My doctor says I am hypo (from lab test showing TSH, doesn't give me the
numbers) and prescribed .025 mg of Synthroid which I have been taking
for six months now.  I know this is a small dose, but I appreciate his
conservatism, i.e. start small and increase.  He recently ordered new
bloodwork, presumably to see if he should up my dose.  Results are not
back yet.

Over these six months, I have gained weight, feel lethargic, and am very
tired by bed time.  (Take the pill at 2 p.m.)  Also, I don't feel my
mental clarity is what it was - I was doing university full time last
year. In addition to this, I was dx'd with hypertension about nine
months ago.  Up till that time I did not take any drugs at all.  Two
days ago I decided I was fed up with being fat, (about 20 lb more than I
should be) and I'm blaming the Synthroid plus overeating and middle
age.  I am now watching what I eat, as well as cutting out the
Synthroid, and already feel so much better.  More like my old self.
Yesterday I found I could work out on treadmill longer and at higher
heart rate.  I did get racing heart and insomnia last night, but figure
this will wear off.  I am worried as Rx list says not to stop Synthroid
suddenly, but I'm sure I read somewhere else that the way Synthroid
works, is that first it suppresses your own thyroid, then it (Syn) takes
over.  Hmmm.  That means you'll be on it forever, and what if you never
needed it in the first place?  Apart from the hypertension, I was fine.
The hypertension is hereditary plus environmental factors like stress
(not smoking, poor diet or lack of exercise).  My feeling is that I was
not hypothyroid in the first place, but the Syn. is making me
hypothyroid.  A lot of the mailings on this list seem to state the
opposite of what I am experiencing i.e. doctors who will NOT put them on
meds, people who are going around dazed WITHOUT meds.  Another
complication is that I was vegetarian for two years prior to this
so-called onset of hypo - I did wonderful things with tofu and soya
milk.  So, at the same time as I started the Synthroid, I dropped all
soya and now eat chicken and fish again and regular milk.  My theory
(and I am only a lay person) is that I do NOT need Synthroid, that my
TSH may have got low because of soya, (as per readings on this list and
elsewhere on Net) and that Synthroid will destroy it altogether.  My
hypertension is now well under control, on beta blockers, so I do wonder
if the Synthroid may have helped the hypertension, that is, if the
hypertension was secondary to hypothyroidism, which I don't believe it
is since my mother's hypertension is quite definitely "essential" - her
whole family has it.

Anyone who can throw light on this?




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