Hypothyroidism

[glossyflower]

Can anyone else share their experiences of hypothyroidism symptoms before diagnosis, and how long did it take for thyroxine to work and for you to feel better?
Xxx

[VictoriaPlum01]

I suffered from hair loss as a teenager. After exhaustive tests, my thyroid was identified as the problem. I didn't suffer from any other symptoms, so was lucky.

The thyroxine should make you feel better pretty quickly. Good luck.

[Shesparkles]

I had some of the "classic" symptoms, extreme tiredness- if I sat down I'd fall asleep, horrendously fast weight gain, dry hair and skin, non existent libido.
It took a while to get up to the correct dosage for me as it gets increased incrementally with a few weeks and a blood test in between, but as the dosage increased, I did feel a bit better with each increase. From memory (it was about 13/14 years ago) I think it took about 9 months till I felt "right", although it was a gradual improvement all the way

[mercibucket]

I was ill for maybe over a year without really noticing, then took a year to feel back to normal
The extreme cold feeling was the first I noticed, then extreme tiredness, then brain fog, again v bad by the end, and hair loss, which I didn't notice til I needed to shave my legs again, and cut my nails!
I found my gp to be hopeless and educated myself so I was able to guide my own recovery and discover I had other deficiencies inc vit d and ferritin (b12, folates also common deficiencies).
Feel fine now, although my weight is a bit of a problem, not loads tho

[mercibucket]

I was ill for maybe over a year without really noticing, then took a year to feel back to normal
The extreme cold feeling was the first I noticed, then extreme tiredness, then brain fog, again v bad by the end, and hair loss, which I didn't notice til I needed to shave my legs again, and cut my nails!
I found my gp to be hopeless and educated myself so I was able to guide my own recovery and discover I had other deficiencies inc vit d and ferritin (b12, folates also common deficiencies).
Feel fine now, although my weight is a bit of a problem, not loads tho

[glossyflower]

Thank you for sharing.
It's not me it's my dad that's only just been diagnosed.
His symptoms have been, weak, muscle aches, anaemia (needing blood transfusions) a degree of kidney failure, slurred speech, poor mobility (with some falls), unable to swallow, eyebrows and lashes fallen out, confusion, sensitivity to the cold, depression.
The problem is that a year ago had a bone marrow transplant and started on high dose steroids just before Xmas so it's trying to weigh up what is caused by the hypothyroidism and what are side effects of the steroids.
Before this is was an independent clear minded man in his mid 50s.
He's quite confused at the moment, in and out of sleep a lot - he will fall into a deep sleep mid sentence, and forget he's in hospital, ringing my mum up in the middle of the night disorientated.
It's sad to see him like this and was hoping the levothyroxine would make a difference in the week he's been on it.

[mercibucket]

Awww poor thing. Most of that sounds like the hypothyroidism rather than the steroids (not medical, but know about both), altho the muscle pains could be a bit of both. He needs to check out vit d as well as that causes a lot of bone and muscle pains. There can be a difference within weeks, it's the fine tuning that takes a while longer.I noticed a difference almost straightaway, but it took a long time to get back to normal.

[mercibucket]

Awww poor thing. Most of that sounds like the hypothyroidism rather than the steroids (not medical, but know about both), altho the muscle pains could be a bit of both. He needs to check out vit d as well as that causes a lot of bone and muscle pains. There can be a difference within weeks, it's the fine tuning that takes a while longer.I noticed a difference almost straightaway, but it took a long time to get back to normal.