I've had chronic fatigue for almost a decade now. Have Hashimoto's and thyroid has been determined non-functional a good few years ago. I take adrenal glandulars and was diagnosed with low aldosterone years ago. They tried to treat the low aldosterone years ago with Flornef and some more naturopathic medication. They both made it worse, where I felt like I was retaining water. I take NDT sublingually throughout the day (WP Thyroid). My main symptom right now is the fatigue and line I have bradycardia. Like my heart is not pumping well at all. I'm drinking water down coffee all day to get it pumping faster I feel, and possibly using it as a diuretic. Is this a hormonal issue why my heart feels like it is half beating, I have good parts of the days at time, which I did not have years ago, or do I need a pacemaker!!??!! I feel like I need a pacemaker. I was in synthetic thyroid medication for years. Dud that cause this issue? I've been to a cardiologist in 2012 and recently in April of this year. The first time, the cardiologist said everything looked ok and that it must be hormonal. Saw the same Doctor in April, and felt that the heart looked fine. I need to get this resolved because I need my life back. Part of me feels like I can't retain liquids, and my dog is licking my legs (sign of low aldosterone I've seen).
I'd really appreciate any thoughts. Thx!! Go see another cardiologist? I'm just 49 btw. Thx!
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Jmay88
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Are you still on 2 grains NDT? I see a couple of months ago your rather uneducated doctor was worrying about slightly overrange FT3?
My instinct from what you say is that you actually might need more NDT rather than less. When you have blood tests, do you take your NDT before hand? Because if you do, your test results will look artificially high.
Next up - anaemia seems a possibility. Have you had a full iron profile done? And have you ever had Vit B12 and Vit D tested?
I note you take WP Thyroid sublingually. All thyroid hormone replacements are not sublingual for the reason that the molecules in them are too large to go through the tongue and are usually swallowed with saliva. This is the recommendation from the manufacturers of both Nature-throid and WP thyroid:
Take WP Thyroid or Nature-Throid in the morning on an empty stomach 30-60 minutes prior to food or caffeine with an 8oz glass of water; unless otherwise instructed by your physician. These medications can also be taken two hours after eating with an 8oz glass of water, then waiting 30-60 minutes before consuming food or caffeine.
(I wouldn't recommend taking 2 hours after food as our digestion is usually slow as well and food interferes with the uptake of the hormones).
By taking sublingually you could also not be getting the dose you think you are.
Chronic fatigue is a clinical symptom on hypothyroidism as is bradycardia.
If you get to a dose of WP which makes you feel well, maybe you will also restore your heart back to 'normal' and hopefully your heart wont struggle so much but you have to slowly raise your dose until you have no symptoms, if you have signs of overstimulation drop back to the previous dose. Usually, when starting NDT, you take a dose and every two weeks increase by a small increment .
Hashimoto's is an Autoimmune Thyroid Disease and the antibodies attack your thyroid gland until you are hypothyroid. If you still have antibodies present they can be reduced by going gluten-free.
re the last link where it says a 'sip of water' with thyroid hormones. I have always know it to be one 'glass' of water so that the hormone gets into your stomach. A sip would not be sufficient and pill could swell in your throat.
(I am not medically qualified and have hypothyroidism (undiagnosed/untreated for a long time).
I take NDT and not synthetic thyroid medication which the coffee link refers to, and I take it sublingually. I've read think link before, thank you for it, and wonder if coffee does have an impact on the way I take my med and how I take it.
In this link it does say coffee can affect our thyroid health in general and I think that would mean even if not hypo.
Is Caffeine Really That Bad For You?
In small amounts, caffeine usually isn’t a problem for most people. The problem is that many people don’t consume a small amount of caffeine, but instead consume a lot of it each day, and this doesn’t just have an impact on their thyroid health, but their overall health as well. As for how it affects thyroid function, consuming caffeine will increase the metabolism, which of course is regulated by the thyroid gland. So if someone drinks a lot of coffee or soda on a daily basis, then this will affect the metabolism of the body. This might sound good for someone who is hypothyroid, although this isn’t necessarily the case, and I’ll explain why below.
and
Consuming a lot of caffeine each day will also affect the adrenal glands. Caffeine is a stimulant, and when you drink coffee or soda the body will produce adrenaline, which is supposed to happen when there is a fight or flight situation (not when you’re sitting at a desk in front of a computer). So whenever you consume caffeine it will cause the adrenals to release the hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine, and when this happens repeatedly this can wear out the adrenal glands
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