Hi everyone- I have been treated for hypo now for about 8 months. I am on levothyroxine 75 mg and have been tested several times since starting. So, I guess the dose is ok. What bothers me is that I feel that my face became puffy with hypo while I was untreated. My endo said that within 6 months I should see improvement. I don't see any improvement as far as the puffy face is concerned. Does the puffy face ever go away? Would treatment with levo plus cytomel help more? I am very careful about sodium intake--it's very low. Also I am not overweight and I exercise regularly. I am not on any other drugs that would cause me to have a puffy face. Can anyone shed any light on this problem?
Last edited by osteoblast; 05-11-2007 at 05:14 PM.
I don't know the answers to your questions about having a puffy face. However, before I was put on Synthroid, I would wake up in the morning and find that my legs were swollen and very hard. I was retaining fluid during the night. Then I began to suffer with horrible night sweats. Since I am 50 years old, I attributed these to menopause. I never thought about a thyroid problem. My doctor put me on Synthroid about two months ago. Since then, I have not had any problems with swollen legs in the morning. I still do have a problem with night sweats.
Hi everyone- I have been treated for hypo now for about 8 months. I am on levothyroxine 75 mg and have been tested several times since starting. So, I guess the dose is ok. What bothers me is that I feel that my face became puffy with hypo while I was untreated. My endo said that within 6 months I should see improvement. I don't see any improvement as far as the puffy face is concerned. Does the puffy face ever go away? Would treatment with levo plus cytomel help more? I am very careful about sodium intake--it's very low. Also I am not overweight and I exercise regularly. I am not on any other drugs that would cause me to have a puffy face. Can anyone shed any light on this problem?
Osteoblast,
I can agree w/ you regarding the puffy face symptom of hypo. Ever since I am levelled on Armour (for the past month) I don't have the puffy face as much anymore. I heard that Synthroid may not help with water retention as well as Armour. Usually, if you're at optimal levels with your thyroid drug the puffy face and other symptoms go away. Have you tried drinking enough water, lowering gluten intake and sugar? I know when I do this it makes a huge difference esp. when you're close to optimal dosage.
Last edited by librarygirl2; 05-12-2007 at 12:12 AM.
I have been in treatment for a little over a year. I am still not leveled, but I had the puffy face. My face is actually long, but it looked round. I felt like Ms. Doughboy.
I don't remember exactly when I looked in the mirror and realized my face looked like mine again, but the puffiness is gone. You can't really gauge when symptoms will disappear for you by when they disappeared for others. We all have different rates of reaching our feel as normal as I can place, but it's good to know troublesome symptoms do go away for people once treated.
Edit to say: I take Levothroid, not Armour, if that helps.
ErinBeth-yes it helps that others share that the puffy, moon face did go away. And, I was glad to hear that you were able to lose the puffy face with levothroid. At 8 months of treatment I was beginning to think that I would never lose the puffy face. My face does not match my body weight.
Librarygirl2-thanks for your input. I do drink alot of water and limit sugar. As far as gluten goes, I don't think I overdo but I try to get recommended fiber.
I am not clear by what you folks mean by when you are balanced or when you are at your optimum. Up till now, the dr. has just monitored my tsh and it has come back first to 1.3 then 1.5. I am seeing a new endo and she seems to have tested more on recent lab tests. Do you mean balanced and optimized when your tsh gets in the right range or are you taking a more expanded look?? I am going to do more reading on the subject starting this weekend.
Hi
I had a puffy face but after being treated for more than 18mos now ( Levothyroid too) I see an improvement. Just the dark bags under the eyes are a bummer. Thank goodness for concealer!! Alot of it has to do with impaired circulation I understand.
I suppose everyone at their own pace, and eventually?
Good luck
ErinBeth-yes it helps that others share that the puffy, moon face did go away. And, I was glad to hear that you were able to lose the puffy face with levothroid. At 8 months of treatment I was beginning to think that I would never lose the puffy face. My face does not match my body weight.
Librarygirl2-thanks for your input. I do drink alot of water and limit sugar. As far as gluten goes, I don't think I overdo but I try to get recommended fiber.
I am not clear by what you folks mean by when you are balanced or when you are at your optimum. Up till now, the dr. has just monitored my tsh and it has come back first to 1.3 then 1.5. I am seeing a new endo and she seems to have tested more on recent lab tests. Do you mean balanced and optimized when your tsh gets in the right range or are you taking a more expanded look?? I am going to do more reading on the subject starting this weekend.
Osteoblast,
Optimized means that your symptoms of hypo are pretty much gone and you feel good regardless of your TSH. Some feel better at 1 and some feel better at less than 1 for TSH. You know you have a good doctor when he/she looks not just at TSH but also at FT3, FT4, AND symptoms. Usually FT3 and FT4 should be in the middle to upper ranges and your symptoms should be almost nothing while you feel good.
I am not clear by what you folks mean by when you are balanced or when you are at your optimum. Up till now, the dr. has just monitored my tsh and it has come back first to 1.3 then 1.5. I am seeing a new endo and she seems to have tested more on recent lab tests. Do you mean balanced and optimized when your tsh gets in the right range or are you taking a more expanded look?? I am going to do more reading on the subject starting this weekend.
My doctor told me in the beginning my target range would be TSH 1-2, depending on where I felt best. Once I reached 1.9, I was still symptomatic, so he raised the dose. Three months later it was TSH 1.7 and I was still symptomatic so he raised the dose again. We're aiming for TSH 1, but four months after a TSH of 1.7, my TSH came back at 2.7 and the symptoms had worsened instead of getting better. That's what I meant when I said I haven't leveled yet.
Again, that optimal level is an individual thing. So far, we have only used TSH. So far neither I nor my doctor has seen a need for any other labs. I typed a lot about that in a recent topic. If that interests you, search for posts by me in a topic Red Maple started with my name in the title.
