Be sure to call your doctor first thing on Monday morning. It's quite possible that he didn't get your medicine dosage right. Although, I don't have any thyroid problems I have heard people can almost jump out of their skin if the problem isn't solved. Mood swings, hair loss but I have never heard of the hunger thing.

Good luck and be careful driving your car.

.....Jane

I don't have it, but if you are borderline, I wouldn't think taking medication if you don't need it is a good idea. Prescription drugs can imbalance the body in harmful ways and should only be taken if really medically needed.

Have you looked into alternative medicine to fix the borderline issue and symptoms before it becomes full blown? Diet, exercise, emotional therapy, acupuncture (which if done right is amazing), and vitamins all combined in a form of treatment could reverse the current damage and prevent the possibility of full blown disease.

You may want to look into an alternative medicine doctor who has knowledge of eastern medicine (acunpture, etc.)and bio nutrition.

I've seen one in the past for health issues and yes the healing process takes longer the natural way, but has many more benefits and no negative side effects. My alternative medicine doctor, who is a bio nutritionist/eastern medicine acupuncturist/chiropractor told me the majority of his patients are regular medical doctors.

Just something to consider, in any case I hope you feel better soon.

Those are symptoms of hyperthyroid.

I wouldn't want to take medicine on a borderline condition either, but I'm not a doc. With animals, they watch the trend of values and even when showing slightly above normal, I recall it is just noted and treatment not begun yet until the condition is clear. Those tests can also be unclear and deceptive, per my vets and doctor. I went slightly hypo last year and they simply rechecked a number of months later and I was normal.

I am, and at first my doctor started me on the same dose of Levothryoxine. In a few weeks I started feeling a bit better, not as tired and my skin wasn't as itchy, but I noticed that I could feel my heart beating faster at times even when I wasn't doing anything to raise my heartbeat. If the dose is too high it can give you all the symptoms of hyperthyroid, as squirrelheaven noted. After my doctor tweated my dose over several months, he changed me to taking Synthroid instead. My doctor is also hypothyroid and he was unable to use Levothryoxine so he takes Synthroid. It didn't take long for my tests to come back showing an improvement and I started feeling much better and even started losing some of the weight I gained. I would check with your doctor again, maybe just tweaking the dose you are on will help and if that doesn't maybe you are one of us who do better on Synthroid. I feel lucky to have a doctor who has personal knowledge of just how to treat hypothyroidism. Also your doctor should check you on a regular basis. I was getting my blood checked about every three months until he was happy with the results and now I only have to have it checked once a year unless I notice a change. I hope your doctor can get yours under control soon and you feel better.

Yes, the meds could be causing those symptoms.

I'm borderline hypothyroid. Doing nothing is not an option as that leads to misery. There's really not much diet-wise that one can do to help other than avoiding refined carbs and soy. I don't want to be on prescription meds so what I'm doing is taking a thyroid supplement (Thyroid Complete from Whole Foods). That's what is working for me.

I've been hypo for about 15 years and have done a lot of research. My initial thought is that 50mcg is a large starting dose. Even when my thyroid had completely shut down, I still started with a small dose and was stepped up slowly over time. I would call the doc and ask if you can cut the tablet in half for a while, see how you feel and go from there.

I don't know that the clogged head is a hyper symptom. The anxious feelings and hunger can be, but then they can by symptoms of other things, too, like stress. I had my dose increased just recently and "developed" a bunch of symptoms. Went to see the doctor about it and it was all stress. Took a vacation, life settled down some, and when I started back on the new higher dose and I was fine.

As for the alternative approach, I agree with roo that the natural path (pardon the pun) is often preferable for me. However, I feel that simply replacing what's missing, which is what you're doing with a thyroid supplement, is different than trying to regulate some system through other pharmaceutical means. It just doesn't bother me as much to add something back in. I do take the natural version of the thyroid med, but I'm not sure it matters.

And btw, at 5.2, you are not necessarily borderline. In 2003, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists suggested the range should be .3 - 3.0. Not everyone is on the same page about these numbers. (see link below)

Hope you feel better soon.

Here is a link that might be useful: Interesting reading on what is

I should mention the Alternative medicine doctor that I see is one that does frequent blood work/testing and focuses not just on the problem itself but the body as a whole. That's how diet and exercise along with supplements/vitamins/acupuncture work in his treatments. You make the whole body healthier and everything functions better-including your ability to heal and fight disease.

His own sister had hyperthyroidism and he was able to reverse her condition within 8 months of treatment. He has a whole medical facility which includes regular medical doctors on staff, which is refreshing to see alternative and regular medicine working together.

If you look into the natural route, make sure it's not just some chiropractor quack, but someone who is really trained.

Thanks everyone for your insight.

My doctor has been monitoring my borderline thyroid for four years. In that time I've only tried managing it naturally through diet and exercise. My problem is more about my symptoms rather than the test score.

I've lost 65 lbs. this year (very difficult to do with an under active thyroid so I found massive amounts of exercise makes the scale move - and I have muscles that I've never had before!) and my doctor was hopeful that the weight loss would help my symptoms but it hasn't so the medication is a last ditch effort. You see, I have terrible constipation and dry skin issues plus a bunch of other minor symptoms. I drink a gallon of water, eat 35 to 40 grams of fiber, take Citrucel, eat Activia EVERY DAY to no avail. I haven't seen a marked improvement in my symptoms yet but it's only been a week and I really want to give this my best try. Stress is not a factor for me because, well, I just don't stress (even when I should!).

