So as I have mentioned in previous posts, my doctor is considering having me try thyroid meds. He said my thryoid results are okay (TSH 2.09 and T4 1.1) and I had no anitbodies present, but said that decreasing my TSH to 1.5 could help with the hair loss. At this point, my fatigue has been attributed to early morning hypoglycemia from the Metformin and noyt hypothyroid. The only other possible hypthyroid symptom I could possibly have is hair loss- which could also be caused by PCOS. I have read that hair loss is a common side effect of thyroid meds. For those of you on thyroid meds have you observed an increase in hair loss? I do not want to take the thyroid meds simply for my hair loss and wind up having the meds make it worse.
I'm not a doctor but I thought the normal range for TSH went up to 3.0? Your TSH at 2.09 is still in the normal range. That being said when I started taking thyroid meds (Synthroid) I noticed a lot of my hair falling out. It was scary but I have thick hair to begin with so I wasn't too worried. I told my doctor that I didn't think the Synthyroid was helping me so he told me to stop taking it. I'm going to have my TSH tested again next month so we'll see. I also did not test positive for antibodies but I started with a TSH of 7.5.
__________________ - Jen -
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there's a whole group of docs out there who think that TSH should be at or under 1 to be good. Check out articles by Dr. leonard Wartofsky.
But anyway, if you're going on levo to help the hairloss I will give you a word of caution. I started about 4 months ago. Around week 4 I got horribly alarmed. i was losing hair like someone on chemo.
I'd wake up there were 20 hairs on my pillow from the night. I'd shower annd lose another 20 or so. then I'd run a big wide comb through my hair before leaving for work and lose another 20....hair would be on my headrest in the car, and everytime my boyfriend touched my head he'd come away with enough to make him nervous that he was going to be dating a bald woman soon.
This went on for a few weeks and I was beside myself as you can imagine...but then it normalised...my hair started looking healthier and stopped falling entirely. I can't say that I've regrown hair, but it looks a heckc of a lot better than it did 2 months ago, and is maybe as good as when I started...hopefully that means it's reversing.
The only thing is I started taking 2 capsules of evening primrose oil morning and night around the time that this started happening so I don't know what is due to the levo and what is the oil, but that's my story.
It might work, but you'll probably go through a a really alarming period before it does...it's listed under the side effects, bbut you have no idea what it looks like until it starts happening.
I haven't read your other posts (I don't know your history) but if your only symptoms are hair loss and fatigue I wouldn't assume that you have a thyroid problem especially if you didn't have antibodies and your TSH is at a normal level. The problem with taking thyroid medication when it's not necessary is that it can cause unwanted side effects, wreck havoc on your system and cause you to go into the hyper end of the range. PCOS is known to cause hair loss and fatigue so it may be a symptom from that or it could be a number of other things causing it too. I would urge your doc to do more testing to see what else could be going on. It can't hurt?
__________________ - Jen -
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As I understand it, thyroid meds usually don't worsen hair loss...when some one starts on the meds, it takes a few weeks to get your levels up. During and after that time, until they are leveled, you will usually have an increased amount of hair loss. This is because each day your body sheds a certain amount of hair, but if you are hypothyroid your body's shedding slows down. When your body starts receiving the thyroid hormone it "catches up" and sheds a bunch of hair. After being on thyroid meds for a while, you should notice a decrease in hair loss and your hair is usually healthier. I think someone mentioned this in them.
Your TSH is definately in normal range...but it may not be normal for you. I encourage you to talk with your doctor more about this. Some people have very few symptoms when they are hypo, others have the entire list. In my experience, I have found that the best person to manage my thyroid is an endcrinologist who specializes in thyroid disorders. Do what is best for you, but make sure you have all the information you need and want from your doctor of choice!
Cynthia
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I have the opposite experience. My hair was becoming very thin on top of my head, after I went back to thyroid meds it stopped and now 3 months later I have new tiny hairs growing on top of my head which wasn`t there before.
__________________ Tiina
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30 yrs,dh 30
Vitex, L-Thyroxin, Soy
DS Freddy Aleksander born July 22, 2003 (my "herbal" baby)
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Do thyroid meds worsen hair loss? 
