Re: Hi all -- newbie with a question

[Guest guest]

Hi Carol!!!

It takes 4 to 6 weeks for the T4 in thyroid meds to reach their full effect in the tissues. 25mcg isn't much of a dose I'm going to guess that it's not going to do much more than reduce the production of your gland and end up making you feel worse, rather than better.

How soon do you go in for followup labs? Do you have copies of your labs and their ranges that we can see?

Have they told you that you have to take your Synthroid on an empty stomach (four hours after eating or 1 hour before)?

What was your diagnosis, did they tell you why you are hypo?

Welcome to the group.... We're here to help you figure this all out....

Topper ()

www.thyrophoenix.com/thyroid_101.htm

On Tue, 21 Sep 2004 20:08:55 -0700 "Carol M. s" writes:

Hi everyone –

On Monday the 13th, I started on 25mcg of levothyroxine. I have a textbook list of hypothyroid symptoms and was wondering if anyone can tell me by experience, how long it takes for meds to kick in? I know it is probably longer than a week, but I would sure like to feel something different soon! Any thoughts? Thanks for the input!

Carol

[Guest guest]

> Hi everyone -

> On Monday the 13th, I started on 25mcg of levothyroxine. I have a

textbook

> list of hypothyroid symptoms and was wondering if anyone can tell

me by

> experience, how long it takes for meds to kick in? I know it is

probably

> longer than a week, but I would sure like to feel something

different soon!

> Any thoughts? Thanks for the input!

>

> Carol

_________________________

I had a smile about your post because if you had been through what I

have getting on thyroid meds, you might not want them to kick in. If

you have adrenal fatigue, which happens to many thyroid patients, in

about 2 weeks you are going to start feeling bad and not sleeping

good. If you have pituitary dysfunction, which about 40% of thyroid

patients do, you are going to start feeling more hypo in about a

month. If you have a conversion problem with lavoxyl or synthroid

then you are going to end up not getting much out of your meds and

maybe even made worse by them. If you are lucky and just have simple

hypothryoidism, with no other problems, you probably won't feel much

on such a tiny beginning dose and will have to wait untill you work

yourself up near 100 mcg. Thyroid treatment is a slow process and

can take up to 3 years for all the symptoms to dissapear. Some

people get immediate improvement in energy and I really hope you are

one of the lucky ones that do.

If you have adrenal fatigue, it sometimes takes about two weeks for

the symptoms to show up. Generally they are like you cannot tolerate

your thyroid medicine anymore. It can give symptoms of thyroid

medication overdose. The thyroid controls adrenal size and output.

In long standing hypothyroidism, the adrenals become weak, shrink

and don't put out a whole lot. The body adapts to hold on to adrenal

hormones longer. The healthy adrenals store about 3 weeks worth of

hormones. In hypothryoidism, the minute you take thyroid hormone,

you greatly increase the breakdown and removal of cortisol and other

adrenal hormones. You also increase your metabolic rate, which

increases the demand for new adrenal hormones. In about 10 days to

two weeks, the adrenals loose their stored hormones and get into a

situation where they can't keep up with newer high demands. The

result is that adrenal hormones run low in the body and this

prevents thyroid hormone from getting into tissues and it builds up

in the blood giving symptoms of excess. You will also get achy and

develope fatigue and weakness, and will not sleep well. You may also

get hypoglycemia, palipitations, and a host of other problems. If

this happens to you, then you will need to add adrenal support in

order to tolerate you thyroid meds. You can write back here for that

info if you need it. Adrenal fatigue can cause you to become hyper

on very tiny amounts of thyroid. Adrenal fatigue takes 4 months to

two years to recover from.

If you have pituitary dysfunction, then after about a month or so,

you will find that you are beginning to feel more hypo than you did

before medication was started. This is because in this condition,

small doses of thyroid hormone can overly suppress pituitary

function. The healthy human thryoid makes about 4-1/2 to 5 grains of

Armour a day and about 333 to 370 mcg of Lavoxyl or synthroid a day.

