[cadz72]

#1018671

For some – unknown reason – my TSH levels had an extreme change in just a few days…

I have had crazy symptoms of kaleidoscope vision, eye pain, fatigue – this is what led me to test my thyroid levels. The doc would not do t3 and t4…

4 days later I ended up in the ER because the symptoms were so similar to someone having a stroke… luckily that was not the case but my TSH was then .118 – again no t3 or t4…

Now I am wondering how I could have been functioning for so long just fine on 125mcg of levothyroxine then suddenly have such a drastic change in TSH. The only time I have seen that kind of change in TSH levels was when they did the radioactive iodine on me… but that took 4 months to see that kind of change…

Has anything like this happened to anyone? I am scared that I am going to go into thyroid storm or as they call synthroid overdose…

I am currently looking for a new endo btw. …

[Bobbi]

#1066371

I know this experience is terrifying. I did not land in the hospital, but I did have an abrupt, and toxic increase in thyroid hormone about five or six years into my replacement regime. I experienced chest pains and shortness of breath, and went to an urgent care place that started prepping to put me in an ambulance. I talked them into doing a preliminary ekg (which was normal, if fast) and then doing a blood test for thyroid (which was way too high). The remedy was to lower my dose of replacement hormone and redo blood work after three months. At three months, I needed to raise the replacement back up to almost the same level I’d been on before. It is unsettling, to say the least.

What can cause it? Well, we have an antibody-generated problem, so if the antibodies surge up in numbers, and if there is viable thyroid tissue left after RAI (and there usually is "some"), that can change the amount of replacement hormone we need temporarily. Antibody levels change for no well-understood reason. (On the opposite side, if thyroid tissue that is left after RAI dies off — which is the normally expected progression of antibody attack — then we could find ourselves needing more replacement over time.)

The second thing to look (or maybe this should be the first) is any change in your other medications, eating habits, or manner of taking the replacement hormone. For example — say that you were taking your replacement hormone every day at the same time that you took a multivitamin, and then you found out that you should space these pills by about four hours (which you should, btw). If you started spacing them, then the amount of replacement you would need to take would probably lower. Elements of the multivitamin can "bind" with the thyroid hormone while in the digestive track and prevent it from being absorbed into the body. So stopping that practice would free up more of your replacement for absorption. Foods can do the same sort of thing. That is why we are told to take the pill on an empty stomach and wait a while before eating. That is just one example, and there can be others. But look for some type of change, even if it seems relatively minor. Maybe it made a difference. If something like that did go on, you can make sure to avoid it in the future.

There can be other reasons as well, which happen infrequently, thank goodness, that we have no control over. The good news is that when we are on replacement, adjusting the dose typically puts us back into normal levels rather quickly.

I do hope you are feeling much better, and soon.

[Author]

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