Too much thyroid medication?

Question

I just got diagnosed with hypothyroidism and taking .075mcgs of levothroid. it says it is generally well tolerated but for some reason i'm sweating more often and i feel very warm at night and my appetite fluctuates frequently and i'm loosing weight slowly. Is this my body adjusting or might i be on too much medicine? gonna get this checked out in a few weeks anyway.

Answer 1

I have had Graves Disease (Hyper) for 6 years and had RAI and now am Hypothyroid and taking Thyroid replacements like you. So I know that there is a good way of checking for yourself prior to going to the DR. Take you temp. first thing in the morning before you get out of bed. It should read about 98.2 and in the mid afternoon take it again it should read 98.6 if it is higher than 98.6 you are most likely hyper from the meds. You can try cutting the meds in half and take 1/2 in morn and 1/2 in the early afternoon see if this helps. Sometimes when you first start to take replacements they will push you into hyper temporarily until your TSH catches up. This is how I monitor myself inbetween Dr. Appointments, also one note this no. will vary when you are on menses.

Answer 2

Well, it is possible that you are now hyperthyroid thanks to the medicine you were given, there really isn't a good way to tell exactly how much of it a person will need, so we often will over or undershoot at first. Because it has a long half-life, the levels of TSH (which is what we usually measure to tell how close we are to getting the right dose) take a long time to equalize at a new level, so they are usually only checked every 6 weeks. However, if these symptoms are very distressing to you, you should get in touch with your doctor and perhaps he will choose to change the dose earlier based on that and then recheck to fine tune later.

Answer 3

Ask your Dr. to test for pituitary disfunction. The pituitary oversees the thyroid and other glands. Sweating and appetite changes could indicate adrenal problems. Your Dr. may be focusing on the thyroid when he should be looking at the pituitary.