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Did anyone else experience the onset of anxiety after starting Thyroid medication?

I am a 25 year old female and had never had never suffered from any kind of anxiety until about 4 months or so ago.  About a year ago I was prescribed Synthroid for hypothyroidism and I feel like that is what set it off.  Several months back I began to have these weird feelings like I couldn't swallow, which would of course send me into more of a panic because it was beyone my control. I then started to experience that in everyday situations and found it difficult to interact with people and make eye contact- I always just felt like the pressure in my head was just too much.

I stopped taking the Synthroid with the hopes that it would alleviate these weird feelings and now I feel as though I have developed anxiety over the anxiety.  I can remember a time when I felt calm and just kind of neutral...now I feel like I am indifferent to everything and don't care what I am doing or what is happening as long as I am not feeling those weird feelings. The pressure on my eyes and the weird things happening with my vision are making me crazy.

Has anyone else had feelings like this come from thyroid medications or similar? I just want to be myself again! :(

Thank you for any information you can offer- I feel like I don't really have anyone I can talk to about this since there isn't an easy way to explain it, and no one knows what it's like unless they have been there too.
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Avatar universal
I have had those symptoms for the last 26 years and have been on effexor for the last 6 years but now I have thyroid nodules and goiter and low T3.  The just put me on1 gr. of thyroid.  I am going to call my Dr. who prescribed the effexor and talk to him about it. My headaches seem to go when I take the thyroid med.  I have more energy  and I'm feeling better.
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Avatar universal
allmymarbles,
You should check out the iodine info on the compllimentary medicine forum here and add your story to the iodine postings. Lots off people had really good experience with iodine supplementation and several have not. I would love to hear your story, doseage, how you implemented it into your regimen.

wondering1719,
I totally agree with you on just stopping on drs advice. There are other factors that could be causing the anxiety- as I stated above my hormones were off and I am much better now that they are adjusted.
As for me I am on a very low dose because my levels were borderline normal. I really like my endo now because she is the first ( after 4) to agree to give me a trial of synthyroid to improve my fatigue, and suppress my remaining lobe/nodules. It is such a low dose , but after considering your words maybe I should slowly reduce it to see if there is improvement in my insomnia, choking feeling in throat. I recently had my one year checkup, had ultrasound and my  Endo had no explanation for that choking feeling in my throat area which I never had before the synthyroid.

Meg2318,
You should post this in the thyroid forum and see what responses you get... it would be interesting to see.

Good luck to all of you! As for me, I wish really wish I never had a thyroid problem but I do and it is a work in progress!!
  These
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Avatar universal
i forgot to say that it can take several months on the right dose before the anxiety gets better and the body adjusts.  stopping the meds completely if you need them will prolong the rollercoaster because you'll need them again later and start all over.  better to try reducing slightly and see if 6 weeks later you feel any better.  if not, reduce again and wait 6 more weeks.  really slightly, though, big jumps mess you up, i'm serious.
wondering1719
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Avatar universal
my thyroid was ablated with radioactive iodine in 04 and i went through 2 years of hell before my body recovered from the synthroid dosage changes it took to get me at just the right level again.  i was very very anxious before diagnosis and treatment because i was hyperthyroid, but i have been anxious to some degree ever since, even when my dosage is too low.  i have a great endo (my second, the first sucked) and she said that can be a symptom of the graves' disease because your metabolism is not perfect, even when we get the medicine as good as we can get it.  but i tell you, the shock to my system of changing doses too drastically like my first crappy endo put me through was HELL and messed me up for a long time, so i do NOT recommend just stopping your meds all of a sudden.  get a better doctor and do things very gradually if you do go against doc's orders.  the metabolism is such a tricky and sensitive thing.  i am doing the best i can with my doctor's help but i have never been my "old self" again, i just get closer to it at times and live with the new me.  yes, it's not great but i'm glad i'm still alive!  there are some thyroid bulletin boards out there that saved my sanity, you might check into one of them.  it's amazing how these things we think we must be inventing are bonafide side effects of a medical condition and it is so reassuring to know we're not making it up out of thin air!  
take care,
wondering1719
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Avatar universal
I too am on low dose of synthyroid since having thyroid lobectomy.
Wow, I have the swallowing issue since I started medicatication too!! I had anxiety since my thyroid surgery, and assumed it was from borderline low thyroid levels ( I started synthyroid last fall, surgery was 2 years prior on no thyroid meds). I also developed PSVT ( sudden onset of rapid heart beat) since my thyroid surgery (  also before taking any thyroid meds)
   I too suffer from insomnia since starting synthyroid.- hmmmm!!!I I was always a great sleeper!!!
But I will tell you twhat has helped my anxiety IMMENSELY!! I am perimenopausal and had hormones checked. My progesterone was very low and now that I am on  bioidentical progesterone my anxiety has diminished greatly. I still have difficulty getting to sleep, but dr said it could take months to regulate hormone levels completely.
Please get your hormones checked if that could be an issue for you all!
As for me, I will really reconsider the synthyroid med.. thanks for posting. I am sooo lucky to have seen this, have not checked the anxiety forum for several months since I am feeling better ( not completely gone but very tolerable).
If your levels are off - hyperthyroid or  hashimoto's disease causes anxiety. So get those levels rechedked.  Maybe a switch in meds would also help too??? Try other synthetic meds or natural thyroid med- armour??
Best of lluck to you all!!!
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Avatar universal
You are suffering exactly as I am.  I was told by an endo today this is not from thyroid hormone, but I question it.  I wish I had the answer for you and me.  Do you take anything for anxiety?  I take a sleep aid, but find I have anxiety around lunch until bedtime.  Since your symptoms match mine, and the amount of time you have been off the drug, we must be suffering from the same cause.  Have you consulted with the doctor who put you on synthroid and have you had any tests run to look for a cause?  Like you, I need to know this will end.  I am losing hope.  My anxiety began while taking it also.
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Avatar universal
Sorry it took me a while to respond, I ended up going into the emergency room on Monday night with a horrible stomach flu. The weird thing is that for the past couple of daysI have been sleeping and was pretty much too sick to think of anything. As soon as I began to feel a little better today the anxiety symptoms crept back up in the form of the horrible eye twitching and pressure around the eyes.

