Insomnia

[diazmommy]

Hi there...I have been off thyroid meds since september....long story short....I was finally diagnosed as having hashitoxicosis after multiple lab swings.  I finally leveled off back to a 4.80 while off meds since september.  Dr wanted to start me back on a low dose 25 of synthroid.  Started about 3 weeks ago and since then I have had bad insomnia.  The weird thing is though...I have taken synthroid for 2 years and had no problems.  I have taken all doses 25 through a 100 so I haven been exposed to the fillers before.  Also.....I have lost weight only after 3 weeks but no other hyper symptoms.   Dr checked labs although it has only been 3 weeks....tsh and all other ranges were the exact same as before meds.  I know it was a little early for labs but I believe they are accurate.  Plus the insomnia started within a few days of synthroid....which would be too quick for a drop.

O....why insomnia.....has anyone had this problem before?

[FTB4]

Thanks again, Looks like I have to straighten out another MD.   FTB4

[goolarra]

Exactly...a straight shot of T3.  

I agree with Barb...your FT4 looks fine.  It's your FT3 that has to come up.  Throwing more T4 at the problem isn't going to solve it.

[FTB4]

Thanks, Makes sense to me, I will see her and ask her about it, What is Cytomel, is it just a straight shot of T3?

[Barb135]

It's customary, when one is not converting T4 to T3 to back off the T4 med a bit and add a small dose of cytomel (T3).  Doesn't matter how high your FT4 is, if you aren't converting it, it's doing you no good.

Why not get her to try that?  

[FTB4]

Thanks for the response, The MD I am seeing here in St. George ia an Internal Med MD, there is no Endo's here, I went in to see her for dizzyness (Which turned out to be caused by Trazodone a gastro prescribed for stomach problems) she ran the blood work, and here are my last results as of 9/23/10         Free T 3  2.9  Range 2.0-4.4 pg/ml   Free T 4  1.58   Range 0.82-1.77 ng/dl        TSH  0.146     Range 0.450-4.500 uIU/mL The clinician said she was going to raise it from 75 to 100, then the md said to raise it to 137.5   She did say that I was not converting from T3 to T4 as I should, and I think the reason she increased the dosage was to bring up the T4. She does seem to medicate based on T3 and T4 instead of TSH like most do, and she stated she treated based on symptoms over labs.

[goolarra]

Insomnia is a tricky one (symptom) because it can be caused by being hypo, hyper and overmedicated.  It can also be a temporary symptom of a meds increase.

diazmommy, do you have labs to post?  Have your levels stopped swinging?

FTB4, you are going to have to calm your doctor down!  That is a huge increase (almost double).  Thyroid meds adjustments have to be made in very small increments...25 mcg per increase at MOST.  You had the right idea in going to 100 (I, personally, would probably have opted for 88).  Then, you should retest in four to five weeks, reevaluate symptoms and proceed from there.  Do you have labs and ranges to post?  What prompted your doctor to be so aggressive?

[FTB4]

Insomnia was the first symptom that led me to an MD, and then to an Endo where I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's, After I started taking Synthroid and my labs became stable, (75mcg) I started getting a full nights sleep again (6 to7 hrs) Lately my MD upped my dosage from 75 to 137.5 because my Free T3 was lower than Free T4, Now I can't sleep more than 3 to 4 hours, I wake up and cannot go back to sleep, and this is after taking #3 Lunesta, which would usually knock me out for 7-8 hours, Its like trying to figure out which came first, the chicken or the egg? I reduced my own dosage to 3/4's of the 137.5's to around 104mcg, but I just started this and do not know what the result will be, I do know that upping the dosage from 75 to 137.5 is a pretty good jump, I would have liked to try taking 100's first, but my MD is a little aggressive, I plan on discussing this with her in the near future, I do not know if it is the change in dosage, the actual Medication or a lack of medication that causes the Insomnia, but it sure beats the crap out of you when you can't sleep, and it is a symptom that many Hashi sufferers have. Good Luck FTB$

[diazmommy]

Bump