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    Thyroid UK
    82,906 members • 97,946 posts

    PLEASE HELP resting pulse is 120bpm

    So after seeing a lot of your guys average pulses, I'm a bit concerned. I've felt I had a fast heart beat for a while now but finally just got the thing to test it for self medicating. I've been in 90-100 mostly but woke up this morning with 120! Could this mean I'm over medicated? Because I don't feel like I am at alll, in fact, I still have my symptoms and was planning on raising my dose.. I'm at 1 1/2 grains of Naturethroid right now. I'm nervous and could really use some insight please.

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    You can be over medicated but still have what feel like hypo symptoms, you should probably get a blood test done to check levels, personally I wouldn't increase with that high pulse.

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    But if I am over medicated and still have symptoms, what's the answer? I can't increase to try and feel better so what would you do?

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    Maybe Naturethroid is not right for you, as I said you really need bloods done to see where your levels are. Sorry can't offer any practical advice.

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    No I appreciate any advice, so thank you!

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    You've only been on Naturethyroid for a couple of weeks? If so I suggest you come off it for a few weeks and then monitor your pulse to get a baseline figure. If it is still this high see your doctor. If it is more normal, i.e. around 70 then the Naturethyroid is causing the high pulse so take a much lower dose.

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    It changes like crazy though, it was just in the 70s at one point yesterday then shot back up to 90s then went back down and back up this morning to 120. Now it's high 80s... I'm so confused, it can't be normal to jump around this much, right?

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    I have had this in the past , (been on levo for 19 years) my neighbour told me to go to A & E & they had me on a drip in 20 mins to reduce heart rate, so I should definitely go at once. I recovered ok after a few days, they reduced my dose of levo drastically, but it seemed to me it was because I had been put on an additional drug (for prevention of return of breast cancer) the week it began, I think I could not tolerate both at once. ( I stopped taking the cancer drug and I am still here 9 years later by the way, fingers crossed.)

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    I had a very fast heart rate (sinus tachycardia, heart rate about 150) and in my case it was caused by severely low iron. I've no doubt there are quite a few other causes too.

    If you have low nutrients and/or cortisol levels which are too low or too high your body won't tolerate thyroid meds very well at all, even though you desperately need them.

    Have you had any recent tests of your basic nutrients? Vitamin B12, Vitamin D, folate and ferritin/iron? If you haven't it would be time to ask your doctor if you can have them tested. If you have, perhaps you could list the test results in a new post, including reference ranges, and ask for advice on supplementing (assuming it is necessary, and it usually is).

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    I have severe iron deficiency anemia, could that cause this?? I've been taking 64mg of elemental iron in 325mg pills of ferrous sulfate(doctors order)

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    It caused it for for me. I obviously can't say whether it is a factor for you.

    Do a google search for "iron deficiency and tachycardia". You'll find lots available on the subject.

    I took ferrous fumarate 210mg, 1 tablet, 3 times a day. This amounted to 207mg (3 x 69mg) of elemental iron per day. I took 500 - 1000mg of vitamin C with each iron pill, which helps the body to absorb iron.

    I could never tolerate ferrous sulphate.

    It took me nearly two years to get my iron up to optimal levels. I only managed it in the end by going 100% gluten-free after about 18 months of supplementing. A few months later my levels had jumped up quite dramatically. I stopped supplementing after I got my levels up to optimal, hoping that having gone gluten-free would be enough to stop me becoming low in iron again, but sadly I still lose iron too quickly, just not as quickly as I used to.

    Since you are anaemic, no kind of thyroid hormone is going to work very well for you. You must get your levels up, and then you will be more likely to tolerate thyroid hormones.

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    Okay I just talked to my doctor and it's tachycardia because of my severe iron deficiency anemia, trying to get that on track and hopefully it'll get better. Thank you guys for your advice/responses! I really appreciate it!

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    Don't use the iron from doctors it is useless you are only absorbing less than 5 %

    I was in thisposition myself a few weeks ago . Health unlocked advised me to get liquid iron spatone it's absorption is40 % and brings heart rate down. Don't panic have you checked your blood pressure. It doesn't matter what your on ndt all t3 or levothyroxine I've had 120 bmp on my levothyroxine. The only time I don't get high heart rate is when I'm on all t3.

