Increased levothyroxine dose - more anxious?

Hi Pinkbluepurple, sorry to hear you are experiencing this. How are you feeling regarding any other symptoms? It would definitely be worth discussing this latest symptom with your Endocrinologist.

I also very occasionally get a light fluttering in my chest but all the other hypo symptoms (especially the fatigue) have reduced dramatically, so for me I’ve learnt it’s a balancing act of where you feel at your “best”.

My health had deteriorated for a long time before my cancer was picked up and my symptoms didn’t improve for nearly 18 months after my surgery, when my Endocrinologist eventually started me on combination therapy. I’ve kept a comprehensive diary of all my symptoms since surgery, which has been invaluable to refer to both for myself and in appointments, so I know and feel that where I’m at now is a huge improvement. I’ve also started an anti-depressant for pain, which of course is also very good for anxiety (and depression of course) so that has definitely helped me in all these areas.

Unfortunately, I feel that taking synthetic thyroxine for a minority of us is a like a continuous see-saw of trying to find the right balance of minimal symptoms and our numbers and of course it’s all such a slow process with the thyroxine taking weeks to take effect.

Best wishes x

Hi there!

I’m surprised to hear that the dose has been increased so soon after the last increase. In my experience when the dose is adjusted my doctor asks me to have a blood test 6-8 weeks after the adjustment to check the various levels in the blood. Depending on the results he may either change the dose at that point or request another blood test after so many weeks/months to re-check the levels before deciding whether to adjust the dose.

I assume that the dose change two weeks ago was in response to the last blood test before that. I don’t understand why the dose is being changed again so soon, presumably without another blood test unless you’ve forgotten to mention it?

If you have any concerns, please arrange either a phone call or face to face appointment with your doctor. Most importantly, please don’t make any changes to your dose without discussing it with your doctor first. They should be able to advise you regarding any potential side effects and reassure you if they’re expected to be temporary. Taking a lower dose than prescribed could affect the therapeutic affect and/or impact the possibility of a recurrence.

Thank you for your reply! I’m so sorry I missed this when you first replied. 

I feel quite weak, fatigued and have been getting migraines which I haven’t had in a while too. The key thing I’ve noticed is the heart palpitations and like you said the fluttering feeling. 

all in all I’ve just not felt even at 80% ‘me’ the whole time since my treatment 3 years ago and we still haven’t found a dose to stick with it’s been so much trial and error. I’m also seen my oncology and endocrinology and both teams say different things and conflicting things regarding dosage so it gets quite confusing. 

Glad to hear you’ve found a combination which is working for you and thanks for the support x

Oh I think it came across wrong - I meant it’s only been two weeks since my dosage adjusted after an appt with my endocrinologist and I was feeling heightened anxiety symptoms and heart palpitations already two weeks into the new dosage. 
that’s a good point about checking even just for reassurance that it’s temporary and whether it will settle. Thank you! X

Hey, sorry your going through this, I was having palpitations before I knew what was up, Graves disease then FV Papillary Thyroid Cancer, they put me on propranolol to deal with these so deffo mention it works great, I get no palpitations anymore since treatment and such but do get chest pain and my HR tends to rest at 100 when I come off them so I'm still using them.