Hello, i'm sorry to hear of the problems you are having with anxiety. I was really surprised to see that you said you are hypothyroid, its usually people who are overactive that are anxious. I have had an underactive thyroid for more than two yrs and suffered badly with anxiety - sometimes I find it so hard to go out at all. I never knew that it could be linked to thyroid underactivity, did your gp tell you this is the case?

Hello hayleyh 5 when I told my doc that my anxiety was worse,he simply said my thyroid was still low and this could be why my anxiety was worse,so im assuming that he ment the two could be connected,well I never had an anxiety problem untill my doc told me I had an underactive thyroid,and this was all in the same week,that was four years ago and I also cannot go out not on my own,i joined the british thyroid foundation ,and I have read many letters in there newsletter of people with the same problem that you and I have,its worth joining,are you on any meds for anxiety?And what mg are you on for your thyroid?.Take care

Well that is interesting. I honestly didnt link them together, not underactivity of thyroid anyway. I am not on any medication for thyroid as I have thyroiditis, it keeps being underactive and then working ok again, I have been overactive once as well. I take beta blockers for anxiety, propranolol 10-20mg when needed. It really helps, not just with the heart beat / palpitations, but also with the general feeling of anxiety and tremor. They're brilliant. They help you just calm down enough to get some sleep or go to work etc. I dont take anti-anxiety/anti-depressants, but sometimes I think I need to! Wishing you all the best, hope you manage to feel better ;o)

Hi there,i also was on propranolol,i now take them when needed,i dont think they did much for me, my doc has now put me on fluoxetine and they are so good,i also got my blood test results back and now have to take 225mcg of thyroxine so this should also help my anxiety,i do hope so.

I can't believe I never connected the two before. I've been suffering with anxiety and panic attacks for two years now, I was taken to hospital during an attack because I was having breathing difficulties. I was convinced I had blood clots in my legs coz I had pains in them all the time, he ran a full blood test on me and said that my clotting levels were normal so I'm not at risk of clots, but that my thyroid was underactive. That was in April, I'm still having the pains in my legs and I still get worried, also have heart palpitations. Is it normal to have anxiety over something specific? Mine always tends to be that something will happen to me medically, that's why I joined this site!

Hi mummy77

I´m a newcomer to the site, so hopefully, you now know more about the aches and pains you have been suffering! I have had Hypo for over 10 yrs now and one of the symptoms is joint pains ... it took me ages to get this info ... so many GP´s just don´t seem to have the details I even saw a Harley St consultant that told me these aches and pains were all in my head! you can imagine how depressed and anxious this made me I left his office in tears! I worked as a researcher at the time and decided to carry out some research of my own .. guess what! all the symptoms my doc said didn´t happen were listed in just about everything I read related to hypo disease.
Aches and pains
Cottonwool brain! (where your concentration is completely fogged up)
Anxiety
Sleeplessness (although so very tired)
Weight gain
hairloss
brittle nails
dry skin
skin discolouration
These are not necessarily the case in everyone that suffers but they CAN occur! It helped me a lot to understand what was going on .. I hope it helps you too. Please speak with your GP again, it could be that you are not on the right medication yet .. or you may need another brand! It took awhile for my meds to work .. the first 6 mths were hell. Still have my ups and downs but am much better now. Can´t get my weight under control though .. any tips.
I wish you well and hope this helps

Hi there Kazinspain! Things are looking up for me, after my last blood test my gp has kept me on 100mg so hopefully I've levelled out Since starting the meds I've lost about half a stone and my legs are only painful if I forget to take my meds first thing in the morning. I feel quite lucky reading the checklist of symptoms! Although I have the aches and pains, anxiety and weight gain, I don't have the hairloss, dry skin or skin discolouration. I've told people that I've had insomnia since I was about six or seven years old, didn't really associate it with the hypothyroidism till you mentioned it Although, now I think about it, my nails do tend to break easily once they get to a certain length, and usually split too. I also went to see my gp a few months ago coz I was having headaches and was having trouble finding the right words when I was talking to people (I've always had a large vocab) Had a ct scan and that came back normal, so maybe that was linked to this problem too?! As for tips on the weight issue, DON'T DIET!! Just switch to the low fat options on things and cut out bread as much as possible. I'm yeast intolerant and once I cut out bread and yeast products I lost four stone in a year and a half! I still eat what I like, I'm just sensible about it Hope that helps!! Let me know how you get on. Good Luck!