    You can get a high heart rate when undermedicated. You can get tachycardia symptons during menopause or even the hot weather. If you've got breathing problems it will make it worse. I went to doctor when pulse was at 120 and when she listened to my heart she counted beats through stethoscope and it was 75.during last week or so I've had a pulse of 103 to 113.

    She did have a name for my heart beat when you feel all chambers of the heart beating she was more excited than concerned said I was absolutely fine.

    ddoest bother me. Find the artice on testing heart rate. I've had some stress lately though lost two dogs in one week.

    Also have you had adrenal tested they may not be coping with meds.

    I bet if you feel pulse in your neck youwill feel a double heart beat so this actually means your pulse is 6o.

    I know it pricey but spatone with a effervesent vitamin c in a drink much nicer. It works brings heart rate back to normal ditch the docs tablets made me ill and dont do the job you need.

    kjc

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    I never liked Spatone. It is very expensive and has very little iron in it. I took ferrous fumarate. One sachet of Spatone has 5mcg elemental iron in it. The pills I took, each pill had 69mcg iron in it.

    One of the symptoms I had at my worst was huge difficulty getting upstairs. Sometimes I couldn't even make it. When I started taking Spatone I could practically feel my iron level dropping. I realise that some people do okay on it.

    An alternative to spatone and FF is iron bisglycinate, otherwise known as Gentle Iron. It is very popular on the forum. I've never tried it myself, but I intend to try it at some point. There are various brands available.

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    I take Gentle Iron and it works really well. Also another option is Sytron. My mum took that and it increased her ferritin levels quite nicely.

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    Nessiam If your doctor has agreed that your tachycardia is due to severe iron deficiency anaemia, has he suggested giving you injected iron or intravenous iron?

    Read this link : evidence.nhs.uk/formulary/b...

    Even the oral iron you are taking is not a terribly high dose. You've been prescribed the type of iron which is often very poorly tolerated, and the dose is not very high. I imagine he's done this because it is the cheapest form of iron he can prescribe.

    For info on what oral iron can be prescribed, see this link :

    evidence.nhs.uk/formulary/b...

    One thing I should point out : All the types of oral iron listed in the above link (to the British National Formulary - the BNF) are the things your doctor can readily prescribe. But in the case of iron supplements you don't actually need a prescription. You can buy them from some pharmacies without one. (Boots insist on a prescription.) I got my first two months of iron supplements from the doctor, then bought them from the pharmacist myself after that. It was a lot less hassle, and I didn't have to beg. I bought from Tesco Pharmacies and from Lloyds Pharmacies.

    I asked for ferrous fumarate 210mg in a box of 84. Each box cost between £4 - £5 and lasted for 28 days when I was taking 3 per day.

    These are the ones I bought :

    Either

    i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NTk4WDE2...$_35.JPG

    or

    terrapharma.co.uk/media/cat...

    I'm sure there must be other brands available.

    Whatever you do about your iron, just remember that you aren't doomed to take whatever your doctor prescribes. There are lots of choices available. What you need to be aware of is how much elemental iron is contained in each pill (or whatever form it comes in).

    Next time I buy iron I'm going to try iron bisyglycinate as an experiment. It's very popular. You can buy that from Amazon.

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    As well as iron, vitamin d, b12, and folate all need to at good (not just average) levels for thyroid hormones to work in our cells.

    How much Vit d are you taking? Might not be high enough. Has level been rechecked?

    Also have you had thyroid antibodies checked? There are two sorts TPO Ab and TG Ab. (Thyroid peroxidase and thyroglobulin) Both need checking, if either, or both are high this means autoimmune thyroid - called Hashimoto's - most common cause of being hypo. NHS rarely checks TPO and almost never checks TG.

    Make sure you get the actual figures from tests (including ranges - figures in brackets). You are entitled to copies of your own results. Some surgeries make nominal charge for printing out. Alternatively you can now ask for online access to your own medical records. Though not all surgeries can do this yet, or may not have blood test results available yet online, but all should be doing this with couple of years.

    When you get results suggest you make a new post on here and members can offer advice on any vitamin supplements needed

    If you can not get GP to do these tests, then like many of us, you can get them done privately

    thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...

