Underactive thyroid and a cold - I'm floored

[RainbowHash]

Hello,

Feeling so rubbish and just need to vent. I have an underactive thyroid and currently on 100mg thyroxine. Generally I'm fine and it doesn't bother me too much. But... When my immune system is in overdrive (I.e I have a cold) i just get floored.

Cold is passing and symptoms are on their way out, but I'm just lying on sofa with my son on the iPad and I've got no physical strength to do anything. It's so depressing and frustrating. And it's not just the cold, I know it's the thyroid symptoms.

Does anybody else find that their underactive thyroid symptoms re-appear when you're ill?

So fed up with it. Got so many things I want to do! And it makes me feel so emotionally low.

[helzapoppin2]

I'm offering sympathy! I've just had a bad cold which lasted about ten days and then a week of no energy, followed by some mild depression, oh, and I'm hypothyroid.
It seemed like my immune system, fighting off the cold was depleted and needed to build itself up again, which could only be done by rest.
I suppose all this is common sense, after all, a cold virus puts the body under attack, and the exhaustion means the body is healing itself, but it's always surprising how low it can lay you!

[booox]

Yes I have at times. Looking back I may not have been on quite enough to thyroxine at those times, and / or vit d and iron may not have been great. I've only recently found out that I really do need to keep my ferritin up above 70 to feel well (classed as 'normal' on the test but it's not generally thought of as necessary by gps. Mine now does help me keep mine up above this. 50 and I feel rubbish)

Ask the receptionist if you can find out what your last test result was (tsh). If around or just under 1 (eg 0.8 - 1) you're probably fine, if it's higher eg around 2, you could ask to try an extra 25. I've settled at 125 with an extra 25 twice a week. (Just awaiting results of test)

I know I do not feel good at 2.5!

A GP friend said to take a little more when poorly. I'm not sure this is necessary if your tsh is at a good level anyway. And you'd need to wait a good few weeks on your usual level before testing.

[RainbowHash]

Thank you for your replies and sympathy - is lovely being able to share with people that understand!
Yes, rest is probably one of the best thing and I need to hold on to the fact that this will pass / ride it out. But it certainly is a bit of a shock just how much a cold can put you out.

And interesting to hear about the iron, probably wouldn't hurt to up iron intake even without knowing actually levels.

Due for a test in a week or two so will get hold of levels. Very interesting Violet that you take an extra 25mg 'bump' regularly but not every day. Might try that. Gonna stay on my 100mg till I have test though!

Thanks again, you're both wonderful and have helped make me feel like I'm not so alone in this rubbish thyroid malarkey.

[booox]

Definitely stay at 100 till then.

I was having issues on 125, upped to 150 but that was too high. So I went down to alternate days of 150/125.

Pre child I was also on beta blockers which apparently slightly reduce your level of t3 conversion. Hence dropping again a tad, though actually I'm thinking the results will say I'm ok again at 125 as I'm not on the beta blockers.

The half life of thyroxine is 7-10 days so it averages out over a week to tweak it like this. This is why you ideally wait 6-12 weeks after any dose changes to test. After 12 weeks you also have a better feel for how symptoms are in your body as that can take a while to catch up sometimes (it depends on the person and how long you've been suffering).

I definitely recover better and more quickly from wobbles if I have a good background level of fitness too, but I do think the usual vit d, iron (ferritin) and b vitamins helps a lot there too.

I have noticed a huge difference since I got ferritin up above 70.

I do hope you get better soon. Thyroid is a chronic condition and the treatment is not an exact like for like. So sometimes I do think we suffer more from illnesses.