Thyroiditis and Breathlessness

[Westerhoff]

Hi,

Over the last couple of weeks I've been suffering from breathlessnes and lightheadedness, as well as pins and needles in my hands and feet.  

A couple of months ago I was diagnosed with sub-acute thyroiditis by an endocrinologist.  At that time my free T4 levels were 29.4 (ref 10-24) and my TSH undetectable.  Over the last three weeks, according to my blood tests, my free T4 levels have started to drop, from 29 to 18 yesterday, but my TSH is still undectable.  Also, my iron saturation is low (15%) even though my ferritin is normal.

Could this breathlessness, anemia and pins and needles be a symptom of my thyroid hormone levels dropping, or should I get other things checked out?

[spicer]

Go to 'yahoo' or 'the healthchannel' or 'webmd' and type in mitral valve prolapse and read what comes up.  They thought I had this last year so I went online to read about it and I do believe that it can cause shortness of breath, among other things.  As for your thyroid, type this in the same search engines and read what the symptoms or side affects are.  Your throid controls so many things in your body and your respiration is one of those things.  

Good luck...

[Westerhoff]

I forgot to mention that I was diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse by echocardiogram.  Last time my doctor listened to my heart, he said he could hear the murmer, when he didn't used to be able to.  However, he said that it was still trivial.  Could this be causing my breathlessness?

[National Jewish]

The symptoms are not due to the thyroid hormone levels dropping.  You should get other things checked out by your doctor.  Lightheadedness as well as pins and needles in your hands and feet are common symptoms of hyperventilation.  Breathlessness could be due to anemia, a lung problem, or a heart problem.  A chest x-ray will check on your lungs.  An electrocardiogram (EKG) will check on your heart.  Also a complete blood count (CBC) and arterial blood gases (ABG) will help find other possible problems that might be causing your symptoms.