I really just want this to go away and don't understand how a medication that I was on for less than a year could have such a lasting effective on my mental and physical health. I do want to go back to the doctor, but I feel like so many of them just want to put you on more medication and don't truly listen to what your needs/concerns really are.  If all of this is a result of me now being hyper because of the medication then I am afraid of what they might give me to try and even me out.

Does anyone know how long it takes for the anxiety to go away? I make myself anxious over the idea of thinking this may never end. Please help. I need to know that there is an end in sight :(
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Avatar universal
Began having trouble with a dosage raise.  Thought I was having a heart attack.  Ended up with having my gallbladder out.  Thought that was the problem, but anxiety and heart palps continued.  Saw many doctors who kept saying lower your dose and wait 6 - 8 weeks.  Saw a neurologist, developed a facial tic.  Finally got off altogether.  TSH in the 2's right now.  Symptoms are debilitating.  Battling very hard to deal with the anxiety.  I know some take this drug postpartum.  I just don't understand why I now have anxiety that I never had before.  I hope someone will read our post and will tell us when the anxiety ends.  Starting to feel hopeless that it will never end.  Would you continue to write and let me know if you get relief and how it happened?
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757137 tn?1347196453
I took Synthroid many years ago. It made me twitchy and nervous. I stopped using it. New doctor. I now take only iodine and feel just fine.
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Avatar universal
Thank you so much for replying to the post. I have been off of it for maybe about 6 weeks or so (I really wish I knew the exact date of when I stopped taking it). I do have the heart palpitations, but not regularly...that happens when I am in an uncomfortable situation.

I had been on a low dose of Synthroid and started piecing together that the medication may have been what was causing my anxiety in the first place. I decided I wasn't going to take it anymore because of the way it made me feel. I am kind of wondering if the doctors gave me too high of a dosage and that is why my body freaked out, hence now I am having trouble getting to a normal level.

I am just trying to fight this on my own because I am so sick of doctors telling you everything will be fine with the medicine and the side effects end up being worse than the actual problem. I wish I had never started the synthroid, as I would rather be tired all the time than overly anxious and worried that I will be living with this feeling for a while.

Did you go off of it with medical help or on your own?
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2 Comments
I have the same thing on thyroid meds at lowest dose. I quit too. Did you ever find an answer.
This is a very old post, don't know if these folks are still around.  But if you have a thyroid problem, it might be that your medication wasn't the correct dose.  It might be your problem was misdiagnosed.  You don't say what thyroid problem you have, but if you have one, it does have to be treated, but treated properly, and often endocrinologists stink at it.  If you've been on synthroid for awhile, for example, your thyroid probably can't function anymore without it so you are going to have to take medication.  Again, you don't say what the problem is or what you're taking so it's hard to evaluate.
Avatar universal
I am having the exact symptoms you are after being off synthroid for 8 weeks.  The eye problem and anxiety are horrible.  How long have you been off synthroid?  Do you also have heart palpatations?  I can't sleep either and have to use a sleep aid.  I have seen a few endos who tell me my numbers are fine (I have Hashimoto) and to just stay off of the drug.  You are the first person I have spoke with that is off the drug and having the same symptoms.  I wonder if what we are experiencing is withdrawal?  People get headaches from caffeine withdrawal.  Synthroid has a half life of 6 days meaning 50 mcg in your body becomes 25 the next week, then 12.5 the next week, then 6.25, 3.12, 1.5. .50, .25.  so it can take a long time to get out of the system.  
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