When you take thyroid hormone, the pituitary is supposed to sense

this and to put out TSH to tell the thyroid to make up the

difference. So, if you take 100 mcg of Lavoxyl or whatever, the

pituitary is supposed to tell your thyroid to make 233 to 270 mcg of

thyroid to make blood levels of hormone right or to total 333 to

370. But, in piuitary dysfunction, this does not happen and TSH goes

too low and the thyroid does not make enough extra hormone to keep

thryoid levels high enough. The result is that you can become more

hypothryoid with low dose thyroid medication and have worsening of

your symptoms. It can take a month or more to notice this. If this

happens all you can do is wait and slowly increase thyroid dose

every two to 4 weeks untill you overcome this problem.

You cannot overdose on thyroid meds doses less than 4-1/2 to 5

grains Armour or 333 to 370 Synthroid or Levoxyl. This is because

anything you take under that, the pituitary and thyroid will adjust

down it's production to keep blood levels right or under 4-1/2 to 5

grains or 333 to 37 mcg. If you have problems with thyroid medicine

doses that are less than what the thyroid puts out in the day, then

the problem lies with the adrenals. They are not producing enough

hormone to keep it in balance with thyroid.

The other thing that can happen is that you may not be a good

converter of Levoxyl or Synthroid. Levoxyl and Synthroid are both

synthetic T4. The thyroid makes 7 hormones - T1, T4, T2(2 types), T3

(two types), T0, and calcitonin from the parathyroid. T3 and T2 are

the thyroid hormones that do all the work of regulating your

metabolism and creating energy for you. T4 in Synthroid and Levoxyl

is relatively inactive. It has to be converted in the tissues of the

body to T3 and T2 and the other hormones that all have functions. T1

is needed for the brain and all the others perform many functions

such as regulating hormone status. Many people, if not most, have

difficulty converting T4. The different organs of the body do not

have enzymes for converting T4 to the hormones they need. So, if you

find that over time you are not getting any benefit from Levoxyl or

Synthroid or it is making you worse, then consider a switch to

Armour, which contains all the thyroid hormones the thryod makes. If

you develop osteoporosis, consider Armour, which contains calcitonin

that protects bone. If you want to read more about this, go to

Gail's thyroid Tips at: http://personal.bellsouth.net/w/u/wurmstei/

The last thing I want to tell you is that prior to about 1975,

thyroid doses were adjusted by how the patient felt. In other words,

doses were adjusted up slowly untill the patient had an average body

temperature of 98.6 (this is a measure of metabolic rate controlled

by thyroid and adrenal) and adjusted up untill they felt well and

had good energy. The result was that dosages were higher than they

are today. In the 73 years before the TSH test, thyroid doses

averaged 3-5 grains of Armour and 300 to 400 mcg of Synthroid or

Lavoxyl. Today, thyroid doses are about 1/3 of what they were for

many years. Often many patients go around not feeling well because

they are undertreated by being forced to keep their labs within a

set range, with no consideration for the many factors that make

tests unreliable measures of metabolic rate. So, if you find over

time that you are not feeling well on levoxyl or synthroid doses

less than 300 mcg, think about finding another more open minded

doctor who will let you adjust the dose to what is best for you.

Thyroid treatment can be very complicated and you are probably

looking at adjusting your dose for the next one to two years and

possibly feeling worse for a while and possibly having to find

another doctor if your current one is too rigid and keeping you

unhealthy and unwell. Depending on how long your hypothyroidism has

gone on, it will affect how long it takes to recover and get

imporvements in health. If you have been hypo a long time, then it

is going to be a slow process of recovery, taking up to three years

or maybe more. I really hope that you are a lucky one that has no

adrenal issues and that starts to feel good in two weeks to a month.

Tish

[Guest guest]

> Hi everyone -

> On Monday the 13th, I started on 25mcg of levothyroxine. I have a

textbook

> list of hypothyroid symptoms and was wondering if anyone can tell

me by

> experience, how long it takes for meds to kick in? I know it is

probably

> longer than a week, but I would sure like to feel something

different soon!

> Any thoughts? Thanks for the input!

