Side effects of the treatment
Normally, the treatment of hypothyroidism with thyroxine tablets has only mild or, in the best case, no side effects at all: Since the tablets replace the underproduced thyroid hormone (or its precursor), the deficiency symptoms should be compensated for. However, undesirable effects of the medication can be noticed especially in the first period of treatment. This is usually due to the fact that the dosage of the medication is not yet well enough coordinated, or that the therapy takes some getting used to, as the body may perceive the presence of enough thyroid hormones as “too much” at the beginning. Then symptoms such as palpitations, increased sweating or the appearance of symptoms that are normally associated with hyperthyroidism can occur. However, these should soon disappear on their own, otherwise the attending physician should be consulted to adjust the dose.
Duration of the treatment
In most cases, an underactive thyroid gland lasts a lifetime. Accordingly, the duration of treatment is also long-term, especially if it is a drug that replaces the hormones relevant for the thyroid gland, such as L-thyroxine or T3/T4. As these replace messenger substances that are missing in the body, discontinuing the medication would lead to the same symptoms as before the start of therapy. The situation may be different in the case of an iodine deficiency, which has a negative effect on the thyroid gland and should be remedied with iodine tablets: If the thyroid gland values are within the normal range, this means that the serious deficiency has been remedied and the tablets can now be taken as required.
