
Enkivillage
Thyroid Nation
The thyroid gland in your neck produces hormones that help maintain balance in your body. These hormones affect many bodily functions, including metabolism, and when the thyroid produces too much or too little of these, doctors often prescribe anti-thyroid hormones or thyroid hormone replacements to restore balance. Levothyroxine, for example, is a thyroid hormone prescribed for patients who are hypothyroid (underactive gland). However, some people fail to take their medications regularly.
Some of the common reasons why people are not taking thyroid meds include perceptions of lack of improvement in their condition or presence of side effects. Others claim they cannot afford to buy medicines regularly, some forget to take them daily, while others simply do not want to take medicines at all. Then there are other individuals who would rather use natural remedies, like vitamins or herbs instead of drugs to treat their symptoms. But what happens when you stop taking levothyroxine?
What Is Levothyroxine Used For?
Doctors prescribe levothyroxine as a replacement for a thyroid hormone that is normally produced in the gland to regulate your body’s metabolism. It is taken when the underactive thyroid does not produce enough hormone, causing symptoms of hypothyroidism.
Hypothyroidism is a condition characterized by low thyroid hormone production. Levothyroxine is used to replace the natural thyroid hormone and can also be used prevent goiter. Goiter is a condition characterized by an enlargement of the thyroid gland, which may be caused by hormone imbalance, surgery, radiation treatment, or cancer.
What Happens When You Stop Taking Levothyroxine?
Your body needs thyroid hormones to function properly. If you have hypothyroidism, you may feel tired all the time and have a puffy face, show heartbeat, and dry skin. You may feel cold even when it is not cold, be constipated all the time, and notice significant weight gain. You need to take your medication (levothyroxine) regularly to correct these imbalances, just like insulin-dependent diabetics need insulin medications.
What happens when you stop taking levothyroxine? Levothyroxine restores balance and improves your symptoms, so if you are not taking thyroid meds, your symptoms may recur. You may also experience low energy and depression. Not taking thyroid meds can also lead to myxedema, a condition characterized by decreased breathing, low blood pressure, low body temperature, coma, and even death. This occurs when your thyroid hormone level is extremely low.
If your doctor prescribes levothryoxine for you to function normally, take it as directed and do not stop without consulting your doctor first.
Experience and advice of another patient
Some time ago I was taking thyroid medicines until I developed palpitations and abnormal lab results. My internist advised me to stop taking the thyroid medications for 6 weeks. What happened was a benign tumor grew on my thyroid and this had to be surgically removed. Now I’m back on hormones, but at a lower dose. I was told that with hypothyroidism, especially after surgery, taking thyroid replacement drugs is necessary. What happens when you stop taking levothyroxine? You may experience anxiety or depression, like I did, in addition to hair loss and having dry and brittle nails.
What More to Know About Taking Levothyroxine?
How should I take levothyroxine?
- You must take your meds as prescribed by your doctor and follow the directions written on the prescription label. Do not take your medicine in smaller or larger doses or use them longer than what was recommended. Report any side effects to your doctor who may change your dose to get best results.
- Take levothyroxine (Levoxyl) on an empty stomach, with a full glass of water. Levoxyl tablets dissolve quickly and can swell in the throat, which can possibly cause choking. Take your medicine preferably 30 minutes before you eat breakfast. Try to take it at the same time daily and follow dosing instructions.
- Store at away from moisture and heat, preferably at room temperature.
- The full effects of levothyroxine may kick in after several weeks, so take it daily. Continue using it even after you feel improvement in your condition. You will probably need to use it for the rest of your life as a thyroid replacement hormone.
What happens if I miss a dose?
What happens if I overdose?
What should I avoid?
Avoid taking medicines that can reduce the effectiveness of levothyroxine. These include calcium carbonate, aluminum or magnesium-containing antacids, cholestyramine, colestipol, sucralfate, iron supplements, and sodium polystyrene sulfonate. If you have to use any of these drugs, take them 4 hours before or after you take your levothyroxine. Tell your doctor about taking levothyroxine before he prescribes other drugs.
http://www.enkivillage.com/what-happens-when-you-stop-taking-levothyroxine.html
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I had 4 years on this. I was diagnosed with CFS, fibromyalgia and left unable to walk without aids due to chronic pain and fatigue. I’ve had test after test as I had rapid heart rate and palpitation, memory loss and speak problems as well as IBS. I decided to see if my medicine was the cause and 14 weeks ago stopped taking it. All my symptoms have now gone. I can walk – even run! No pain, nothing at all. What would you recommend I do now please?
I was diagnosed with borderline Hypothyroidism at the end of May 2016. I had no symptoms other than a slight zinc deficiency and oral thrush. My doctor prescribed 50mg Levothyroxine and requested another blood test in three months time. During those three months I had pain all over my body, even my teeth ached at times. I became tearful, foggy headed, fatigued, weakness in legs. I went from being a very active, clear minded, happy person to what I can only describe as a zombie. By August I was suicidal and prescribed Prozac. On a couple of occasions I also missed out a Levo tablet and like you found my pains would stop and my head clear and I was happy and felt ‘normal’. I did NOT take the Prozac. On my next doctor’s appointment a few days later I stood firm on the side effects of 50mg Levo for a borderline case. He could not argue and said I could stop taking them. I have researched so much since August. Thyroid UK, Thyroid Nation, internet searches of synthetic thyroid tablets like Levothyroxine and how they destroy your thyroid gland and last but not least Natural Desiccated Thyroid. My doctor wants me to go back on a lower dose Levo but I would not take it again for all the money in the world.
My heart goes out to you reading what you had suffer and endure. I hope you are continuing to feel pain free. I can only advise that you research. It’s your body. You have a right to know what doctors want to put into it and have the right to say no, that there alternatives. I wish you well and the very best of luck.
This does not surprise me at all, my husband is hypothyroid, he was geven 125mcg Levothyroxine and came out in hives on his legs so badly that he could not wear trousers, stopped the Levothyroxine and they cleared within a few days, started again and the hive returned with a vengeance, as a result he has had to self-medicate with NDT as getting a prescription is like asking for moondust capsules coated with 22carat gold. I had thyroid cancer and have no thyroid, my argument is if a healthy thyroid gland produces 5 hormones then that is what a body must need, what I cannot understand is why the medical profession cannot see that and how they expect a person to function on 1 synthetic hormone.