From the "Fair Warning" department

[featherynscale]

Something else about the medical blitz of the other week: They decided that my thyroid levels were in a sort of grey zone between the point where they want me on a .175 tab of replacement hormones or a .200 tab. They opted to go high instead of low.

I have fairly high sensitivities to most drugs, and this one is no exception. Bumping me up 25 micrograms has resulted in a fairly constant hypomanic state over the last few days, AND I'VE ONLY BEEN ON THE NEW DOSE SINCE SUNDAY. According to the literature, any noticible change from starting or stopping the hormone is supposed to take three to four *weeks*. And that's talking about a change of at least 75 micrograms - more for most people. I'm running hot on a 25 mcg upswing in less than a week.

On the one hand, I don't mind hypomania. I really don't even mind full-on mania on the rare occasions that I get to that. It's a lot better than depression and sluggishness, in any case. I get a lot more done, certainly, and I have a lot more fun. HOWEVER. There are a few downsides. One is that it can be difficult to focus on non-fun things. The other is that I may annoy the living light out of people I'm around.

So do me a favor, would you? If I'm irritating you with my moodstate, or especially if I am continually pestering you to go do something fun or obnoxious or whatever, please tell me to sit my chemically-enhanced ass down and shut the hell up. Thanks.

Comments

25 long years of experience

[cynthiaweb.livejournal.com]

Yep, my thyroid burned out 25 years ago. They say it was autoimmune thyroiditis. First I was hyperthyroid, due to excess thyroid hormone released as my immune system was destroying thyroid tissue. Afterward I was hypothyroid and have been on thyroid replacement ever since. My first endocrinologist told me this was gonna be easy - just stay on 0.2 daily the rest of my life. Oh, and I should be checked out at least yearly in case some vague, unspecified other developments occurred. I should also beware of doctors who didn't know enough about treating thyroid patients and would try to decrease my dose. Well, let's just say things have changed a lot since then. The one thing you definitely need to know is that they have never been able to really standardize the amount of thyroid hormone available in any pill on the market today, so you can never be sure how much you're getting and it varies from batch to batch even from the same manufacturer. I went through a lot of nonsense when I was forced to keep switching brands, depending on what was cheapest for the military healthcare system to buy, back when I was a military wife. Now I at least stick with one manufacturer. These days the doctors tell me almost no one needs a dose higher than 0.15, so I'm very surprised by the 0.2 dose. I definitely prefer being on the high side to being on the low side though. Feel free to commiserate with me as needed...

Re: 25 long years of experience

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

I started on .100's and have been steadily climbing ever since, for some reason. And I find that for some reason I seem to do better (which is to say: be higher-functioning) on generic levothyroxine than on the synthroid brand.

I didn't realize that you also were thyroid-nonfunctional. We should start a club.

Re: 25 long years of experience

[cynthiaweb.livejournal.com]

I'm using Levoxyl manufactured by Jones. It was treated as a generic by my insurance company when I had insurance. It's also cheap enough that after we finally stabilized my dose I had my doctor write a prescription for a 100 day supply and I paid for it out of pocket rather than having to go get it every month as my insurance company required when I went through them. It took about a year to get my dose stabilized recently. We couldn't get stable lab results until I stuck with one pharmacist and insisted on getting the same manufacturer every time. I've been reading the transcript of an FDA meeting with manufacturers that explains why this is a problem. Also, I didn't realize that TSH values vary at different times of the day. Doctors don't even take that into account when interpreting test results. Great.