Does anyone here have an underactive thyroid?

melbury

TomsMom wrote: »

I am assuming you have a good relationship with your doctor and he listens to you. Tell him the side effects you are having now and that you are wondering if it is because you have a different brand of thyroxine as it seems to coincide with when you changed brands. Ask if he would mind prescribing Eltroxin so that you can see if the side effects go away. Assure him you will keep a diary of symptoms so that you can report back to him. Make sure he writes Eltroxin on the prescription.



Antibody attacks come and go. Each attack destroys a bit more of the thyroid. This is a good site about thyroid http://thyroid.about.com/cs/hypothyroidism/a/hashivshypo.htm



I don't think any of us know why we got an underactive thyroid in the first place. Sometimes it's genetic - your mum has it and there's a chance that you may too. But what caused your mum's in the first place???????? Sometimes trauma causes it (included in trauma is childbirth). Sometimes your thyroid just stops working for no known reason.

One cause of hypothyroidism is Hashimoto's disease. Ask your doctor if yours is Hashimoto's disease.

No my mum never suffered from thyroid problems. I will ask him to prescribe Eltroxin instead of the generic because I have found that with taking two different generic makes (one 25mcgs and one 50mcgs) that all of these side effects have kicked in.

Like everybody, I just want to feel well again!

melbury

TomsMom wrote: »

Don't worry about Synthroid. We don't get that brand here. If there was anything wrong with our thyroxine we would have heard about it by now, our synthetic thyroxine has been around since the 1960s.


But Eltroxin is just the UK name for Synthroid! It is the same thing.

TomsMom

melbury wrote: »

But Eltroxin is just the UK name for Synthroid! It is the same thing.

No, it isn't. Synthroid isn't made in the UK. It is made in the USA by Abbot Laboratories for the USA market. It is not available here under any name.

Look back at the list of ingredients I posted for all the different British brands of thyroxine. They all have levothyroxine sodium but the other ingredients differ slightly. Same for Synthroid. It will have levothyroxine sodium the same as ours but the rest of the ingredients are different. This is what Synthroid contains besides levothyroxine sodium:

acacia, confectioner's sugar (containing corn starch), lactose monohydrate, magnesium stearate, povidone, talc.

Also contains colours:

In the 25mcg tablet - FD&C Yellow No. 6 Aluminium Lake
In the 100mcg tablet - FD&C Yellow No. 6 Aluminium Lake plus D&C Yellow No. 10 Aluminium Lake
Other size of tablets also contain much the same.

So there are things in Synthroid which you wont find in Eltroxin or any other British brand.

If there was anything "dangerous" in the British brands I think it would have been made known by now considering thyroxine has been around for over forty years.

TomsMom

melbury wrote: »

No my mum never suffered from thyroid problems.

Sorry Melbury, I wasn't implying that YOUR mum had hypothyroidism, I was just giving an example of how it can be genetic. I should have said "a patient's mum has an underactive thyroid so there's a chance that person could have it too, but what caused the patient's mum to have it in the first place". Sorry for any misunderstanding.

melbury

TomsMum

Sorry, I am just totally over-reacting to everything at the moment. I am not sleeping well and with having these sweats and palpitations - everything I read is sending me over the edge:eek:

My husband says I should stay off the internet because I just cause myself more stress - he is probably right.

Thanks for all of the information that you give, it is appreciated.

TomsMom

No probs Melbury. Just get yourself to the docs and have a chat and try again with the Eltroxin if he agrees. Good luck.

bumble-bee_3

Hi everyone :hello: i'm not sure how i've missed this thread, its so lovely to see everyone getting lots of support, I was desperate when I was first diagnosed to speak to someone who had it and could reassure me I would be "normal" again. There are no local support groups near me, but thankfully I found someone online who was wonderful helping me.

I was diagnosed last summer, it was the first time I have been ill really, I was depressed, very anxious, my skin was flaking off, I felt lonely all the time even when I was surrounded by people, I couldn't concentrate even to watch a TV programme and I cried all the time, thankfully I posted on here my symptoms thinking it might be the menopause and someone suggested a thyroid test, I am so thankful. On 50mg my depression went after a couple of months, but not the anxiety, I was just inside the normal TSH range so the doctor informed me I was fine. I decided if I wasn't going to get much help from my doctor I would help myself and read as much as I could, finding Dr Peatfield's book was a huge relief. I'm now on the piggie stuff and haven't grown a tail or started oinking yet I don't have the energy like I used to, but I can cope with that as otherwise I do feel good again, just the odd days when I know my levels have dropped usually after doing too much or being ill. I totally understand how some of you are feeling, but I can confirm there is light at the end of the tunnel :beer:

Just to add as it might help some, I kept a private blog from when I first went to the doctors, at first all my posts were very miserable, but gradually I could see I was making progress and my good days were increasing and I was starting to feel like doing things again.

pattycake

Bumble-bee, I was interested to read your comment that you feel your levels drop after you have been doing too much. I think that must be what happens to me. If I have a particularly busy couple of days, I feel fit for nothing. Totally exhausted and yet my blood tests say that I am fine.

Do you think that the levels do fluctuate from day to day according to how much energy has been expended or how much stress you are under? Or is it simply a matter that we cannot do the same things which we used to be able to do and have just got to accept that life should be slower and easier? I am in my late 50's so perhaps this is just a sign of getting older.

melbury

Sometimes trauma causes it (included in trauma is childbirth). Sometimes your thyroid just stops working for no known reason.

I had an incredible amount of stress last summer. Whilst on holiday my OH was unwell, which resulted in me having to dial 999 from a phonebox (no mobile signal where we go and no phone in cottage) and he was carted off to hospital with suspected appendicitis. Upshot was he was left all night, (even though he had been told they would operating)running a frighteningly high temperature, appendix perforated, peritonitis, and he could have died. :eek: Was then discharged a mere 29 hours after the op feeling asolutely dreadful and I had to pack up and get us home. Since then he hasn't been able to speak - only whisper. It is obvious that some damage was done to his throat when he was anaesthetized. He ended up being off work for three months and never feels very well.

Sorry to waffle off topic, but believe me it was VERY STRESSFUL. When I mentioned this to doctor he didn't seem to think that stress could have any impact on thyroid, but I am not so sure.

melbury

I have to go for blood test tomorrow morning having been on the 75mcgs dose for a month. If the figure is still high I will be put up to 100mcgs. I am worried about this though, I have terrible nights now with sweats and heart palps, so surely if they increase the dosage this will only get worse!