Could being undermedicated on armour cause heart issues? Anyone experienced this?
I felt that 75 mg was too much around 4 months ago, so I lowered down to 30 then finally 15, so I've pretty much been self medicating with the 15 mg all this time until about 3 weeks ago doc suggest I start at 30 and build up to 60. I tried a few days on 30 but then I got heart racing hyper feelings. It was so bad I stopped taking it all together about 6 days ago. Doc called today and my results of tsh is a 5. I told the nurse my symptoms, but she said doc suggest I take 30 mg daily for a month to try to get my body used to it again.
I'm thinking I should try it again tomorrow. I'd feel better about it if I took 15 in am then 15 in afternoon. Could all the heart issues I've been dealing with possibly get better if I upped the dose like she's suggesting? I just feel so ill, terribly ill. Thank you for any advice anyone has.
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Beckman1974
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Personally I think you run the risk of damaging your heart by taking too little. I'd suggest building up slowly.
One grain is definitely worth 75 mcg of thyroxine. 100 is sometimes stated for precautionary measures but that is wrong. One grain is circa 38 mcg of t4 and 9 of t3.
Since the t3 is 4 times stronger 9x 4 - 36 plus 38 is approx 75.
What levels were you on b4 and how did you feel? Also were all your vitamins tested?
Beckman, if your TSH is 5, you should be taking hormone. If you are sensitive to the T3 in Armour I think it's a good idea to split the dose or any way you can ease up to one grain.
Your heart needs enough thyroid hormone. Do you feel it struggling at times usually while sleeping? The lack of sufficient T3 to the heart is actually dangerous in my opinion if other factors are also not optimal. There are already several heart irregularities that are known.
Yes, low thyroid hormones can affect our heart as well as everything else. Our heart and brain in particular have the most receptor cells which need T3 (converted from T4 as well as T3 in NDT). Our bodies cannot function without an optimum of thryoid hormones.
Maybe your dose of Armour was lower than you think as it is usually measured in 'grains' i.e. 1 gr. 2 gr but many make the mistake of thinking that the 60 or 65mg is the same as mcg. 1 grain is equal in effect to around 100mcg of levothyroxine.
My heart was badly affected before I was diagnosed.
I can't speak about the dosing but can definitely share this experience with low magnesium: although quite hypo (TSH above 4), I was having heart pains and flutters and irregular beats, with speeding up, slowing down. My neighbor (cardiac patient with much experience) said to check if I have enough magnesium. Checked with GP who said "it can't hurt to take 400mg a day of magnesium citrate (not magnesium oxide)." Once I did this, less than a day after the first 400 mg capsule, by that evening after taking it in the morning, I had no more heart fluttering or irregularity, It seemed to help digestion too. Once I managed to get a real cardiology assessment some months later (I am in the USA), he confirmed that sufficient magnesium is important for good heart function.
Hope this helps. Sorry to sidetrack from the dosing question but these things do work together,
Yep reallyfedup123, you are right. I am in the US too, we get 1/4 grain, 1/2 grain, 1 grain and 2 grain. the mcg equivalent is approximate. And yes, 1 grain of Armor is about 65mcg levo.
I am almost optimally medicated on Armour. I could use an increase of about 1/4 grain ...BUT... when I attempt to do this I move into the hyper symptoms to which you refer, with a measurable rise in blood pressure. While you can do damage to your heart if you are under medicated (because you are battling and dragging yourself around when your body would rather be resting) heart problems are easier to detect when you are over medicated (because they present themselves almost immediately - for me I can tell within half an hour).
Perhaps your answer (and mine) is to introduce the higher dose very very gradually - split a half pill into quarters and creep up on it over a month. I try to do this and I don't stick to it! It is easier to pop 2 pills every morning (a 1grain and a 1/2 grain) than it is to fiddle with a pill cutter - and lose most of the pill to pulverization and dust. I end up dipping my fingers into the debris in desperation and telling myself, this isn't the way to go!
Absorption issues are mainly due to low stomach acid and digestive enzymes inc low healthy bacteria. Also if you need to keep raising your thyroid meds irrespective of whether its synthetic or products like armor you've got an adrenal problem that needs sorting out first to regain your health.
More people are recognising that an adrenal fatigue problem precedes thyroid problems, you've got a thyroid problem because the thyroid cannot cope with the flagging adrenals! Myself inc, after attending to the nutrients the adrenals need, I'm now weaning coming off thyroid meds... Hope this helps...
Adrenals> Vit C, B Complex, and amino acids. The adrenals love em....
I had similar problems when increasing my NDT dose following TT and a year of becoming very unwell on T4. I had to increase in 1/4 grain (15mg) increments and sometimes wait 4-6 weeks before I could tolerate another increase. I found following Paul Robinsons circadian T3 method helpful as I could not tolerate adrenal support other than vitamin C. I found I had horrible symptoms (nausea, vertigo, palpitations, muscle twitching to name a few) for several days after an increase but these usually settled. I still cannot tolerate the higher doses others take and my current dose is 1 &3/4 grains which I know is not enough really (though my endo would disagree because of my low TSH!) but I can at least function now. I hope you feel better soon.
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