Heart palps with Snythroid

[LD1]

Dr. Lupo I am half out of my mind ...I was diagnosed with HYPO thryoidism  2005... started with 25 mcgs of snythyroid  then to 50....  I gained 15lbs and was still feeling aweful... I changed doctors and he put me on 75mcgs up until August 2007.I felt fine lost a little bit of weight..... I also have low iron from heavy menstruationg  I am 49 years old.   5ft 5 inches  and now I have put on more weight I am back to 160lbs... and getting more depressed by the second.   I contacted my doctor went back to my endocrinologist and he raised me to 88mcgs Late August 2007 early September 2007.    ON September 23, 2007  I was exercising and started to notice my heart jumping out of my chest while doing my aerboics tape.. Now I have been athletic my entire life and have been exercising and weights since my daughters were born over 24 years ago...  and always weight  130lbs...up until 3 years ago  I blew up to 150lbs  anyhow....  I stopped exercising and begain  to have panic attacks  irregular heart beat flutters boughts of hysteria;  hot flashes; heat intolerance  and felt like I was having a nervous breakdown... My endo kept advising me that it couldn't be the snythroid  because  i was within my range.I think he said around 1.74??..it must be my heart now there is heart disease in my family  as well as thryoid problems throughout my mothers side....   so I went to my father's cardiologist  who took my  blood pressure and it was high at 150/90.he said I was flying like I was on speed...  He told me I was healthy  took echocardiogram ekg  had a heart monitor for 24 hours  everything was fine he said...except the fact that I was over stimulated with the thyroid medicine...He prescibed Topol to help me until I got another doctor and another opinion.. But I didn't want to start with the BP medicine because I never had high BP in my life..   My doctor still didn't believe me so I had some pills left over from the past and I slowly started to reduce myself back down to 62.5( half of 125) and then to 50.   I went back to my endocrinologist and told him that I was feeling much better.. BUT  I still felt my heart beat at nite while sleeping.. and it made me very nervous... I started taking ativan  for my nerves and then I wouldn't feel my heart beating at nite....  Well,  he took blood levels in December 2007 and my thyroid T4 was 4.45 and close to borderline.. But I didn't care because I felt better... then I started to feel sick right after the holidays  took more blood early January 2008 and now was 4.79.
He wanted to increase me on the weekends to two 50mcgs(100 each day) only on Saturday and Sunday and go back to 50 during M - F  well you guessed it  I felt sick all over again with my heart pounding and feeling like I was going to have a heart attack....
I just recently started with another doctor and she said I was within my range of 4.79 and I should stick with 50mcgs....  I am going out of my mind!!!!!  I don't want to become hypothyroid again.   So this past week I bumped myself up to 62.5 and although I am more energetic  I have pressure in my chest  and feel horrible...  PLEASE HELP!!!  What is happening to me.. and the weight gain again....
What do you suggest I do... I am at my witts end.. Thank you.  LD

[Windspirit]

Hello:  No one person has all the answers but I will tell you what I have experienced so far.  Many years ago they said I was menopausal,(didn't run lab work, just guessed).  Put me on premarine.  After two years I was having anxiety attacks, migraines, bouts of unexpected anger and my cholesterol shot to 239 ( I was 5' 4" and 100 lbs at the time).  I stopped taking the hormones and cholesterol dropped 25 points in 1 month and 64 points in a year.  

Then when I found I had thyroid cancer and had it removed in Nov.05 I found out I was also menopausal at the same time (confirmed by blood work this time).  So after the surgery and the RAI they pushed me into having (don't ever do it if you don't have to) I had the fun of trying to balance my TSH levels while fighting menopause too.  I insisted on bio-identical hormones as I knew the synthetic ones can kill ya but I was still bouncing off the walls.  Anxiety attacks so bad it felt like I couldn't take a breath at times and wasn't getting enough air when I did.  Heart palpations, pain in chest...honestly thought I was having a heart attack a few times.Hot flashes so bad I couldn't sleep for weeks on end.  I found a place to do saliva tests of my hormones on the advice of a doctor and found out my hormone levels were off the charts and totally out of balance with each other.  In the meantime my TSH levels were doing the same thing.  

I finally gave up on the docs and started looking for natural ways to balance my hormones.  I found a daily supplement called Maca root that I take twice a day and a multi-hormonal over the counter transdermal cream called Tri-Gesterone at www.vitaleffects.com that I use twice a day.  After a month I retested my hormones using the saliva test from www.bodybalance.com (same lab that the doc had used) and found that for the first time in 18 months my hormone levels were in normal range and balanced with each other (estrogen being higher than the progesterone will aggrevate hypothyroidism).  I had my TSH level checked and it was normal for the first time in 18 months also.  I take 90 mg of Armour Thyroid.  I researched it and the docs who argue that Armour is not consistent like Synthroid are full of it.  They assume your body is going to convert the T4 to T3 and a lot of people don't.  Plus T3 has a short life span so I actually snap my pills in half and take half in the morning and half in the evening to balance it out.

