Synthroid & Fever (Hypo)

[theglorybox]

My doctor diagnosed me "95%" Hashimoto's - with low/normal TSH and several nodules, only one looking suspicious on the left side. He put me on 25mg of Synthroid for two weeks, and only experienced flushing, lethargy and some palpatation issues. At two weeks, I was to bump up to 50mg - and within three days, my lymph nodes swelled, my goiter became very painful, daily headaches and low grade fever began. I've been on 50mg for six weeks now, and my fevers have spiked up to 101, but are normally staying steady around 99.8. At times, my neck hurts so bad that I can't hold it up, and the pain radiates into the cartilage of my ears (pinched nerve??).

I saw my doctor at 4 weeks of synthroid and complained of the issues, and he took more labs to check my TSH (0.65) - which, is not much lower than my intial TSH level of 1. My frustration is building because my doctor isn't following up with this --- I had to call his nurse to get my latest levels, and even then - I don't know their lab ranges. I called Monday because I'm becoming increasingly ... sick, just plain sick. I'm not able to function, I'm extremely tired, my appetite isn't much of one - and I'm only craving carbohydrates.

When I spoke to his nurse on monday about my concerns with the fever & Synthroid, she told me that she has never heard of such a thing and I most likely have tonsilitis. That made me feel like I just hit a brick wall and I need to find an alternative route to get this under control. I do not have any other symptoms - my tonsils are not red or painful, my sinuses are clear, I have no cuts or scrapes - nor have I really been out of the house to be exposed to anything. My gut is telling me this is something else - and he is just basing his diagnosis on a goiter. Even if this is just a bad reaction to the Synthroid, I need answers - because this is getting progressively worse, and I'm at a loss.

Should I start looking for a new endocrinologist? If so, should I try to find one who is also a reproductive specialist in case this is related to my PCOS? And, anybody know of a good doctor in San Antonio? ...



Symptoms : goiter, fever, PCOS, headaches, diarrhea, joint/muscle pain, abnormal hair growth, lactation, dry skin, brittle nails, puffy eyes/face, dizzy spells, memory loss, lethargy/exhaustion, insomnia, panic attacks, palpatations, constipation, frequent/heavy menstruation, hand twitching (not often).

Meds : Zoloft 50mg, Xanax 1mg, Loestrin, Synthroid 50mg.

god bless.
-emily

[Barb135]

theglorybox has not been active on the forum since posting this thread in 2008, so we don't know how she turned out.  We hope she found a way to relieve her symptoms...

If you have a question, perhaps we can help you resolve it...

[Loshei81]

I know that this is so old but I was wondering if you ever had resolve to these symptoms.

[898]

As far as I have heard of, several people are complaining of goiter swelling as they starting the Syntroid or L-thyroxine.
I never heard of "95 percent Hashimoto's" if thyroid antibodies were present in your blood test it is in a fact Hashimoto's.
Your doctor is probably put you on medicine in attempt to shrink the nodules (this practice was used in the past but was effective on small nodules only.
Multiple nodules with one large nodule are suggesting of benign condition.
However the present medical tradition is to perform the FNA on the nodules bigger then 1 cm.
One type of thyroiditis could also result as a result of respiratory infection that can aggravate your symptoms.

There is some stuff you may wish to discuss with the doctor:
(From Thyroid about.com):
In some cases, the thyroid becomes particularly inflamed, known as a thyroiditis attack. Dr. Steven Langer, author of the book Solved: The Riddle of Illness, refers to thyroiditis as like an "arthritis of the thyroid." He explains that just as arthritis attacks the joints with pain and inflammation, thyroiditis can mean pain and inflammation in the thyroid for some sufferers. And in particular, during a thyroiditis attack, common symptoms are anxiety, panic attacks, heart palpitations, swelling in the thyroid area, problems swallowing, and frequently, problems sleeping.
Reducing swelling is a key aspect of dealing with thyroiditis attacks, according to Dr. Langer. "Just as with arthritis, an anti-inflammatory pain reliever doesn't cure the problem, but it temporarily ameliorates the symptoms."
In the area of nutrition, promising findings from a number of research studies have pointed to the value of the mineral selenium in helping to combat autoimmune thyroid disease.
Some studies have shown that selenium supplementation at the typically safe dose of 200 mcg per day can return elevated thyroid antibody levels to normal, or reduce them significantly, therefore warding off development of full autoimmune thyroid disease, and resulting hypothyroidism.