>

> Carol

_________________________

I had a smile about your post because if you had been through what I

have getting on thyroid meds, you might not want them to kick in. If

you have adrenal fatigue, which happens to many thyroid patients, in

about 2 weeks you are going to start feeling bad and not sleeping

good. If you have pituitary dysfunction, which about 40% of thyroid

patients do, you are going to start feeling more hypo in about a

month. If you have a conversion problem with lavoxyl or synthroid

then you are going to end up not getting much out of your meds and

maybe even made worse by them. If you are lucky and just have simple

hypothryoidism, with no other problems, you probably won't feel much

on such a tiny beginning dose and will have to wait untill you work

yourself up near 100 mcg. Thyroid treatment is a slow process and

can take up to 3 years for all the symptoms to dissapear. Some

people get immediate improvement in energy and I really hope you are

one of the lucky ones that do.

If you have adrenal fatigue, it sometimes takes about two weeks for

the symptoms to show up. Generally they are like you cannot tolerate

your thyroid medicine anymore. It can give symptoms of thyroid

medication overdose. The thyroid controls adrenal size and output.

In long standing hypothyroidism, the adrenals become weak, shrink

and don't put out a whole lot. The body adapts to hold on to adrenal

hormones longer. The healthy adrenals store about 3 weeks worth of

hormones. In hypothryoidism, the minute you take thyroid hormone,

you greatly increase the breakdown and removal of cortisol and other

adrenal hormones. You also increase your metabolic rate, which

increases the demand for new adrenal hormones. In about 10 days to

two weeks, the adrenals loose their stored hormones and get into a

situation where they can't keep up with newer high demands. The

result is that adrenal hormones run low in the body and this

prevents thyroid hormone from getting into tissues and it builds up

in the blood giving symptoms of excess. You will also get achy and

develope fatigue and weakness, and will not sleep well. You may also

get hypoglycemia, palipitations, and a host of other problems. If

this happens to you, then you will need to add adrenal support in

order to tolerate you thyroid meds. You can write back here for that

info if you need it. Adrenal fatigue can cause you to become hyper

on very tiny amounts of thyroid. Adrenal fatigue takes 4 months to

two years to recover from.

If you have pituitary dysfunction, then after about a month or so,

you will find that you are beginning to feel more hypo than you did

before medication was started. This is because in this condition,

small doses of thyroid hormone can overly suppress pituitary

function. The healthy human thryoid makes about 4-1/2 to 5 grains of

Armour a day and about 333 to 370 mcg of Lavoxyl or synthroid a day.

When you take thyroid hormone, the pituitary is supposed to sense

this and to put out TSH to tell the thyroid to make up the

difference. So, if you take 100 mcg of Lavoxyl or whatever, the

pituitary is supposed to tell your thyroid to make 233 to 270 mcg of

thyroid to make blood levels of hormone right or to total 333 to

370. But, in piuitary dysfunction, this does not happen and TSH goes

too low and the thyroid does not make enough extra hormone to keep

thryoid levels high enough. The result is that you can become more

hypothryoid with low dose thyroid medication and have worsening of

your symptoms. It can take a month or more to notice this. If this

happens all you can do is wait and slowly increase thyroid dose

every two to 4 weeks untill you overcome this problem.

You cannot overdose on thyroid meds doses less than 4-1/2 to 5

grains Armour or 333 to 370 Synthroid or Levoxyl. This is because

anything you take under that, the pituitary and thyroid will adjust

down it's production to keep blood levels right or under 4-1/2 to 5

grains or 333 to 37 mcg. If you have problems with thyroid medicine

doses that are less than what the thyroid puts out in the day, then

the problem lies with the adrenals. They are not producing enough

hormone to keep it in balance with thyroid.