I am a 56 yr. old male. Quite active in my work and lifestyle. I have experienced panic disorder and generalized anxiety for about 12 yrs. I have tried paxil, zoloft, lexipro and klonopin through several of my physician's recommendations. Recently I had a Blood glucose blood test because sometimes I get strong hunger fits and I shake and sweat and it actually feels very similar to panic attact. The test for my sugar came back after a fast at 104. My cholestral and all other results were well within good or excellent levels. My blood pressure is almost always around 110/74. pulse about 74-82. I cannot understand these symptoms continuing. This blood work also read 4.4 on the thyroid and this raised an eyebrow with my doctor as possibly the cause of all of this panic and anxiety. Additionally my sister had similar low throid in her past and takes a hormone of some sort and it has helped her tremendously. If you could shed some light on this nagging affliction I would really appreciate it. Thank you..

John Schleer

Dear John

My mum has suffered from bad anxiety for years resulting in umpteen different tablets for depression, none of which worked successfully. I asked her doctor to carry out a thyroid function test only to be told that there was no symptoms of thyroid problems
in her medical history. It was eventually carried out, albeit unhappily, and low and behold she is underactive. She now takes thyroxine but as yet there has been no improvement in her anxiety. It now turns out she has been on the wrong doseage since she began these tablets about 3 years ago. She has suffered a lot with her anxiety and we only hope that when she does eventually get the right doseage life will improve dramatically for her as it is awful to see her in such a state.she is underweight and has trouble putting weight on, a stomach tremble which wakes her up in the early morning and doesnt calm down until later in the day. She is also very irritable. I just hope these symptoms can be controlled and these distressing symptoms banished so my mum can be much happier. I hope you have success in quelling these awful symptoms. Good luck

Is kind of odd for me because i have suffered from severe anxiety disorder for over 5 years and was only diagnosed with hypothyroidism 6 months ago. Did one cause the other? I don't know. I do know that my anxiety is now worse and totally believe that the underlying condition makes it so.

Hi, I have had underactive thryroid for 9 years now. And would like to know if taking the fat blocker alli is contraindicated when taking thyroxine.

I would talk to your doctor about that. Most things don't affect thyroid medication, but some do a lot. Some pills, such as iron supplements you're not supposed to take within 4 hours of your thyroid medication.

Odd things can affect thyroid medication, as well. I wouldn't have thought that birth control pills would have any effect, but research has shown that they do (and my own blood tests confirm it).

Before you take anything, I would ask your doctor. I doubt that Alli has been tested with thyroid medication, so if you doctor says to go ahead and take it, make sure you have regular follow-up blood tests to make sure your levels are normal.

you can take alli with no problems with levothyroxine and if you are hypo. Because of my weight gain I am on the stronger prescribed version of alli called xenical which is twice the strengh of alli. I also take the appetite suppressant, reductil. Alli works directly on fat absorbtion in the bowel and does not affect anything else.

I have also had severe anxiety disorder for 7 years and was diagnosed with hypothyroidism last year.

please can anybody help me solve a problem,i was told 6mths ago that i have a under active thyoid i have been suffering with serious panick attacks for a long time.but because i am so frightened of the palpations i wont take the medication in case they make the problem worse has anyone taken levothyroxine and found that there palpations has got worse i am so worried about taken them, but deep down i know that i should take the tablets i cant go back to the doc and tell him that i havent taken any tablets yet as i am sure he will go mad at me please help thanks joy

You shouldn't have palpitations if the dosage is right. Part of your problem could be the under-active thyroid problem, even though over-active thyroid usually causes it. I have done a lot of research into the subject and from that, and my own pretty extensive experience, under-active thyroid symptoms can be similar to over-active ones in some people.

