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What Causes Extreme Fatigue, Muscle Pain In Shoulders And Weakness In Legs?
Question: Hello:
I'm a 58 year old male (in good shape) and was recently prescribed Synthroid for Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. I have been taking this medication for just over three weeks. I started with a dose of 12.5 mg. each morning and slowly worked up to 35 mg. (which is the dose I'm currently taking. It is seemingly already working in that my symptoms of extreme fatigue, muscle aches in my shoulders and weakness in my legs are gone). The dose has been well tolerated except for this morning as I was awakened with a racing heart and an awareness of very slight heaviness around my heart. (This may simply have been me focusing on the sensation of my heart racing!) When prescribed the medication, my TSH was 3.12 and my free T4 was 12.8 and free T3 was 3.8. In my early thirties I had a racing heart (no evidence of heart disease) and was give Propranalol (20 mg. 4 x's a day to control it - it's work like a charm). I haven't had a racing heart in all these years, except for now again this morning. I have a history of heart disease on my mother's side of the family, but I passed a stress test two years ago with flying colours and my annual eye exam shows no indication of any artery problems according to imaging. Is this side effect something I should be concerned about? Is this a normal process of adjusting to Synthroid? With my doctor's permission, should I back off on my dose (even though 35 mg.'s is not high). Please let me know your thoughts. Thank you! XXXX
I'm a 58 year old male (in good shape) and was recently prescribed Synthroid for Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. I have been taking this medication for just over three weeks. I started with a dose of 12.5 mg. each morning and slowly worked up to 35 mg. (which is the dose I'm currently taking. It is seemingly already working in that my symptoms of extreme fatigue, muscle aches in my shoulders and weakness in my legs are gone). The dose has been well tolerated except for this morning as I was awakened with a racing heart and an awareness of very slight heaviness around my heart. (This may simply have been me focusing on the sensation of my heart racing!) When prescribed the medication, my TSH was 3.12 and my free T4 was 12.8 and free T3 was 3.8. In my early thirties I had a racing heart (no evidence of heart disease) and was give Propranalol (20 mg. 4 x's a day to control it - it's work like a charm). I haven't had a racing heart in all these years, except for now again this morning. I have a history of heart disease on my mother's side of the family, but I passed a stress test two years ago with flying colours and my annual eye exam shows no indication of any artery problems according to imaging. Is this side effect something I should be concerned about? Is this a normal process of adjusting to Synthroid? With my doctor's permission, should I back off on my dose (even though 35 mg.'s is not high). Please let me know your thoughts. Thank you! XXXX
Brief Answer:
Can be sythyroid side effect, ekg recommendable to rule out heart condition
Detailed Answer:
Dear patient,
this may be a side effect while adjusting to synthyroid, but with this relatively moderate dose and don't think that is very likely. If you were my patient i would try keeping the dose and checking on your heart with ekg and potentially further diagnostics. That you have passed stress test 2 years ago with good results is a good sign though. This may also be supported by anxiety/focusing on it as you say, if ekg shows no pathological result, then some relaxation techniques like autogenes training can help. If nothing else seems to cause it, reducing the synthyroid again is also an option.
Hope this is helping you , if you have any clarificatons you can get back to me, if this was helpful please kindly rate my answer. Best regards
Can be sythyroid side effect, ekg recommendable to rule out heart condition
Detailed Answer:
Dear patient,
this may be a side effect while adjusting to synthyroid, but with this relatively moderate dose and don't think that is very likely. If you were my patient i would try keeping the dose and checking on your heart with ekg and potentially further diagnostics. That you have passed stress test 2 years ago with good results is a good sign though. This may also be supported by anxiety/focusing on it as you say, if ekg shows no pathological result, then some relaxation techniques like autogenes training can help. If nothing else seems to cause it, reducing the synthyroid again is also an option.
Hope this is helping you , if you have any clarificatons you can get back to me, if this was helpful please kindly rate my answer. Best regards
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Vinay Bhardwaj
Answered by
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