- extreme weight loss (10+ lbs in two months)
- heat sensitivity
- rash and mild hives from heat sensitivity
- heart palpitations
- anxiety
- depression
- headaches
- nausea
- loose bowel movements
- chest pains
- vaginal burning and dryness (constant)
- diagnosed w/ UTI but no resolution with antibiotics
- night sweats
In addition, when I first started taking the T3 I experienced hair loss and tachycardia.
I did ask my prescribing doctor on MANY occasions via email (maybe 10x?) whether these symptoms could be the result of the T3. His answer was invariably no. He said my symptoms could be due to a variety of things including stress, liver detoxification, and autoimmune disorder. Since I already have confirmed Hashimoto's thyroiditis, this last one seemed quite plausible.
As the weeks have passed, my symptoms have progressed in their severity and I have begun to look extremely gaunt. My breasts have vanished, dark circles hang under my eyes and I seem emaciated. All this, coupled with the vaginal burning and extreme worry over the Group B Strep phantasm and antibiotic reactions has had me on edge.
Throughout everything, my husband has asked again and again about the thyroid medication. I had my TSH, Free T3 and Reverse T3 levels checked twice in two months. All the bloodwork remains normal. Or rather, "perfect" - as three doctors have told me.
On Thursday when I got the referrals for vulvadynia and IC, I came home devastated and weeping. My husband once again begged me to go see a "real" endocrinologist and get my medication checked. So, I did.
I went to see an endocrinologist I had met once years ago after my second pregnancy. I told her the whole story, described my symptoms, and this is what she said:
"Your bloodwork says your thryoid is perfect. But I am looking right at you and I can tell you that clinically, you are hyperthyroid."
She based her clinical diagnosis on all of the above listed symptoms and also: my "bulging" stare, the tremor in my hands and how extremely thin I am despite eating six meals a day.
She told me to get off of the T3 immediately and give it a few weeks to clear out of my system, and then we would use a different thyroid medication to regulate my Hashimoto's and hypothyroidism. She said she expected all of the symptoms to remediate except possibly the vaginal ones, which are not necessarily explained by hyperthyroidism. (I'm thinking because there is blood in my urine and no UTI or cancer that it has got to be Interstitial Cystitis...)
I'm just excited to put some weight back on! And mostly, to have hope that things are going to get better.
I feel so grateful to my husband for pushing me incessantly to keep asking for a second (okay, fourth) opinion.
And to cap it all off, I spoke with the original prescribing doctor and he told me that he had just learned that Cytomel (T3) has gluten in it as a filler... which is not good if I truly have Celiac... so he thinks now there are several reasons why I should get off of the medicine.
In stopping the T3 I fear I am saying goodbye to mental clarity and welcoming back the brain fog I had been living with all last Fall. Still, better foggy than losing all of my flesh and muscle mass.
I'm now Day 2 of no T3 and so far, I've noticed most of all that I haven't felt itchy or as heat sensitive. I have however been waking up a lot more at night and having nightmares. Maybe it is a withdrawal thing.
If you have found this post and like me you are experiencing side effects that could possibly be from your T3 hormone replacement, please ask a qualified endocrinologist for a second opinion. There are other options out there for thyroid hormone treatment which you can use instead. I hope you will not suffer in the way that I have been suffering.
This is what I know as of today.
I'll let you know what I learn tomorrow.
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