I had thyroid cancer and a surgery was done 6 years ago. I have been taking Synthroid all these years. At the beginning I woke up in the middle of night around 3:30pm and could not get back to sleep. Instead of having the specialist to reduce the dosage for the Synthroid or try the sleeping pills; I took time for my body to make the adjustment, after a couple of months I could sleep thru the night even wake up in the middle of night I could go back to sleep. Do not go to bed too early if you had hard time to fall asleep.

Great advice! I'm in my 50's & am lucky to be one of the people that almost never has trouble sleeping soundly all night. I go to bed at the same time every night & wake up without an alarm in the am. My body is used to the cycle & I sleep like a baby right through 8 hours a night. Once my head hits the pillow, I'm asleep within five minutes or less.

Very fortunate for me, I did not have thyroid cancer but a couple of years ago when I had a routine test the lab called my doctor and couldn't believe how much my thyroid was out of whack. It was so crazy my doc thought there was a mistake. Anyway, I too have to take synthroid for the rest of my life. I have always been an insomniac and it's at a chronic point now. I have attended a sleep clinic many times and am going, as a last resort to their sleep lab for two nights. I know everything to know and have tried all of Sleep Hygeiene. If I'm lucky I get 3 - 4 hours of sleep per night and am tired all day. I certainly am no doctor, but I don't believe synthroid is a contributing factor to insomnia - look it up.

I have actually gone to "sleep school" due to my chronic insomnia (adult ADHD), and there are a few tips not mentioned here.

1.) keep your alarm clock somewhere that you can't see from your pillow. If you can see the time, it can lead to stress as the clock marches toward morning.

2.) as an addition to #5/6; your bedroom should be used for nothing except intimacy and sleep. As in, take the tv and the pc right out of the room, exercise and any craft activity as well.

3.) if you really can't sleep, instead of tossing and turning, get up. Find another activity in another room, and try again later.

4.) counted breathing is a fantastic way of lowering your heart rate. my usual count is 5 in 5 out, but some may change that # to suit their needs, but keep a consistent in and out for at least 3 mins to be effective.

5.) cooler temperatures tell the body/brain that it needs to rest, warmer temperatures get the blood flowing and tell the body it is time for activity, try turning down the thermostat before bed.

I had cancer of the thyroid, had to have it surgically removed, and thus have to take synthyroid for the balance of my life. This med keeps me reasonable able to function with a degree of energy. Unfortunately it does not allow me to have a great night's sleep. I could take sleeping meds, however I'm not thrilled about taking more meds to combat the meds I have to take. So I do keep the TV on all night to mostly boring shows, and I do wake up often, however I go to bed early so out of 10 hours I am physically in bed, I hopefully can manage to sleep about 7 - 8 hours. It's the best I can do!