Low Pulse Low Sugar but GP says Thyroid ok??

[helzy27]

After a few weeks of feeling unwell now, and good old Gp saying thyroid tests are ok go away, I took the decision to take my own bloods and pulse for curiosity sake this week with reputable gadgets from Boots. Today, as my heart flutters once again, my blood sugar is 3.1 2 hours after my lunch and my pulse is 46! I am convinced my thyroid are not at optimal levels and I could be feeling better than this! I had RAI 6 months ago and now I'm on levo 75mg daily. Anyone else have these symptoms? Am I going mad, or at worst secondary heath problems?

[rosetrees]

I don't think madness causes low pulse rate! You need a full thyroid panel so you can see what's happening. Maybe also consider ordering the saliva cortisol test from Genova UK or Blue Horizon - links on the main thyroiduk website.

[gabkad]

What did you eat?

Eating simple carbs will cause this sort of response. Insulin is pumped out by your beta cells and it hangs around for a longer period of time than it takes for the glucose in your blood to be transported into cells. Then it lowers the blood sugar too far and makes you feel sick. If you leave it as is, eventually your liver will kick in and produce glucose from stored glycogen. This can take another hour and you'll see your blood sugar slowly rise. But in the interim, you'll feel shaky and may even have some visual effects to the low glucose.

Since you have a meter, you could try different combinations of foods to see what works for you. First assume this is a response to what you ate. Don't jump to a conclusion that you've got some pathological thing going on in the pancreas. Keep testing and trying different combinations of foods. (If I drink pomegranate juice my glucose bottoms out just like yours did. I don't touch the stuff or any other fruit juice. If I eat a cup of rice with nothing else, the same thing happens. Glucose goes up for the first hour and then takes a dive. I spent several week-ends poking holes in my fingers at least 20 times per day experimenting on what does what. My doctor thought I was a nutcase but changed her mind after I told her my grandfather died because of type 2 diabetes.)

Probably too, you're levothyroxine dose is not appropriate but that's not necessarily why you get blood sugar dives. The heart rate is problematic. Do you have recent blood test results for thyroid?

[helzy27 in reply to gabkad]

I had another blood test yesterday - hope to get the results early next week (bank holiday and all that) I take on-board the role of carbs and diet has on sugar levels , sensitive body functions we all have! Not got my head on the connection between low sugar and low pulse yet.

in meantime, i'lll try different combi of food over the next few days ( with lots of finger pricks !!) and see if I can see any patterns Thanks peeps

[helzy27]

ps I had an egg sandwich brown bread and a banana

[helzy27]

Well this is a first The nurse has just rang me and asked that I reduce my levo from 75 -50! Mty results are T3 3.2; T4 14 and TSH 0.02 I said not happy to make any changes til I have spoken with GP.

Interestingly additional info was Ferritin has dropped from 78-33??? Will need to prepare myself before see GP as Ii would like to make an informed decision rather than risk GP advice lol Could drop in ferritin levels be the reason for low pulse/sugar levels and feeling under par?

[mistydog in reply to helzy27]

Stick to your guns and don't allow them to reduce the dose. You have the right to refuse the reduction. As your T4 is so low and the T3 has dropped, dropping the dose is counter-intuitive. Problem is, the TSH is below range and this is what the GP will have looked at. Plus low Ferritin will make you feel tired on its own. You need it high to be able to convert any T4 into T3 as well as for other things in the body. I'm not an expert on (anything) sugar levels, so can't comment on that bit.

[helzy27]

thanks folks for all your support x I have had a poor weekend with the flutters and feeling generally lethargic.

Went to lovely GP this morning pulse was 52 and she said I had a heart murmor ( mind you this was said before when I was hyper) and she sent me off to the local hospital for an ECG today , and full blood count including sugar . She said maybe the other GP had not looked at whole picture ( surprise surprise!!) when he suggested reduce levo.

She said NOT to reduce dosage and carry on til result get back, thou I agree mistydog I think they need to increase my levo eventually - last results FSH 0.02 T14 dropped to 13 and T3 3.2.