The other thing that can happen is that you may not be a good

converter of Levoxyl or Synthroid. Levoxyl and Synthroid are both

synthetic T4. The thyroid makes 7 hormones - T1, T4, T2(2 types), T3

(two types), T0, and calcitonin from the parathyroid. T3 and T2 are

the thyroid hormones that do all the work of regulating your

metabolism and creating energy for you. T4 in Synthroid and Levoxyl

is relatively inactive. It has to be converted in the tissues of the

body to T3 and T2 and the other hormones that all have functions. T1

is needed for the brain and all the others perform many functions

such as regulating hormone status. Many people, if not most, have

difficulty converting T4. The different organs of the body do not

have enzymes for converting T4 to the hormones they need. So, if you

find that over time you are not getting any benefit from Levoxyl or

Synthroid or it is making you worse, then consider a switch to

Armour, which contains all the thyroid hormones the thryod makes. If

you develop osteoporosis, consider Armour, which contains calcitonin

that protects bone. If you want to read more about this, go to

Gail's thyroid Tips at: http://personal.bellsouth.net/w/u/wurmstei/

The last thing I want to tell you is that prior to about 1975,

thyroid doses were adjusted by how the patient felt. In other words,

doses were adjusted up slowly untill the patient had an average body

temperature of 98.6 (this is a measure of metabolic rate controlled

by thyroid and adrenal) and adjusted up untill they felt well and

had good energy. The result was that dosages were higher than they

are today. In the 73 years before the TSH test, thyroid doses

averaged 3-5 grains of Armour and 300 to 400 mcg of Synthroid or

Lavoxyl. Today, thyroid doses are about 1/3 of what they were for

many years. Often many patients go around not feeling well because

they are undertreated by being forced to keep their labs within a

set range, with no consideration for the many factors that make

tests unreliable measures of metabolic rate. So, if you find over

time that you are not feeling well on levoxyl or synthroid doses

less than 300 mcg, think about finding another more open minded

doctor who will let you adjust the dose to what is best for you.

Thyroid treatment can be very complicated and you are probably

looking at adjusting your dose for the next one to two years and

possibly feeling worse for a while and possibly having to find

another doctor if your current one is too rigid and keeping you

unhealthy and unwell. Depending on how long your hypothyroidism has

gone on, it will affect how long it takes to recover and get

imporvements in health. If you have been hypo a long time, then it

is going to be a slow process of recovery, taking up to three years

or maybe more. I really hope that you are a lucky one that has no

adrenal issues and that starts to feel good in two weeks to a month.

Tish

[Guest guest]

> Hi everyone -

> On Monday the 13th, I started on 25mcg of levothyroxine. I have a

textbook

> list of hypothyroid symptoms and was wondering if anyone can tell

me by

> experience, how long it takes for meds to kick in? I know it is

probably

> longer than a week, but I would sure like to feel something

different soon!

> Any thoughts? Thanks for the input!

>

> Carol

_________________________

I had a smile about your post because if you had been through what I

have getting on thyroid meds, you might not want them to kick in. If

you have adrenal fatigue, which happens to many thyroid patients, in

about 2 weeks you are going to start feeling bad and not sleeping

good. If you have pituitary dysfunction, which about 40% of thyroid

patients do, you are going to start feeling more hypo in about a

month. If you have a conversion problem with lavoxyl or synthroid

then you are going to end up not getting much out of your meds and

maybe even made worse by them. If you are lucky and just have simple

hypothryoidism, with no other problems, you probably won't feel much

on such a tiny beginning dose and will have to wait untill you work

yourself up near 100 mcg. Thyroid treatment is a slow process and

can take up to 3 years for all the symptoms to dissapear. Some

people get immediate improvement in energy and I really hope you are

one of the lucky ones that do.

If you have adrenal fatigue, it sometimes takes about two weeks for

the symptoms to show up. Generally they are like you cannot tolerate

your thyroid medicine anymore. It can give symptoms of thyroid

medication overdose. The thyroid controls adrenal size and output.

In long standing hypothyroidism, the adrenals become weak, shrink

and don't put out a whole lot. The body adapts to hold on to adrenal

hormones longer. The healthy adrenals store about 3 weeks worth of

hormones. In hypothryoidism, the minute you take thyroid hormone,

you greatly increase the breakdown and removal of cortisol and other

adrenal hormones. You also increase your metabolic rate, which

increases the demand for new adrenal hormones. In about 10 days to

two weeks, the adrenals loose their stored hormones and get into a

situation where they can't keep up with newer high demands. The

result is that adrenal hormones run low in the body and this

prevents thyroid hormone from getting into tissues and it builds up

in the blood giving symptoms of excess. You will also get achy and

develope fatigue and weakness, and will not sleep well. You may also

get hypoglycemia, palipitations, and a host of other problems. If

this happens to you, then you will need to add adrenal support in

order to tolerate you thyroid meds. You can write back here for that

info if you need it. Adrenal fatigue can cause you to become hyper

on very tiny amounts of thyroid. Adrenal fatigue takes 4 months to

two years to recover from.

