Why Increasing Your Thyroid Meds Can Make You More Tired
- Jun 16, 2025
- 6 min read
Updated: Jul 26, 2025
What You Should Know Before You Raise Your Dose
A few weeks ago, I thought I was doing the right thing.
My thyroid symptoms were creeping back in after a short illness: more fatigue, brain fog, feeling like I couldn’t catch my breath. My labs weren’t terrible, but I’d been on the same dose of thyroid meds for a while, and my doctor and I figured maybe it was time to bump it up. I know how this goes (I mean, I teach this), but I also have a complicated history: chronic infections, mold exposure, nervous system dysregulation, and crazy fatigue that I had gotten past and was feeling pretty good until that virus took me out.
So, I increased my dose. And instead of feeling better… I felt even worse. Sleep wasn't refreshing anymore. My afternoon slump returned. My brain fog floated back in. My body was trying to keep up with a demand that it clearly didn’t have the reserves to meet.
Conclusion: My Body Wasn’t Ready for More Thyroid Hormone
Thyroid hormone tells your body to go, but I had no gas in the tank.
When I looked at my DUTCH test results, my cortisol curve was nearly flat. I’ll share the graph below, because it was wild to see it in black and white. My adrenals were completely tapped out. Adding more thyroid hormone without fixing the underlying stress, inflammation, and depletion was like hitting the gas when the tank was almost on E. My nervous system didn’t appreciate it. My mitochondria definitely didn’t appreciate it. Stepping back and zooming out, I realized that trying to force my body to function when it needed to recuperate (especially after yet another infection) wasn't doing me any favors.
Why This Happens (It’s More Common Than You Think)
1. Cortisol is foundational, and mine was shot.
Mold and chronic infections (in my case, Lyme and lingering gut stuff) hit the HPA axis hard. That weakens your ability to handle stress and recover from stimulation, including a boost in thyroid hormones. I needed support for my adrenals and nervous system first.
These stressors aren’t rare. Many of my clients are dealing with similar layers. Maybe it’s Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) flaring back up, post-viral depletion after COVID, mold exposure from a past water leak, gut infections, or a history of pushing through fatigue for years. Sometimes the stress is physical, sometimes emotional. Parenting, caretaking, job burnout, or just trying to hold everything together during a few too many “unprecedented” years in a row.
It all builds up. And when your system is already under pressure, asking it to do more with thyroid hormone can push things in the wrong direction.
2. Nutrient cofactors weren’t being absorbed or used efficiently.
T4 to T3 conversion doesn’t just happen. You need selenium, iron, magnesium, B12, and a functioning liver. If you’re inflamed, your gut’s off, or your liver’s congested, you’re not going to get much mileage from a med increase.
Fighting off that infection had depleted me more than I realized, even though I had upped my nutrients during the battle. When you're sick, your body uses up nutrients at a much faster rate. Zinc and vitamin C get pulled into immune defense. Magnesium and B vitamins are burned through just managing the inflammatory response. Glutathione, your master antioxidant, takes a major hit. Iron levels often drop after infection or inflammation because your body locks it away to slow microbial growth, but that also means less energy, slower T4 to T3 conversion, and poor oxygen delivery.
Add in chronic stress (the end of school year craziness is REAL), and you can see even more nutrient needs being unmet. High cortisol burns through magnesium, potassium, vitamin C, B5, and B6, all nutrients your thyroid, adrenals, and mitochondria all need to function. Stress also raises blood sugar, which raises your need for chromium and B vitamins. Add in poor absorption from a stressed-out gut, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for depletion, even if you’re “eating well.” And in all honesty, I probably wasn't because I wasn't hungry due to the illness and on the go way more than usual the week leading up to it.
So even though I thought I was supporting myself with extra nutrients, it wasn’t enough to keep up with what my body was spending. And once you’re in a deficit, adding more thyroid hormone can make things worse, not better.
3. The liver is often the bottleneck.
Detoxing mold, metabolizing hormones, and converting thyroid hormone are all processes that have to go through the liver. Mine was busy. Very busy. It doesn’t take mold exposure to clog things up.
