Hyperthyroid... feeling hot then cold flashes?! - Thyroid UK

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Hyperthyroid... feeling hot then cold flashes?!

wildpoppy profile image
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Anyone else get too hot... then take a top off to suddenly get a cold flash and goose pimples? This keeps happening? I know the hot is the hyper symptom... But sudden cold? Almost like having a temperature chill but very short lived...

Hyper? Menopause? TIA :-)

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wildpoppy profile image
wildpoppy
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puncturedbicycle profile image
puncturedbicycle

I think a lot of us suffer heat intolerance, and sometimes it just seems like the thermostat is broken.

I have Hashi's and when I began taking levo, one of the first improvements was that I didn't have that nauseated cold feeling (basically I often felt so cold that it made me feel sick to my stomach) but for a while I couldn't bear heat either. It was winter and I'd put my coat on and wait in the hall for my partner to lock up of something and the feeling of being smothered with heat was intolerable, I had to go outside. It didn't stop me feeling cold most of the time (I've always been a 'cold person') but I was always treading a fine line temperature-wise.

Equally, if your temp is a bit high due to Graves' you could just be feeling hot in clothes but when you expose your skin to the air you feel cold. I imagine it must be a bit like having a fever.

wildpoppy profile image
wildpoppy in reply to puncturedbicycle

Yes, I feel like you are describing me!!! Thanks for that, I feel like a bit of a freak sometimes... Today I took my thin sweater off in the kitchen... And then shivered for 30 seconds... This has been happening loads.... My husband said it was warm! Its like my thermostat is wonky? Sometimes I wonder if I am having a fever, my head isn't hot...

Thanks for your reply, I feel a it better about it, knowing its not just me... Although I wouldn't wish it on anyone :-)

puncturedbicycle profile image
puncturedbicycle in reply to wildpoppy

Oh good, I didn't know if I was just yammering. :-) But what you said seemed familiar to me.

I think this is quite common in thyroid problems. As far as symptoms go I look back on that period w a sort of nostalgia because it was a time when I was beginning to respond a bit to my meds, and it has been by far my most tolerable symptom, even though at the time that unbearable smothery feeling would get me into a bit of a panic. But it is a lot like having a fever - hot one minute, cold another - and not nice.

It has passed for me - I just don't seem to get it anymore - so it may be a symptom of things in flux and you may find it goes away after a while.

Keep in mind (if you're in the UK) we've been having extremely humid weather, so the line is fine between feeling absolutely steamy and suddenly damp and cold, so maybe your feelings are exacerbated by that. Sometimes I feel like I'm not sure if I'm hot or cold, I'm just damp. Evenings in particular can feel lovely and balmy and then suddenly too cold.

Xanthi profile image
Xanthi

I am either too hot or too cold, hardly ever the right temperature. It's like I'm heat intolerant as well as cold intolerant; drives me crazy! I am menopausal now though, but it is as if body cannot cope with either. Walking into supermarkets can be quite uncomfortable around the freezer sections. I like you have to whip off layers quickly and then a few minutes later feel shivery and have to put them back on. I went back on hrt for some relief but have stopped it now, as I didn't want to stay on it too long. So now suffering the hot flushes and chills again! Flushes can be quite unpleasant at times though & made me feel quite ill like my body was struggling with it. Women have it tough! I just thought it was hypo symptoms combined with menopause symptoms. I've suffered with it for years (earlyish memopause). Do hope it stops one day! 😏

puncturedbicycle profile image
puncturedbicycle in reply to Xanthi

My mum says exercise helped her w her hot flushes. She used to use her lunch hour to walk and she said she noticed a difference when she wasn't able to do that.

My gran had no menopause problems at all. I hope it skips a generation. :-)

Wildpoppy, I can relate to that and I do sympathise!

For the past 15 years or so my temperature thermostat has been 'broken'. Of course I put it down to menopause as it started around the mid-40s - it was the only menopausal symptom I had. I used to get so hot at night, even in the middle of winter I'd go stand outside in just a nightie to cool off (we were in a rural location so no voyeurs! :D ) Also my mother had been the same so I thought ugh I'll just have to suffer it. However by the age of 60 I figured it had gone on too long to be 'just the menopause', even though the flushes aren't as severe, they are still unpleasant. That was when I started wondering if it was thyroid-related (my mother ended up with Graves) and/or if gluten was involved.

I quit gluten around 6 weeks ago and had 4 days without any flushes. I started to feel cold! Then the flushes started again, and I will also get the shivers at times as well. I am Hashi's so I know my thyroid's on the blink. Last week was most peculiar as I had bad flushes again, dry prickly eyes and a weird disconnect between head and body, a bit light-headed, and my sleep was disturbed. Then after around 4 days it calmed right down and now it's back to 'just' flushes again. Don't know if my thyroid was burning off its rocket fuel! Felt a bit like it.

Hot weather of course doesn't help. My other half will pass me a cold beer can out of the fridge I can put on my neck or forehead! I don't wear anything thick but just light layers of clothing so I can remove things easily. I know that even if I feel cold on getting into bed within a minute or so of lying down I will feel hot, then that passes after a couple of minutes. It is crazy, isn't it!

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