PANIC ATTACKS!!

[suzanna1]

has anyone had really bad panic attacks being hypothyroid.. and did it get fixed with the right dose of medication? someone told me she went to and expert for thyroids and she said something about her t3 being blocked and thats all she is on now... anyone ever heard of that??

[gimel]

We are happy to interpret your test results; however they should always be compared to reference ranges from the same lab report.  So, please post ranges for those test results.  Also, do you have any other symptoms?  Are you on any thyroid med?

[kitty9309]

To Peggy and Stella,

The T3 in the Armour could be causing the panic attacks/anxiety.

A Free t3 blood test will determine if there is too much T3 being ingested from the Armour.

[Karly122]

Yes, this happened to me.  Few months back, I was overmedicated.  I needed to take a week off the Sythroid and start again at a lower dose.  Within just a couple weeks on this lower dose, I felt hypothyroid again.  I started having panic attacks that were soo much worse at nighttime. I actually became very fearful of going to bed.  I would wake from horrible dreams sweating and shaking.  My heart beating very fast and hard. During the day, I would have this pressure feeling in my chest and be on edge constantly.  It once got so bad that I felt like I couldn't breathe sometimes. Once while driving, I had to pull over because I became very dizzy and lightheaded.  My entire body was tingling and I felt the world (and the road!) were surreal.  As I moved up with my medication, the panic attacks and anxiety I was going through went away completely.  I hope you can get yours under control. As far as T3, I know some people do better adding it to their T4, however it may be that the dose you are on is not the correct one.  I strongly believe hypothyroidim causes anxiety and panic attacks.  It's a very scary symptom and my heart goes out to those who suffer from this. I also strongly believe in finding a compassionate, knowledgeable endocrinologist who goes further with treatment than by reading normal values for thyroid.  We are not all the same, so  what is normal for one person, is not normal for the next.  A good doctor understands this, and will "fine tune" thryoid medication until the person is feeling normal again all while keeping the TSH levels in the normal range.  Some people do fine in the middle of this range and some do fine on the higher end, or the lower end.  
Good luck-
Karly

[Asandlin]

I have.  Horrible night panic attacks the next day I feel weak and shaky

May results
T3 free 2.6
T4 free 1.1
Reverse T3 23
TSH 0.71

It's so hard to understand these numbers does anyone know what mine mean ?

[stella5349]

Not T3 - the Free T3 could be.

Where are you on that?

[Asandlin]

I'm having similar symptoms
2.6 T3 free
1.1 T4 free

What are ur thoughts?

[peggy64]

I am having terrible panic attacks, but mine seem to be mostly at night.

I am on armour and it not adjusted properly yet. I can't figure out if the T3 is causing the panic attacks. I read too much will do that.

[Christy1950]

I had panic attacks about 20 years ago when I worked with all women who smoked some of them chained smoked and I put it down to secondary smoke my thyroid was perfect at the time but also my job was so stressful our boss used to come in every morning and say there were too many women working and as such that was unproductive hours (worked for a construction company where 99% were men) and that one of us would have to go and he would stand there looking at us as if he was trying to decide which one of us to sack. In the end I saved him the trouble and resigned and then my panic attacks stopped and haven't had them since.

[brettb262]

i have the same problem ever since my TSH and thyroid antibodies have been elevated i've had severe paranoia, depression along with severe bouts of lethargy, nausea burning on the right side of my body feeling faint and blurred vision and almost complete inability to drive at night because the lights make me dizzy and nauseous along with it

[stella5349]

As for your question about T3. This is a a binded protein and testing plain T3 is not going to give you the right lab levels.

Your doctor - if you are pooling T3 should be testing your FREE T3 and FREE T4. If your
FT4 is high and FT3 is low that is where the blocking/binding or pooling would be taking place.

[stella5349]

Anxiety is a major symptom of hypo and hyper thyroidism. Both diseases chemically unblance the bosy and other hormones and alter the stress levels for us.

Mediction like anti anxiety meds are sometimes needed to mask the receptors that are triggering the panic - but the end result and to end that war is to properly get balance with the hormones.

Usually - unfortunately it is one of the last symptoms to go away - but when it does your life will change dramatically in a good way.

Stabilizing the thyroid hormones is key and until you get that under control  you may need assistance with medication.

[hypofuzz]

Wikipedia lists "panic attacks" under possible symptoms of hypothyroidism.  I don't have them, but I do know another hypothyroid person who does.  She has also had a lot of depression and mood instability.  
There was that medical study that concluded that T3 supplementation in addition to standard T4 treatment helped improve mood and mental functioning in hypothyroid patients.  Later studies tried to repeat the findings and found no improvement.  Hmm...it's definitely worth a try though.  Just make sure you're getting regular TSH tests to make sure you aren't suffering anxiety from too much thyroid hormone.