I'm so frustrated. My thyroid has been whacky ever since I quit smoking almost 2 years ago. I was on synthroid for years, and I did OK on it but I always had brain fog. I figured that was normal.
A couple months after I quit smoking I went to see the Dr. because I didn't feel good. I was extremely tired all the time. He decided to check my thyroid and my TSH was at 29 (I forget what the other #'s were). Normally my TSH was around 4-5. He explained that quitting smoking can affect your thyroid since smoking artificially boosts your metabolism, I was probably undermedicated for a while and we didn't know. He thought it might be a good idea to switch to Armor thyroid. I've been on Armor for about a year and a half now. Overall it's been great, and the brain fog went away! I thought that was something I was stuck with forever.
I started having problems again in December though. I began to get anxiety/panic attacks. I felt very edgy, and zippy. I had symptims of depression even though I didn't feel depressed at all. He knocked my Armor down from 150 to 135 (I was taking a 120 and split a 30). I had my thyroid retested again in May. This time the numbers were:
May 17th 2005
TSH: .272 (range .540-5.700)
Free T4 1.23 (range: .93-1.70)
T3 1.7 (.8-2.0)
He decided to keep me at the 120, because while the TSH was a little low, the other two were in a good range (previously, my T3 or free T4 had been a little low). From May to July my anxiety got worse and I never tied it in to thyroid. The worst was in July when I started getting heart palpitations and they would go on all day long. They had me wear a holter monitor for 24 hours which showed I was throwing PVCs (annoying but harmless palps). The Dr. that had ordered the test (my reg. Dr was on vacation) asked me when my thyroid was last checked. I explained it had only been a couple months ago and I wasn't due to be checked yet. She said let's do it again anyway, and the numbers were:
July 27 2005
TSH: .079 (range .540-5.700)
Free T4 1.1 (range: .93-1.70)
T3 1.2 (.8-2.0)
She said that most likely explained the palpitations (at times they were strong, almost constant and were freaking me out badly). She had me knock my Armor down to 120 and I was doing better, the heart palps lessened a lot within a couple weeks, but this last week they started coming back where they were more continuous again, and they would happen all day. I also started feeling more edgy and anxious again so we retested and my TSH was better, but it was still pretty low at .097 (I forgot to write down the T3 and free T4, I can get that tomorrow again). She has me at 90 Armor now, and we'll retest again in about 6 weeks but here's the deal
I'm miserable, the heart palps are bad today and to top it all off I've been crying almost steadily since I woke up and it's not even close to TOM (the only reason I can think of that would make me blue). I don;t usually cry at all but today I'm crying like a loved one died. I'm afraid, I don;t know what's going to happen and I just want to feel better. I'm worried the harmless PVCs will turn into a heart attack, I'm worried my thyroid will never level out. I hate this hyper feeling.. and I'm sure th ehell going to go bald soon. My hair was falling out at hypo and it's falling out at this too!
I've only been on the 90 two days now and there's a part of me that's worried we went too low too fast (will there be bad side effects for that now?) and I'm worried I'll never get my numbers in a range that feels good again. It's stupid to blame the quitting smoking, but I'm harboring a little resentment that everything was good until I quit LOL.
So please, if you have any thoughts post them. Even if it's just to say "you're not going to drop dead" because today that seems to be a big fear and I'm feeling very alone right now