thyroid medication

[hairyfairy]

I mentioned about 3 months ago that I was given a statin to bring down high cholesterol, well I stopped taking it because it made me so exhausted that I slept all the time. My cholesterol levels went up again, & my gp mentioned that my TSH levels were getting higher, whiich is a sign of a mildly underactive thyroid. She said that this could be making my cholesteral high, & recomended that I start on a low dose of Levothyroxine. Iv`e been taking 25Mcg once a day for 5 days now, & I`m wondering if any other members have taken this, & how long does it take to kick in. I don`t feel any different right now.

[stopthissong]

I'm 18 and was diagnosed with thyroiditis a few weeks ago. I have an overactive thyroid and am on Neomercazole (probably haven't heard of it before). Anyway, for me, I have to be careful with my dosage, as if I take too much, my thyroid can go from being overactive to being under active. Has your doctor told you about this? They monitor it with regular blood tests... although your medication may differ to mine and not effect it like that. I was told that the medication can take 4 weeks to REALLY start working properly. You should see differences in how you feel after about 2 weeks, but after 4 weeks your thyroid should start functioning normally and hopefully your cholesterol levels normalise. This is just what my doctor told me, so it could be different for you but that's the best answer I can give. It's terrible having a thyroid problem, it really does effect most aspects of your life. It also doesn't help with anxiety from Emetophobia, so it's good you are on medication now. Hope I answered your question, hang in there, the meds will work soon, give it time.

[olschesky]

i've been on thyroid meds for several years......when i was a teenager i had an overactive thyroid and took meds for 2 years then had a partial thyroidectemy.......fast forward 25 years.....now i have an underactive thyroid and i take the same med as you....the generic synthroid. it does take several weeks and the dr should check you to make sure the levels are correct. the thyroid is hard to get regulated so you may have to try several different dosages until they get it right. i've never had any issues taking this med...no side effects, etc.

give it time and make sure you get checked regularly

[andee]

I did a post last month on this very topic Hairy...I did not have good luck with synthroid, even at a low dose. It made me lose weight, made me very anxious and jittery, lots of digestive issues, just not good at all. I stopped taking it about 3 weeks ago and am finally feeling like myself again. If you really need to take it, be your own advocate and tell your doc if you have side effects. It does take about 3 weeks to kick in...take care.

[AoD]

I'm on thyroid medication for hypo, have been for about three years. I started on synthroid (same stuff you take) but it didn't work for me so I ended up having to take T3 instead of the T4 (it's auto-immune in my case). It can take several weeks to really start working, especially with a low dosage. You have to be careful to watch out for hyperthyroid symptoms though (anxiety, weight loss, pounding heart, night sweats, insomnia), especially if you're only a little bit hypo and don't actually have any other hypo symptoms. Because being hyper can be dangerous (I actually had to reduce my dosage due to that recently).