If you have pituitary dysfunction, then after about a month or so,

you will find that you are beginning to feel more hypo than you did

before medication was started. This is because in this condition,

small doses of thyroid hormone can overly suppress pituitary

function. The healthy human thryoid makes about 4-1/2 to 5 grains of

Armour a day and about 333 to 370 mcg of Lavoxyl or synthroid a day.

When you take thyroid hormone, the pituitary is supposed to sense

this and to put out TSH to tell the thyroid to make up the

difference. So, if you take 100 mcg of Lavoxyl or whatever, the

pituitary is supposed to tell your thyroid to make 233 to 270 mcg of

thyroid to make blood levels of hormone right or to total 333 to

370. But, in piuitary dysfunction, this does not happen and TSH goes

too low and the thyroid does not make enough extra hormone to keep

thryoid levels high enough. The result is that you can become more

hypothryoid with low dose thyroid medication and have worsening of

your symptoms. It can take a month or more to notice this. If this

happens all you can do is wait and slowly increase thyroid dose

every two to 4 weeks untill you overcome this problem.

You cannot overdose on thyroid meds doses less than 4-1/2 to 5

grains Armour or 333 to 370 Synthroid or Levoxyl. This is because

anything you take under that, the pituitary and thyroid will adjust

down it's production to keep blood levels right or under 4-1/2 to 5

grains or 333 to 37 mcg. If you have problems with thyroid medicine

doses that are less than what the thyroid puts out in the day, then

the problem lies with the adrenals. They are not producing enough

hormone to keep it in balance with thyroid.

The other thing that can happen is that you may not be a good

converter of Levoxyl or Synthroid. Levoxyl and Synthroid are both

synthetic T4. The thyroid makes 7 hormones - T1, T4, T2(2 types), T3

(two types), T0, and calcitonin from the parathyroid. T3 and T2 are

the thyroid hormones that do all the work of regulating your

metabolism and creating energy for you. T4 in Synthroid and Levoxyl

is relatively inactive. It has to be converted in the tissues of the

body to T3 and T2 and the other hormones that all have functions. T1

is needed for the brain and all the others perform many functions

such as regulating hormone status. Many people, if not most, have

difficulty converting T4. The different organs of the body do not

have enzymes for converting T4 to the hormones they need. So, if you

find that over time you are not getting any benefit from Levoxyl or

Synthroid or it is making you worse, then consider a switch to

Armour, which contains all the thyroid hormones the thryod makes. If

you develop osteoporosis, consider Armour, which contains calcitonin

that protects bone. If you want to read more about this, go to

Gail's thyroid Tips at: http://personal.bellsouth.net/w/u/wurmstei/

The last thing I want to tell you is that prior to about 1975,

thyroid doses were adjusted by how the patient felt. In other words,

doses were adjusted up slowly untill the patient had an average body

temperature of 98.6 (this is a measure of metabolic rate controlled

by thyroid and adrenal) and adjusted up untill they felt well and

had good energy. The result was that dosages were higher than they

are today. In the 73 years before the TSH test, thyroid doses

averaged 3-5 grains of Armour and 300 to 400 mcg of Synthroid or

Lavoxyl. Today, thyroid doses are about 1/3 of what they were for

many years. Often many patients go around not feeling well because

they are undertreated by being forced to keep their labs within a

set range, with no consideration for the many factors that make

tests unreliable measures of metabolic rate. So, if you find over

time that you are not feeling well on levoxyl or synthroid doses

less than 300 mcg, think about finding another more open minded

doctor who will let you adjust the dose to what is best for you.

Thyroid treatment can be very complicated and you are probably

looking at adjusting your dose for the next one to two years and

possibly feeling worse for a while and possibly having to find

another doctor if your current one is too rigid and keeping you

unhealthy and unwell. Depending on how long your hypothyroidism has

gone on, it will affect how long it takes to recover and get

imporvements in health. If you have been hypo a long time, then it

is going to be a slow process of recovery, taking up to three years

or maybe more. I really hope that you are a lucky one that has no

adrenal issues and that starts to feel good in two weeks to a month.

Tish