Underactive Thyroid - help please!!!

[Ninablue]

Hi i was diagnosed with an underactive thyroid about a month ago. I went for a test as my mum has just been diagnosed and her Dr advised me to be screened. Ive been feeling v v poorly for some time, severe tiredness and also weird hangover symptoms and I don't drink very much at all maybe the odd glass of wine. Anyway my levels were TSH 12 T4 25 so I have been put on 50 mg thyroxin. Hangover feeling has gone but still so very very tired.
However, yesterday i worked all day and when i got home i slept for half hour before i collected the kids as i was so tired and this mng i have woken up with the hangover feeling again? Is this a thyroid symptom? I feel so ill! I would be interested to hear if anyone else with an underactive thyoid has this at all...Nina

I don't have this condition but I believe severe fatigue and sleepiness is a major symptom of hypothyroidism, yes.

I have been very Hyperthryoid for 10 years now after treatment i am Hypo. Went very very dangerously low...(i have written posts on her about it). It took all my efforts to get up and do stuff...usually very fit on treadmill daily now stuggling to get out of bed! Temp very very low, wore two coats in the house, always shivvering. Doc said its the worse result he had ever seen. I am now on 150mg Thyroxine..its taken months (6) to get almost right. My headaches were so bad i was told i may have a Pituitary Tumor! They settled. Its very tough with this condition, you put on weight, you feel like a slug, no appetite sometimes, shiver, generally feel crap, tears come easily too. I had EVERY symptom for both Hyper and Hypo as my Thryoid changed so dramatically, i have been so ill in every way. When i was at the peak of Hyper my results was 300+ thus leading onto Graves Disease. Its a daily battle to feel well.....Sympathies with you ...good luck xx

Oh dear Zara thats sounds awful, poor you. Actually today i feel so so cold and everyone else walking round in jackets and i was shivering in a puffa jkt at the school gates!!! I go back to see Dr in a months time, maybe i should ring and get an appointment to get my levels checked. Do the levels go up and down at all? As its feels like mine do....

Thanks also to narmada for your reply...x

I am hypothyroid as a result of surgery for hyperthyroid symptoms so slightly different in that I haven't had to live with hypo symptoms undiagnosed which I think makes a difference. The longer you have this condition without treatment the longer it takes to get back on an even keel.

The symptoms you describe are common for hypo people. Your TSH and FT4 are beyond the normal reference ranges but would be classed as indicative of mild hypothyroidism hence your low 50mcg starting dose. You may well need a higher dose to bring your TSH to an optimum level. I hope your GP has offered you a follow up blood test. They should have offered one at 6 weeks from beginning thyroxine. If they haven't then you need to request one on the grounds that you are still feeling symptomatic.