How much did the doctor give you? What's the dosage? Also, do you know how under-active your thyroid is? Do you know your TSH level? It will take a couple of months for the pills to have their full effect where the doctor can test if you are at a normal level again. Trust me, you should feel a lot better in general once your thyroid is in order. You are probably feeling tired, down/depressed, achy/sore, lack of desire to do anything, etc.

Take the pills and see how you do. Write down your concerns and questions to take to the doctor. That's what he's there for.

Have you talked to your doctor about your anxiety?

hi i am 15 years of age a female and i have just found out about my thyroid being underactive it runs in the family i have been waiting 3 months to get on my medication the hospital is taking its time i feel horrible im always tired during the day i cannot concentrate at all my mind goes blank doesent help when im in school i feel really dizzy and sometimes i dont feel right i just randomly pass out for a few minutes sometimes i just dont have the energy to move all i want to do is sleep i never feel good during the day iv had most symptoms including hair thining and irregular peroids they tested if i was pregnant and i know i wasent it came back negative i have had 2 blood tests i got tested for everything at first and my thyroid came back wrong then i got another one testing diabettes because it runs in the family and enemic because im rather pale im niether of them but it seems like im them aswell as my thyroid i dunno what to do i get awful mood swings im always not in the mood anymore what can i do ?

I was diagnosed with an underactive thyroid july 09.
for the past yr and a half i had been having awful panic attacks and terrible anxiety.
After a number of blood tests and numerous ecg,s which were all coming back normal.
13 months ago i quit smoking so i put all the weight gain down to that,however after being on and still taking antidepressants i started to go down hill again.
A trip to see another g.p who said to me i think i will send you along to have yout thyroid tested.
When the results came back my TSH was 59 i was well under.
One g.p started me on 100mc of Thyroxine a day and i had to go back in 6 wks for another blood test.
I did start having p
a few problems to beging with.
When i went alolng for the results of my second blood test my TSH was now 1.4 within normal range.
The g.p decided to keep me on the same dosage to see how i went?
I was wondering at that stage iff my dosage should have been lowered?
I went back to see another g.p who sent me for another blood test as i felt as though i was over medicated and i was my TSH was now 0.32 i was now Hyperthyroid.
My dosage was lowered down to 75mc a day of Thyroxine and i had to stay on that for 6 weeks and go for another blood test.
This time my TSH was 1.6.
My T3 was Noraml and as was my T4.
Lats time round my T4 was 24.
I felt as though i was still struggling and my dosage was lowered to 50mc of Thyroxine a day.
However after a few weeks i was getting symptoms that i was on to low a dosage so am now back up to 75mc of Thyroxine a day.

I think if i had been started on 25mc of Thyroxine a day and then worked up gradually i wouldnt have had half the problems.

I still get bad days as it has only been 4 months since i have been diagnosed and with treatment.
My g.p is lowering the dodage of my antidepressants so with the view to coming off them after a few months.
One thing i have noticed though is since i have been on Thyroxine i hardly ever have a sore throat as i was prone to them all the time.
I also havent suffered from cystitis or thrush infection either.
I still get tired even more so mid afternoon but i feel as though i have a bit more energy.
Muscle tension still gets bad at times iff i have over done things even more so the following day.
G.ps have always been quick to tell me that anxiety is not conected with an underactive thyroid but i know myself it is.
It turns out that half of my family have thyroid problems.
I also have heavier and more painful periods however my periods are regular now.
Its hard to believe that the THyroid can be reasponsible for so many symptoms.