I do not have hot flashes anymore and feel like a normal person again.  Actually find myself just feeling happy for absolutely no reason.  That's something that I hadn't had happen for years. If I stop taking care of myself and am working too much, or not exercising I will start to get the hot flashes back but that is only because I have allowed the stress to take over and it troques your hormone levels something fierce.
If you still have a functioning thyroid I would say probably 60 mg of Armour and some hormone balancing would probably work but I could be wrong.  Not everyone is the same.  It cost you about $80 at bodybalance to do an in-home saliva test that they will mail you the results of.  To me it was more effective than the blood work, it matched the symptoms closer than the blood work did.

[LD1]

Thank you for your advise... I spoke to my endo this a.m.   I asked her questions like what happens if I am kind of allergic to the snythroid  .. She said you aren't.. I said what about giving me some other drug along with the snythroid  .. she again said No.   She said to stay on the 50mcgs until March when I am going back to her .. but like I said  I start feeling tired again.. ....  But the 75mcgs two times a week like I said made me feel like I had 10 cups of coffee.. I must be over sensitive??  I had my hormones checked at my request by the other doctor and I am ok.. as well as my heart... but still I get panicky right before going to sleep because I hate hearing my heart beat.. So I take the ativan.... and that seems to stop it.. I am going to start the 50 again tomorrow and see if tomorrow nite I don't hear my heart beating... My BP  is still a bit irregular  but definitely almost normal.   THe weight gain is another situation  ... I know I am perimenopausal.  and it is part of the whole picture  I still menstruate like clock work..  I just wish all my efforts of dieting and exercise would allow me to lose at least 5lbs by now...  Maybe I am obessing over it  but it is very upsetting...  Do you think I should go back to the other endo???  he really almost killed me with the doubling up on the med on the weekend.. and telling me my heart was causing my problems and not the snythroid  But I feel that he at least checks my blood and wants my levels to be better...  I feel like throwing in the towel and not take anything but then you run the risk of fatal diseases like Kidney failure and Heart disease...

[Windspirit]

Personally I would try another doctor.  If your doctor refuses to listen to you at all and insists you will only do it there way without even discussing your symptoms with you, you have the wrong doctor. Like I said also, many of them say your levels are normal but they haven't a clue if they are balanced.  My daughter cannot take birth control because of that.  It puts her estrogen level too high in comparison with her progesterone. I have heard a lot of people who did not respond well to synthetic thyroid.  If you can find a doctor who will let you try Armour Thyroid why not give it a try for 2 months, at this point you haven't much to lose cause you aren't feeling good anyway.

Have they checked you for adrenal gland fatigue? If you can't find an endocrinologist who will work with you, sometimes it's easier to find a GP who will listen and try what you want even though they usual prefer you find an endo. Wish I could be of more help but I am going through somewhat the same problem trying to find a decent endo.  If you look at the things I mentioned above that has helped me balance my hormones, you may what to try one of them too.  I suggest you only change one thing at a time and stick to it for at least 2 months so you know which things are actually working without having changed 2-3 things and not knowing what the key is.  Good luck.  Let me know if you find the right combination.

[LD1]

Hi Just got off the phone with my endo  the one that gave me the high snythroid.. Anyhow,  I was cancelling my regularly scheduled follow up tomorrow  and his wife asked me why  I told her I went to another Endo  and I explained the reasons why.  Anyhow,  I just spoke with him we spoke for close to 30 minutes   bottom line   he said he does have some patients on the armour  he said if I want that he will try that for me.. or we'll try to get my level  a little better with slight increase of the snythroid  ....  So I told him I would see him tomorrow  and Iwill thinkabout the Armour ... I will ask him about adrenal gland fatigue also.. maybe he can do tht test for me...  and I will definitely have him check my iron because I have always been very anemic and that could cause some palpitations too.  However  Ihave been taken iron regularly and m nails have grown and my hair has stopped falling out.    What we go through in this life.. especially women.  I'll let you know what happens in a few days after I get my blood work and see what I decide to do with the Armour.  I hope it is safe.. I worry about everything now...Thanks for your response an concern.. LD

[Windspirit]

I have been taking the Armour thyroid for over 2 years and have not had any problems with it.  I know at least 3 other people who have been taking it for over a year and 2 used to take synthetic thyroid medicine.  They responded better to the Armour.  It has been used in Europe and in the US for over 30 years, I think you would be fine with it. I am glad that he is listening to you at least, that is a start but don't let them lull you into a false sense of security.  I've had two doctors try that approach and they ended up patronizing me acting like they were following the path I indicated when actually they ran up a bunch of bills for lab work but then ignored the results and still pushed ahead with their own agenda.  Always insist on getting copies of all lab work you have done and keep a journal along with the results in a notebook that you can make copies of easily if you switch doctors.  The journal is for recording any changes you make in diet, medicine, or life style in between the lab results so you can track what has affected your levels.