    Blue Horizon - Thyroid plus eleven tests all these.

    This is an easy to do fingerprick test you do at home, post back and they email results to you couple of days later.

    If you have Hashimoto's then you may find adopting 100% gluten free diet can help reduce symptoms, and lower antibodies too.

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    Hi Nessiam, high blood pressure can also be the result of deficiencies in calcium and magnesium.

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    Hi I'm a bit like you. I have resting pulse of about 90 on a good day. On a bad day it's been 127 before now. Different readings, different times a day. Before food. After food/excecise.

    I've had had ambulatory monitors on 3 occasions, each time it's shown nothing but palpitations and sinus tachycardia.

    Then I started with incidents of super ventricular tachycardia which was terrifying. Had a Echo gram. Results were normal. They declined beta blOckers due to my age. All this was before my under active thyroid was diagnosed. I am now on 125 Levo. Before, the palpitations were brutal. Would go in 8 hours a day for weeks on end. I thought I was going to drop dead any minute. Now I can have periods of a few a day and nothing for weeks.

    I take 800mg of magnesium per day. This really helps. I take b12 1000mg plus normal multivitamin.

    The only other thing they have offered is ablation, which I don't want unless it comes to a point where the palpitations become unbearable. I sometimes worry my hearts gonna just burn out, when it's working twice as hard.

    Interestingly I haven't had my iron levels investigated. I may just ask about that.

    Anyway, point of the post is I know what your going through, hope you get some answers/improvement soon 😊

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    Magnesium malate with malic acid helps to bring the heart rate down. You might need 3/4 of these spread out over the day. My Dr mentioned that A&E departments have magnesium injections on hand when they need to slow down the heart in an emergency situation. Natures Life or Olympian Labs are both good products and cheaper to buy from places like iherb. I used to buy a large bag of industrial epsom salts on ebay for about £25 and bathe twice per week 1. Too much salt though can hurt the kidneys.

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    Hello,

    Magnesium + potassium can help many with tachycardia. I'd take some electrolyte tablets like Zero around with you to dilute in water. It's also very useful to get your breathing under control in these situations...

    Here's a good link:-

    drmyhill.co.uk/wiki/Hyperve...'t_get_your_breath

    Obviously, if a tachycardia attack continues you should get yourself to A&E and plugged into an ECG.

    For prevention, consider a well-tolerated quality magnesium supplement (I like Magnesium Taurate). Best to take magnesium at a different time to iron as I believe that they won't favorably interact.

    Please do get tested for Vit D, folate and B12 as advised above, because if you're low in iron I'm guessing that you may not be absorbing much in the way of vitamins and minerals of any kind (poorly gut).

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    Link went funny, here it is again :-)

    drmyhill.co.uk/wiki/Hyperve...

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    My ferritin level is low and on bloods flagged up as anaemic. The GP doesn't seem bothered. I cant even tolerate gentle iron. Apart from an iron rich diet, I dont know what I can do, and it does concern me as I am aware it can affect absorption of thyroid hormones.

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    MrsRaven Nessiam

    Although I have never tried it I have heard/read very good things about Proferrin. Unfortunately it is too expensive for me. But do some research, it may interest you. I think it can only be sourced from the US, but don't quote me on that.

    proferrin.com/

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    WOW! I am so blown away by this forum. You guys are seriously incredible. I can't believe the amount of detailed responses this got. Thank you SO much to all of you.. just know, i have read and reviewed everything and i'm going to take every single piece of advice into consideration. We're in this together and i genuinely hope that each and every one of us finds total health and happiness. Thank you dearly again - bantam12 Annonymous21 jimh111 humanbean kjc1tisdell Babaji1971 SlowDragon jan4363 misswinky34 jc72 HLAB35 MrsRaven

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    I've just realised... In all my waffle about iron I never pointed out a couple of things :

    1) Absorption of iron is improved when it is taken with 500 - 1000mg vitamin C. It also has the added advantage that it can reduce the constipation that iron often creates.

    2) Iron is poisonous in overload and can cause very big problems if supplementing is continued for too long. Make sure that you get tested on a regular basis. Depending on the speed at which you absorb it this might mean testing every 2 - 4 months.

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    Like others have said, Magnesium really helped my palpitations too.

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