Just be very careful that your TSH, T4, T3 and reverse T3 are all within range. From what I understand if they are out of range to long, or by too much, it can lead to massive system failures later on and even death. Please be careful with this.

I went off synthroid for a time (on my own) because I just couldn't stand being miserable any longer, and didn't care if it killed me. I thoght that maybe if I did that, my doctore would finally listen to me and really fix the problems I was having.

Reluctantly, my doctor changed my dose to a level I could tolerate, where I remained (give or take) for five years until I found a doctor that would put me on Armour Thyroid.

Now I feel great!!! for the first time ever.

JMullis is right - if you have hypothyroidism (as would be evidenced by the labs you had when you first started taking synthroid), you certainly do need medication.

I remember your earlier post and it does appear you were overmedicated.

Stopping meds completely when a person has hypothyroidism is not a good idea at all.....instead, the dose should be adjusted so the thyroid levels are in range and at a place within the range that leaves the patient without symptoms.

I want to thank you for your replies. As a matter of fact I just went back again yesterday to my internalist, and he took my levels again and yes they show that I am real low ( which I expected ). So I start back on synthroid tomorrow am. He put me on .75 mcg's. Before I got over medicated I was on 100 mcg's and felt good. So I guess we start now from the ground up and hopefully get everything in the right ranges. I did express though to my nurse, that if I start to have any negative side effects that I would be calling ASAP. I never want to feel like I was feeling again on the higher dose. Again thanks, and good luck to us all:)

PS> I have been under doctors care thru this whole process, so I guess you might say my life is in his hands!!!

Hi there:

If you get your lab done every six to eight weeks, at least, of the Free T3, Free T4, and TSH...it'll help you try to balance everything. This way you'll find your spot of where you feel your best with the Free Ts within the normal ranges and feel better.

{{{hugs}}} :-)

I have been Synthroid 50mcg for several months now. I feel a ton better and my TSH has going down. The only problem I have is I can't seem to lose weight. I am also retaining water.

50mg is a pretty low dose....inability to lose weight and water retention are symptoms of hypothyroidism.

You might want to take a peek at your labs - most peeps feel/function best with mid to mid-high range FreeT4 and FreeT3.

If you'd like some help interpreting your labs, feel free to post them here (with ranges 'cuz they vary from lab to lab and by geographical region) - leave out special symbols and parentheses 'cuz a forum bug can't handle that.

Here's one of the most comprehensive lists of hypo symptoms I've found:

http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/long-and-pathetic/

Believe it or not, there are more lists out there with more symptoms but the ones on the link I provided are the most common ones.

Barbell

While I certainly do not dispute your personal experience and that of others, the prescribing information that came with my levothyroxine made no mention of water retention and/or bloating side effects.

Same thing with the prescribing information for synthroid:

http://www.rxabbott.com/pdf/synthroid.pdf

In fact, for me, when I first started levothyroxine, I passed a lot of water - I was obviously retaining water/bloated from being hypo.

I honestly think that, if a patient has issues with water retention/inability to lose weight, there is a chance he/she is having T4/T3 conversion problems and that's why a switch to Armour (T4/T3 med) works for them.

This is just MHO based upon my research and understanding of thyroid function.

I find this whole concept very interesting and would greatly appreciate anything you could provide to clarify it for me.

All the best,

Carol

i had those symptoms when i was one levothyroxin. i felt better when i got off of it only because the medication made me feel so bad. i was on 75mg then went down to 50 and still got the reaction symptoms. i had to just about twist my doctors arm to try thr armour. i start it tommarrow. i dont guess my doctor ever prescribes it. on the bottle it says 'as directed' on the directions. good grief. i have 90 60mg pills.