Everyday stressors like blood sugar swings, processed food, medications, and even “fun” things, like a few end-of-school-year parties with alcohol or sugary snacks, add to the liver’s workload. The liver has to process it all. When you throw an illness into the mix, things really pile up. Post-viral fatigue isn't just from the immune system calming down. Your liver also has to clean up the byproducts of the immune response. All those damaged cells, the inflammatory debris, excess histamine, and hormone fluctuations that happen during illness and recovery.
So when I added more thyroid hormone into that already-jammed system, there was nowhere for it to go. My body couldn’t convert or utilize it efficiently, and instead, it likely got shunted into reverse T3 production, putting the brakes on my metabolism instead of speeding it up because my body was yelling at me that it did not have time for this!
This is why so many people feel worse after increasing their dose, even when their labs technically look “better.” If your body doesn't have the capacity to use the extra hormones, you just add extra work to your system.
What I’m Doing Now
I backed off the thyroid increase and shifted my focus to healing the terrain. Here's what that includes right now:
Prioritizing circadian rhythm support: morning light, consistent sleep, blood sugar stability
Continued detox and lymph support: I upped my binders, hit the sauna, do lymphatic massage and use my vibration plate daily
Smart supplementation: adaptogens, mitochondrial support, vitamins & minerals
Lyme support and herbals (targeted, based on my case)
Nervous system regulation tools: red light, vagus nerve support, slowing down, gratitude
I’m already feeling the difference. I’m not where I want to be yet, but I’m no longer making things worse by forcing my body to perform when it clearly needs restoration first.
TL;DR
Even nutritionists mess this up sometimes. I mean, I teach this stuff for a living, but between the post-viral brain fog and wanting to just feel better already, I didn’t stop to ask if my body was actually ready for more. (Spoiler: it wasn’t.)
That’s the tricky thing about thyroid health. It’s not always about needing more. We have to consider if our system can handle more. If things like cortisol, nutrients, detox, and inflammation aren't in a good place, throwing extra thyroid hormone into the mix can just add more pressure to an already overloaded system.
I’m lucky. I knew what labs to run. I could look at my flatlined cortisol, sluggish liver function, and nutrient depletion and go, “Oh… yep. That tracks.” But most people don’t have that information.
That’s exactly why I built Back to Balance.
The last module walks you through what to do if your symptoms suddenly shift or something changes; how to troubleshoot, what to look at first, and how to figure out what your body might be trying to tell you (there's a cool little illustrated algorithm to follow). When this happened to me, I followed my own framework and figured out what was going on. You can learn this too, so you’re armed with the knowledge to know exactly what to ask for at your next doctor appointment, and you can focus on what’s in your control while you get things back on track.
Ready to Actually Feel Better?
If you’re nodding along thinking, “Wait… this might be what’s happening to me,” Back to Balance was made for you! It walks you through the deeper root causes behind your thyroid symptoms and shows you how to rebuild your foundation, step by step. Here's a video walkthrough so you can see exactly what's included:
Not ready to dive in just yet? Join the email list and get exclusive access to my new Mocktail Recipe Book, including a “Recovery Mode” drink I created after this exact thyroid-crash experience. It's packed with calming, mineral-rich, liver-supportive ingredients to help you wind down without tanking your energy the next day. You won’t find it anywhere else.
Here’s what I want you to remember: You don’t need more guesswork. You need a framework, the right labs, and support that actually fits your life. If you need a hand ordering the right labs to figure out what's behind your symptoms, reach out!
🌟 Check out Back to Balance here.
🍷 Join the email list and get the free mocktail guide
Disclaimer: I do not diagnose, treat, prevent, or cure any disease or condition. Nothing I share with my clients is intended to substitute for the advice, treatment or diagnosis of a qualified licensed physician. I may not make any medical diagnoses or claim, nor substitute for your personal physician’s care. It is my role to partner with you to provide ongoing support and accountability in an opt-in model of self-care and any changes should be done under the supervision of a licensed physician.
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