Underlying hyperthyroid or anxiety disorder?

[chrisannphx]

The last several months I have not been feeling normal. I have had symptoms such as fatigue, losing hair (drain clogging on regular basis), very dry & itchy skin, hard to think, missing periods some months, frequent loose bowel movements, feeling flushed & hot at times. I had pain in my right eye (pressure feeling & felt gritty) a few weeks ago... so I went to see the optometrist thinking that it was an eye infection. He told me my eye was healthy and I needed to follow up with my primary because it could be sinuses or thyroid. I did follow up with the primary who did a full thyroid panel. TSH  1.25  Normal,   FREE T4  .95  Normal,    FREE T3   3.71  Eleveated.
BUN/CREAT RATIO at 24. The doctor wasn't concerned with my thyroid after that. Shortly after that I started with new symptoms I have never had before... heart racing all the time (never settles down around 90 -118 resting), hard to breathe, dizziness, tight feeling in throat & chest.  The attacks that are the worst usually happen between noon & 2 pm. My doctor labeled it anxiety disorder/panic attacks & started treating me with Zoloft & xanac because it coincided with my my father-in-law being hit by a car. I am not (in general) an over-anxious person. Since I developed the new symptoms the test has not been repeated (they started within a week of the first test). I just started the Zoloft 3 days ago... but have had the xanac the last 6 days & although it relaxes me & I can breathe a bit easier... I still feel a tightness in the throat and my heart rate is still high. My aunt is a nurse... and she feels like my primary was quick to label me with an anxiety disorder & not check out other options or testing with my thyroid. She said that they symptoms of hyperthroidism are very similar to anxiety disorder/attacks. She also said in many cases blood work doesn't show thyroid problems when there could be a problem. I was wondering if you thought this could be an underlying hyper-thyroid problem? and if so, what my next steps should be? Thank you very much for your time,  Chris

[Mark Lupo, M.D.]

Would repeat the thyroid function testing -- the first set seems fairly normal, suggesting the symptoms are not likely thyroid -- but repeating the test 4 weeks later would confrm there is not an evolving hyperthyroidism that was evidenced by the slightly high T3.

[GravesGirl]

you need to ask for antibodies testing to see if it's Graves disease. Sure sounds like it to me. A lot of doctors want to dismiss these symptoms as anxiety disorder. I thought I had something like that too and used to take xanax, but when my heart started racing, I knew it was more than that. I had the tests, except my tsh was like 0.001, nearly undetectable, but my t-4 was normal. I got an appointment with an endo and he tested the free t's and my free t-3 was elevated,thus the low tsh. I had the thyroid antibodies testing and was positive for Graves. You're not supposed to have any tsi if you're normal. Mine was 109. I also had a thyroid uptake scan and that was high normal. The doc then told me I had t-3 toxicosis, which is when only the free t 3 is elevated. It's a form of Graves though. Keep looking for help and more tests, your tsh might keep dropping and then they'll treat you.

[fran36]

Thyroid problems can cause you to be nervous but I, myself, though mine was all stress and I do think that caused the problem but I was in a 2nd. marriage after the death of my husband.  After he was put out one day I noticed my pulse being 118 and I went to the doctor on call and He did a potassium, magnesium and also a thyroid test.  They all came back not right.  They did say any of these things alone could have caused my problem but I ended up with Graves and I had an ablation/radio active iodine and I have been trying to get levels right for 4 1/2 years.  It is a terrible thing to deal with.  My own doctor would always say it was this or that but actually one of the other doctor's in the clinic ran the correct tests and I got a diagnosis.  I usually go hyper most of the time but a physician assistant took it upon herself to give me a kenelog 40 suspension and it messed me up and threw me into hypo and I felt like I would die and wanted to cry all of the time.  This little butterfly thing regulates everything in the body.

Just recently Oprah Winfry has discovered she has thyroid problems and if you will watch her you will see that she has gained a lot of weight.  I did not lose weight as hyper nor can I seem to lose so our bodies seem to be so different in the way they handle things.  

One of my first symptons was losing hair and I went to a specialist and they did a biopsy of my scalp and said alopecia and indeed you can get alopecia with thyroid.  I take proscar that they give men for prostate gland and it was a long time coming back but never as thick as it was before.  I do not want to lose anymore.

Just keep on demanding something and go to a specialist and someone will finally discover the problem.  Do you have tingling in your fingers?  Good luck to you.  Keep me posted.

Fran 36