Myself, despite my diagnosis of hypothyroidism and conservative perscription of thyroid hormone replacement -- I had an experience with heart palpitations. As you can understand, I thought that the 25 mcg's that had been added to my dose two months before was responsible. I just stopped taking the meds -- not a good thing to do -- my doc had me resume my thyroid meds with the dose backed down by 12.5 mcg's. Yet, the blood tests two months later showed that I DID need the original higher dose.
My doc suggested that the palps could have been from being hypo, not hyper. She went thru a few different scenario's on possible causes. One was the possibility of a thyroid storm, in which the thyroid suddenly reacts to its inflammation & the autoimmune attacks by producing sudden, temporary, large amounts of thyroid hormone -- this usually shows up with a high sed rate, which was negative for me.
2 years later I had the same experience -- palpitations -- happily, the same week I happened to have a blood test -- my TSH had risen, and I needed a dose increase. The dose increase actually ended my palps. So -- my doc was right that hypo can cause palpitations -- which is challenging in correcting a hypo state, as those palps scare you -- a lot.
Of course, palps are more commonly a sign of hyperthyroidism or overtreatment. Blood tests which include the Free T-3 levels as well as T-4 and TSH are needed when someone is experiencing palps, I would think. T-4 and TSH levels can appear normal while the T-3 can be too high. For anyone taking a T-3, its important to have the T-3 test.
Others have experienced palps to the point where they can't take thyroid meds. For those who are definitely hypo and needing the thyroid meds, some docs try to get around the palpitations by using a beta blocker balanced against the thyroid dose. Please know that the beta blocker opposes thyroid hormone.
Note -- [color:"blue"] [/color] Armour can be tough when you are having an experience with palpitations, because the T-3 enters the system so quickly -- and it is an issue for a number of people beginning on Armour. Those taking Armour (as I do) seem to find that they need to split their dose into two or three during the day. Many say this provides relief.
As someone suggested, it is important to have your adrenals checked if the palps reoccur -- because adrenal problems can be related and make someone actually feel worse on the thyroid meds they actually need.
Worried about dyes in the thyroid pills? Try taking the 50 mcg pills. If you are only taking 25 mcg's, you would have to halve them. For someone like me taking 112 mcg's of Levoxyl with my Armour -- that would be 2 1/4 of the 50 mcg pills. Most of the 50 mcg's are white, without dyes. You can get a list of the fillers in the meds by googling the med, and pulling up the prescribing information.
Last edited by maureenclaire; 09/10/06 02:27 PM.
