very, very slowly. If you go too fast you'll get symptoms of 'overdose' which include palpitations etc etc.... so yes 25mcg for as long as it takes then 50 then 75 or whatever but do it slowly and hopefully you too will feel better. It's just a shame that Gps just ignore us! Good luck

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I just started on the medicine last week and feel very bloated. My question to you is, have you gained the weight since you started taking the medicine? I'm feeling weird but it's more like I'm on edge and get snappy quicker than usual.

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Sharon - your symptoms are the same as mine. I have been taking levothyroxine for about a week and I feel bloated, it feels like a rock is in my stomach and I'm a little down.

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It seems like the medicine they give us does more harm than good. My heart actually beat off kilter. I don't know how to describe it but it was like it was beating only on one side and I was short of breath. Isn't there anything else they can precribe besides levothyroxine? I would rather not take anything. Ever since being on this drug I react to all medicines. Even allergy pills mess with my heart now.

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im very thankful too cuz i found this site,im also hypothyroid victim! im feel very sad bcoz of all people in the whole world im one of the victim of this kind of disease. everyday i feel sick even now & always hungry every hour! im annoyed myself & i m very tired of eating & eating & eating!. who else can help my problem?....please... im taking levothyroxine thyrax 30mins before breakfast. & my upper abdomen is bloating almost evryday &painful. thank you in advance!..

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Ok, There is nothing else from the nhs so try this. My Gp suggested taking it with food to offset the stomach problems and it helped but I also needed stomach meds for a month (ppis) to settle it down. Then I needed to give myself days off to keep from being bloated again. It was then I found out about starting low and increasing the dose really slowly so I take it alternate days at a low dose and will slowly increase it maybe even 6 monthly until I get to where the Gp wants and I want without heart futter, bloating, indigestion and a mussy head. I also may lose my temper the next time some well meaning twit of a doctor tells me there are no adverse side effects!

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Exactly!! That is why they are called Practioners...they are practicing medicine on all of us. I wish Doctors would listen to their patients instead of having the "I know more than you and you don't know what you are talking about" attitude.

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I was diagnosed with an underactive thyroid and PCOS in september, doc has finally arranged treatment of thyroxine and metformin for me. Started the thyroxine on wed this week, havent noticed any changes yet, probably too early. But i have been getting odd stomach pains constantly, and a lot of wind! Is this normal? I did have the flu at the beginning of week, but the stomach pain started when i started the medication.

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