Under-active Thyroid - not feeling right

[DottyDottyD]

Hi all,

I was diagnosed with underactive thyroid coming up nearly two years now. Came about after my second pregnancy. It runs in my family so know it was going to get me at some point. It was the aches and pains that prompted me to get a blood test. I was constantly tired but thought that was from looking after two kids under two. Started to feel better aches wise when I got the right medicine. I'm on 75mg of levothyroxine so it's not too high a dose. A whole year past and I got bloods taken again. Same dosage. No change. But I've found my anxiety is sky high. And it's getting really bad. I never used to be like this. A few weeks ago my work told me a new project was coming in and I totally freaked out. I just couldn't focus, couldn't get my head around doing something new. I also have low days and lots of brain fog - I mean LOTS of brain fog. I walk into rooms and forget what I'm going in there for etc. I can't concentrate on more than one thing. I panic when new situations arise - like simplest of things - car insurance renewal for instance. This is not normal. They are all symptoms of under active thyroid. But my levels haven't changed. And now I'm stuck. What else can be done if I'm on the correct dosage? It's starting to affect my work and I'm getting really worried.

75mcg I meant to say.

Get full bloods. B12 deficiency also makes you wooly headed and feels like thyroid IME. Apparently goes hand in hand with underactive thyroid. You can get B12 injections, which far exceed any oral supplement you can take - again IME. When I feel like are I see Dr for a B12 shot and that really picks me up. I'm on 200mcg thyroid medication. Feeling really off recently and got a B12 shot on Tuesday. Feel much better now.

I could of wrote your post I've been on eltroxin for nearly two years for a under active thyroid and have a yearly blood test now. The last two tests I'm told are fine that my levels are the same and to stay on my dosage which is lower than yours actually I'm on 50 mcg.
I have all your symptoms plus I have a racing heart at times and thumping heart beats sometimes as I try to sleep.
I'm told it's not my thyroid asi my levels are ok. I've just had a blood test this week a fbc b12 and iron.

I’ve been hypothyroid for almost 30 years (take 175mg/200mg on alternate days). I’m afraid what you described is my life. Along with vitiligo, alopecia areata and Vitiligo. Cutting out gluten helped but it feels like your living your life walking through treacle. Some days are better than others.

I know this feeling well. Also on 75mg.

I take vit B12 pills, which you can get from Boots, and spatone for iron- being even a bit hypo makes you absorb both poorly from food and you can feel very fatigued and irritable.

The other thing you could try is an adrenal support - taking pregnenolone is a life changer for me. You can buy it on Amazon there are other ones as well including adrenal cortex supplements. If you've been hypo/undermedicated for some time you might be quite run down.

Generally hypothyroidism is pretty crudely treated - you need to do your own research and find out what works for you. Good luck!

@OneMoreForExtra where do you buy your pregnenolone from please? And did you consult your GP first?

Oblahdee I bought it on Amazon. Several options but make sure its actual pregnenolone not other 'adrenal support ' formulas which are just minerals and vitamins. Currently using Biomatrix liquid preg which i like (sorry can't link for some reason).

Yes I did consult my GP, and an endocrinologist, neither of whom could offer any more than the standard TSH test and T4 dosing. That's all that's sanctioned under the NHS. You really do have to do your own research because its quite specific to you. If your main motor is running slow it affects everything in you and you can either live with it or become your own expert.

People uptrend with pounding heart /anxiety are likely experiencing other high cortisol or high adrenaline. These are both hormones produced by your adrenal glands, ideally to run away from tigers, but also produced to compensate for low thyroid hormone in in undiagnosed or undermedicated hypothyroidism. They kick-start your sluggish metabolism but when the switch is permanently on this temporary boost setting you get the problems Pregnenolone helps, if you take it slowly and track your symptoms.

People upthread with brain fog, your levels of T3 are too low. T3 is the active thyroid hormone converted from T4, the ingredient in levothyroxine, an inactive storage hormone. Your brain needs more T3 than any other organ in your body, so low T3 shows up first/worst here. You are either just undermedicated, and will feel better on a higher dose of levothyroxine, or you aren't converting T4 to T3 properly. You need to try taking iron, B12 and an adrenal support, all if which refuce T3 levels if they're out of whack (and they mostly are in peopke with hypothyroidism).

I coykd go on but you get the idea! Lots of good places online to understand more - Stop The Thyroid Madness and The Invisible Hypothyroidism are good.

Sorry for spelling and predictive text fails!

@OneMoreForExtra thank you so much for all that information. I'll do some research and hopefully get on track. It's the broken sleep that gets to me most.

@Oblahdeeoblahdoe if you have that tired but wired feeling stopping you sleeping, its most likely your adrenaline and cortisol propping you up. Alas, you need to go to bed earlier, before you get that second wind in the evening, which is really just an adrenaline surge. Taking adrenal support like pregnenolone/adrenal cortex in the mornings will help too. If you're waking up in the night, its sometimes screwy blood sugar (hypothyroidism screws everything!) so try get your blood sugar stable with fewer refined carbs, and protein and veg at every meal. I take zinc, magnesium and B6 at bedtime which has really helped my sleep too (boots or Amazon can supply). Good luck!

Wow, thank you so much @OneMoreForExtra I've always put my sleep problems down to the menopause but can see what you mean. The 'tired but wired' phrase describes me perfectly. Sorry to hijack your post @DottyDottyD but hope it's been helpful anyway.

It might be menopause too! Isn't it lovely... on the bright side though, when I took hold of my hypothyroidism my menopause symptoms did improve lot... hope yours do too!

I had similar symptoms but switched to natural dessicated thyroid (NDT - which contains T3 as well as T4) ) about 10 years again and have been fine since, although it took about a year to get to the right dosage. Unfortunately most GPs and endocrinologists don’t understand thyroid problems very well and are extremely reluctant to prescribe T3.

I think I'm worried (as normal!) that I speak to my gp, tell them how I'm feeling and nothing gets done. Do I have to push them to check other levels etc? All I know is I don't feel right and sometimes I think is this just how it is?

Your GP is very unlikely to order other tests than T4 and TSH. You can order your own thyroid blood checks now - check out Medichecks, they're a private lab and do a range of thyroid test packages. Other labs are available of course, these are just the ones I use! The only reason I'm being treated at all was that I got my own tests done and demonstrated I was hypo - I was being sent down the antidepressant/HRT route.

Agree about NDT too LuckMarmiteLover - I used this happily for years before deciding to have another try working with my GP. Still have to sort out the interlinked systems and especially iron, B12 and adrenals to get the best out of it

@OneMoreForExtra thanks so much for this.

My situation is that I’ve had multiple thyroid tests from Medichecks showing elevated but still normal TSH (3.5-3.9) but then GP repeats it and it’s in the 1s and they won’t do anything. I also have quite low oestrogen levels, sometimes out of range and sometimes very low in range. It’s been like this for years and doctors have no interest in getting to the bottom of it.

I’m going to try some pregnenolone - having just read up on it, an issue here would explain a lot of my difficulties.