Can Changing From Synthroid To Levothyroxin Make U Sick

Thyroid hormone replacement drugs are used to treat hypothyroidism—a condition in which your thyroid gland does not produce enough thyroid hormones.

When you take the proper dose of these medications, they are safety, with few side effects. If you are taking as well high a dose, yet, you lot can experience unpleasant symptoms. This is known every bit overmedication.

This article discusses the causes and symptoms of thyroid hormone replacement overmedication.

Verywell / Katie K

Thyroid Hormone Replacement Drugs

Levothyroxine is a type of thyroid hormone replacement drug that is frequently used to care for hypothyroidism. Brand names for levothyroxine include Synthroid, Levoxyl, and Tirosint.

Natural dessicated thyroid (NDT) is also used to treat hypothyroidism. For some people, NDTs work ameliorate than levothyroxine, and many people adopt them because they are considered more than natural. Brand name NDTs include Armour and Nature-Throid.

Usually, people begin thyroid hormone therapy with a depression dose that is gradually increased. In part, this is because hypothyroidism progresses over time. But starting therapy with a depression dose is besides helpful for reducing the hazard of overmedication.

Click Play to Learn More About the Dangers of Too Much Thyroid Medication

Signs and Symptoms of Overmedication

Signs and symptoms of thyroid hormone overmedication tin vary.

Some common symptoms include:

Elevated pulse and blood pressure
Anxiety, nervous energy, tremors
Feeling irritable, overemotional, erratic, or depressed
Difficulty concentrating
Difficulty sleeping
Fatigue
Feeling overheated, even when others are cold
Diarrhea
Feeling like your eye is skipping a beat or racing
Weight loss with no change in your diet/exercise routine
Increment in nutrient intake with no weight proceeds

In some cases, symptoms of overmedication tin be similar to those of hypothyroidism. Yous may feel more exhausted than usual, or achy and equally if you lot have the influenza; you may put on weight, or feel jittery and anxious.

In fact, it'due south not unheard of for a person to visit their healthcare provider to get tested, sure that they demand an increased dosage, simply to find that their symptoms are actually due to overmedication.

Thyroid Disease Healthcare Provider Discussion Guide

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How Overmedication Occurs

There are a number of means you can become overmedicated with your thyroid replacement drug. Sometimes, it takes trial and error to go your dosage just right. Prescribing mistakes can happen as well.

Dosage or Drug Quality Problems

Overmedication may occur when you lot are taking the incorrect dose.

For example:

Your healthcare provider may prescribe a dosage that is too high for yous.
Your chemist may give you the incorrect dosage or incorrect instructions for use.

Information technology is also possible that the quality of your medication may modify from i refill of your prescription to another. This is sometimes the case when your medication is produced by several unlike manufacturers.

If you are taking generic levothyroxine, you may receive a batch of medication that is more stiff or less potent than your previous refill. Even a slight change of authority from one refill to the next can lead to over or under medication and symptoms of hyper or hypothyroidism.

Switching formulations of levothyroxine—for example, from tablet to gel-caps or liquid—tin can too cause overmedication. That's because your trunk absorbs some formulations of levothyroxine better than others. Tirosint liquid gel-caps and Tirosint-SOL liquid levothyroxine blot better than levothyroxine in tablet class. Yous may be prescribed gel-cap or liquid levothyroxine if you are allergic to dyes or fillers, but the switch may result in overmedication.

This is why close monitoring is important. Y'all should get your TSH level checked within half dozen weeks later on beginning thyroid hormone replacement, or after irresolute the brand, formulation, or dose of your medication.

Pay particular attention to symptoms that develop after a recent chemist's refill. They may exist due to a medication fault or change in the formulation.

Change in Diet

Changing your diet tin affect how well your torso absorbs thyroid hormone medication. For example, if yous were eating a lot of fiber and and so cut back on your intake, you may brainstorm to absorb higher levels of thyroid medication.

Supplements and Medications

Certain supplements tin add to the effects of your thyroid replacement and lead to overmedication.

Pay close attending to supplements featuring the terms "thyroid support," "free energy back up," "thyroid glandulars," "adrenal glandulars," and "bovine glandulars." Some of these supplements comprise thyroid hormone from animals.

Supplements that contain iodine, such as bladderwrack (Fucus vesiculosus), kelp, bugleweed, Irish moss, or seaweed are besides culprits. Too much iodine, in particular, can over-stimulate your thyroid and trigger hyperthyroidism.

Drugs that contain estrogens, such as hormone replacement medications and contraceptive pills, tin interfere with thyroid hormone requirement. When you terminate taking them, your torso might require more or less thyroid medication than when yous were taking them.

Hashimoto'southward Disease

With Hashimoto'due south disease, your thyroid hormone levels can fluctuate rapidly. Hashitoxicosis refers to the stage when your thyroid is over-operation and producing more thyroid hormone.

Taking your thyroid hormone replacement medication when your thyroid is in hashitoxicosis tin can temporarily cause symptoms of hyperthyroidism.

Pregnancy

During pregnancy, your demand for thyroid hormone increases, so you may demand to be prescribed a higher dose of medication than usual.

Once y'all take the babe, your demand for thyroid hormone drops. Hence, the dose of thyroid hormone replacement y'all were taking during pregnancy could be likewise high for the postpartum period. This can upshot in overmedication.

Monitoring for Overmedication

Healthcare providers typically utilize your thyroid blood test results to see if you are getting too much medicine. In some cases, having a TSH level that is lower than normal or a T3 or T4 level that is higher than normal can be a sign of overmedication.

Summary

You may get overmedicated with changes in the dosage or blazon of thyroid hormone replacement therapy you lot are taking. Certain health conditions and lifestyle changes can atomic number 82 to overmedication, too.

Because the symptoms of overmedication can mimic hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism, it's important to have your TSH, T4, and/or T3 levels checked regularly and whatever time your medication changes.

A Give-and-take From Verywell

Symptoms of beingness overmedicated with thyroid hormone replacement drugs are often uncomfortable, merely rarely dangerous. Often, eliminating thyroid-boosting supplements and/or cutting back on your medication dosage solves the problem.

Your healthcare provider will run periodic thyroid tests and adjust your dosage every bit needed until your symptoms resolve and your thyroid levels return to optimal levels.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the side furnishings of levothyroxine?

Side effects of levothyroxine can include pilus loss, headache, diarrhea, fever, weight gain or loss, vomiting, joint pain, oestrus sensitivity, appetite changes, menstrual bike changes, and leg cramps. Other serious side furnishings that could warrant visiting a doctor include wheezing, shortness of breath, hives, rash, and swelling of the hands, anxiety, ankles, or lower legs.
What is the recommended dosage for levothyroxine?

Everyone's bodies work differently, so in that location is not a recommended dosage for levothyroxine. In many cases, people who start receiving treatment for hypothyroidism will exist given a lower dose of medication to avoid the risk of overmedicating. Over fourth dimension, this dose will probable need to be adjusted to meet the needs of the user.
What are the dangers of too much thyroid medication?

At that place are many risks to having too much thyroid medication, otherwise known as being overmedicated. Symptoms of overmedication can include anxiety, diarrhea, depression, elevated heartbeat, elevated blood force per unit area, fatigue, irritability, difficulty concentrating, difficulty sleeping, being overheated, and unprompted or unintentional weight loss.

Source: https://www.verywellhealth.com/too-much-thyroid-medication-3233271

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