BTW, my blood pressure was normal at the Pharmacy, so that's good. My face is really flushed right now. I bet I need to reduce my dose but she put me on 50MCG instead of 25MCG because I'm on birth control pills and that diminishes the effect of the thyroid meds.

If your not getting good results with the meds, remember that everything in the body is connected, even though you have a problem in one area of the body it could be caused or effected by a completely different area.

For example while you may be eating a good diet, you could have Igg food sensitivities that could be contributing to the cause of some of your symptoms. Or your metabolic panel, the way you digest and absorb food could be an issue. Not always are these things noticeable on tests.

Sounds like the dosage might be too high for you. All symptoms of a hyperthyroid.

I've been hypo (Hashimoto's) for over 10 years and couldn't take the Levothryoxine as the amount in those didn't appear to be as well regulated as I would fluctuate too much. My endo switched me to Synthroid and I've not had those issues since.

As for the constipation etc. even with a low test number I still had all the symptoms you mentioned. I hope meds will do it for you. It didn't for me. I went 8 years and still had those symptoms. I decided as a last ditch effort to try accupuncture for the constipation and after 2 times I became real regular with no issues. Just thought I'd mention in case the pills doesn't do anything for you.

What Amy said - 5.2 is no longer "borderline". When I was dxed in the mid-90s, a TSH of 10 was "borderline" - needless to say, since I'd been in the 7s and 8s since high school, my hypo had gone untreated for at least 15 years. When I was dxed 5 was a "target" TSH reading! Hypothyroidism runs in my family big time, so I knew what the score was, just the folks with the letters after their names didn't listen. My endocrinologist prefers to keep women under 2.0 unless they're showing significant hyper symptoms (I do best around 0.8-1.1, depending on the season - I prefer to run a little hyper in the winter), although so many women are so used to how their bodies have been behaving in the hypo state that normalizing feels hyper to them. It does sound like the titration is being done a little too fast if at all; except for emergencies, medications should always be titrated so that the lowest effective dose can be used and side effects minimized, rather than following a formula in a book.

I had a tough time with levothyroxine - I get a nasty combination of hypO and hypER symptoms. See, your thyroid produces multiple hormones; levothyroxine contains ONLY the T4 hormone, and theoretically your body is supposed to convert the T4 into T3 (which is the form your body actually uses) and other adjunct hormones like T2. Mine doesn't, so I ended up with T4 toxicosis and T3 deficiency. (Do not allow your doctor to treat purely by TSH. Insist that "free T4" and "free T3" tests be done frequently as they allow tighter control and more accuracy.) I take Armour Thyroid, which contains the full range of "minor" hormones, but had to fight for it for a long time because it's considered "old-fashioned" and "outdated" compared to the "new" Synthroid and the like.

Side note: do not take large amounts of kelp/dulse or megadoses of iodine (which is what most "thyroid support" supplements contain) without the "OK" of a medical professional. Not every thyroid issue has anything at all to do with iodine, and if you have one of those conditions dumping a load of iodine into the system can be like the proverbial gasoline on bonfire. Iodine-deficiency hypothyroidism is very rare in the Western world.

Rosewitch, levothyroxine is the generic name for Synthroid.

I found out about Levothyroxine being the generic when my doctor decided to try me on the Synthroid. He warned me that the cost was higher for Synthroid. But the cost is worth it since it works for me. Hypothyroidism tends to run in my family too, my sister found out she has it just a few months after I did. We also both have Rosacea and high blood pressure! Nothing like sharing all the health issues! At least as we get older we still have other things to talk about and not just our kids.

I'm glad someone mentioned the new values by the N.E, Journal of Medicine on thyroid. It's now .50 to 3 with an optimum of 2 or less. I've had hypothyroid for 15 years and Mary Shoman's site is an excellent place to learn. Just google her name. I agree also that 50 was too much for you to start the treatment. It's recommended that a physician start at 25. Look up synthroid or levoxyl and both drug companies say that.
My little niece was just diagnosed. She's 11 and her TSH was 198, can you imagine? Today they got her bloods and her cholesterol was 498 and triglicerides 249. They said to take a picture of her because she's going to look much different in three months. I'm telling you because they started her on 50 so it seems you were started with too high a dose.

I also have hypo. One recommendation: if you're taking Synthroid, make sure it's the brand-name version, not the generic. Both my mother and I had the experience this past year of switching over to the generic and watching our TSH levels rise precipitously -- it appears the generic is either less effective or differently formulated. (I am anything but a cheerleader for the major pharmaceutical companies, but in this case it really made a big difference in one's daily sense of well-being, ugh. I couldn't figure out why my skin was getting so dry and itchy again.)

I can also speak positively of Armour, the natural thyroid medication, which I took for years.

Kelly, it sounds like perhaps you're just not easing into the medication slowly enough? Ask your doc to help you titrate it for the first 6 weeks or so. Good luck and hope you feel more energetic soon!