New diagnosis of Hoshimotos

Hi, I have recently been diagnosed with Hoshimoto's and have felt bad for almost a year and a half. I have gained 35 pounds, my face looks swollen, I have boughs with vertigo, sinusitis, leg cramps, episodes of a racing heart (usually while sleeping, these episodes would wake me up) insomnia, dry eyes, dramatic eye sight decline, irregular mental cycle, and these are just the things I can remember right at this moment. I finally found a Dr. who listened and did blood work and found the Hoshimotos. He put me on a dose of Idioal and selenium and after three weeks of taking them, he put me on 50mcgs of synthroid. I have just taken my first dose of the second month and I feel no better. These symptoms are improving: sinusitis, leg cramps, heart racing. They have almost stopped. I am having a period every two weeks that last a whole week, my eyes are dry when I wake up, my vertigo is better but I can be sitting perfectly still and the room will spin for a few seconds then it stops. I have been working out and doing some mild cardio exercises, but I can not loose weight. I watch my calorie intake and try to stay below 1100 per day. I have not lost any weight!! I called and asked if he would up my dose to 75mcgs because that's what I was going to take to begin with but because of my heart racing things, he decided on 50 mcgs and he won't up it without blood work. I am so tired of being tired and not feeling well. I am irritable and have two kids at home and a husband to take care of. When will I start to feel better and get this weight off? HELP!

I was also recently diagnosed with Hashimoto's, though I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism almost two years ago. I was taking 50mcg of Synthroid, but about five-six weeks ago it was increased by my endocrinologist to 75mcg. It took three weeks after the increase before I felt any improvement at all, and I would still say I am not 100%. I also gained a lot of weight and have other issues (depression, anxiety, high bp, high cholesterol, etc) as well.

Are you seeing a specialist or your family doctor? Who is prescribing the medication? Myself, I have had better luck with seeing an endocrinologist over seeing a general practitioner. They are specialists whose job it is to know about our endocrine system. They should be running all the tests - TSH, Free T3, Free T4, TPO and TSI. I am guessing they tested your TPO because that is how they usually diagnose Hashimoto's. My TPO was 102. Reference range 0-34 being normal.

I have a feeling there is more going on with you than just thyroid issues, but I don't have the knowledge or experience with the symptoms you are reporting to even venture to guess what could be going on. Have you seen an OB/GYN to address/rule out any issues there?

There should also be communication between your different doctors. Your family doctor should be getting test results, exam results, etc from any specialists you see.

You will need to have follow up blood work done to see how the Synthroid is affecting your TSH levels. These numbers move very, very slowly. Six weeks like Judy2 said. I would probably have bloodwork done before going from 50 to 75 and see how far you have gone from when you weren't taking any Synthroid to now that you are taking 50. That will be a better gauge of what dosage you should be going to, though 50 to 75 is a prudent move. You may also need to take some T3 (Cytomel) if your free T3 is too low even though your TSH and free T4 are within normal ranges.