Wondered if anyone experienced heart palpitations after eating food?
I have Hashimotos, following gluten free diet with good levels of Vitamin D, Vitamin B12, Ferritin and Folate. Also taking adrenal support (Adrenavive II).
Currently taking 50mcg of T3 in 3 doses during the day (25mcg, 12.5mcg and 12mcg) at least 1 hour before/after food - approx 6am, 10:30am and 4:30pm
The palpitations only occur in the late afternoon/evening , never in the morning or early afternoon. They last for around 30 minutes not severe but still unpleasant.
Any ideas what could be causing this and any way of fixing it?
Thanks
Mike
Written by
Mikegov
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Hi Mike, are you self medicating or have you been medically advised to increase dosage? If self, try going back to last known quantity taken before palpitations started, also is the Adrenavive a new addition to your meds, if so it may affect the effects of the T3. Have a chat with your local pharmacist first and tell him, they are v knowledgable and I've even found mine will look things up online or in his voluminous medical book, if he hasn't got an immediate answer.
I hope you find your answer soon though - palpitations are quite unpleasant and sometimes worrying when they do occur.
I'm self medicating and been on the Adrenavive for 6-7 weeks now.
I'll decrease my dosage as you suggested and see if that makes a difference. I'm intrigued by your theory regarding the evening meal and laying around as I only get the palpitations in the evening.
Your 3rd and lowest dose would appear possibly to trigger the palpitations, give yourself a few weeks ?6 or few days on new 3rd dosage to see what happens, unless like me your body reacts quickly to new meds or altered dosages. Good luck.
Slow Dragon, there is nothing 'easy' about immune health and having checked out the link, the website is not a Honcode or Trusted one! I've seen that site before, it's there to promote itself and generate sales. I was prescribed Oral Vit D3 abroad, which current new UK GP approved when I said I was buying the supplement here now.
Hi Mike - I presume that immediately after breakfast/lunch you get up and are walking around more to/from somewhere but after that possibly spend several hours sitting (L shaped body) i.e as in Office work - Civil Servant judging from username? This could be putting internal pressure on your lower digestive system organs, slowing down blood flow to your heart, thereby making it 'gasp' for more oxygen from the recirculating blood cells . Purely my theory - but as turquoise suggested could be caffeine or high energy drink related, sudden intake of.
OK interesting points. Definitely lounging around in the evenings. Normally have one coffee a day in the morning but will cut that out to see if it helps.
I didn't have the problem on previous dose of 43.75mcg T3 and am increasing dose by 6.25 every week - perhaps I've increased dose too quickly
Hi I have not got hashimotos but have Graves' disease and experienced awful heart palpitations when I was hyper-I've had rai this year and am now hypo. This has eased the heart palpitations- I do get the odd two or three every few days.
The reason I am writing is after me seeing lots of different doc/specialist no one told me why we get these heart palpitations! Until I thought one day I was going to die,from the severity of them I saw s locum- lovely man- explained they are called benign eptopic beats...(he even drew me a diagram) don't get fobbed off with being told yr anxious or it's stress it's actually these beats happening because you have a thyroid problem
Hi Mikegov, do you find Adrenavine beneficial? I am on T3 only now and finding my stomach probs are much better but the old anxiety has returned so thinking adrenal support might help. Any advice?
I'm not too sure to be honest. I have followed Dr Peatfield's first adrenal support protocol of vitamins/minerals for about a year I guess but when I saw him he thought that my adrenals weren't too bad but needed a little bit more support, hence the use of Adrenavive. I have been on it for around 6 weeks now and was going to come off after about 6 months.
I have used T3 prior to the combined use of Adrenavive and reached quite a high dose but was over-medicated and would again get the palpitations in the evening. I was rather hoping that the adrenal support would be the missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle but I'm not too sure to be honest.
Ah OK. I got mine yesterday when starting to eat a handful of nuts and seeds. I know it's not a reaction to the nuts and seeds as I have them for breakfast, along with a banana and have no problem.
Hi, Some people can have a sensitivity to the adaptogenic herbs ashwaganda and rhodiola (in the AdrenaVive). They make heart race. Although as your reaction is only for 30mins it sounds like its not that, as you would feel it all day. I sometimes get heart palps with bananas later in the day. Reactions to foods can cause palps. If your pulse is racing 30mins-2hrs (check it while sitting resting) after eating food, then thats a useful indicator its possibly food related.
Have a look on youtube for how to do the Sway Test. Its a simple DIY energy test can be used to check if you need or get on with certain foods and supplements; but make sure you're well hydrated before doing the test. Test foods at different times of day because our body can like something in the morning but dislike it at dinner time. Can also use the test to check dosage for meds and supplements.
Theres a lot of sugar in a banana...which your body may prefer at a different time of day perhaps....
Maybe it is due to T3. T4 and T3 increase heart rate and can cause palpitations. I have same symptom( palpitations after eating, less palpitations when eating food that is easily digested) since 3 years after I was on levo.
I was also thinking its due to the increase in T3. I'm increasing dose at 6.5mcg every week which may be a bit too fast - will stick on 50mcg for 3-4 weeks and see if I still get the palpitations.
My palpitations only start when I eat in late afternoon/evening which makes me think I'm deficient in something at that time that I have enough in the morning (if that makes sense). Lot of points to consider in this thread
Thanks for your reply, will maybe give Adrenavive a try.
Think you should stick with 50mcg for a while to see if they lessen. It seems to be an ongoing learning curve!
I would say is the increase T3 T4 but I would see a cardiologist just to keep peace of mind .
Palpitations can be a symptom from hypothyroidism. My sister had it. If you continue having palpitations, you can try beta blocker medicine called propranolol. My sister takes propranolol 20mg 3 times a day. It works well for my sister. You can see a cardiologist to check it out if you wish. Hope you feel better.
Are you sure that there are no palpitations at other times? The reason I ask is that I though I only had them while resting, but my 24 hour monitor showed that they were actually 24/7 but I didn't notice until I stopped for a rest - sleep, sit down after meal, meditation etc.
Yes very sure. The palpitations are very pronounced and always start just after starting to eat. Will start logging the frequency and duration to see if I can see a pattern
Hmmm... This happens to me, and it happens more when I eat starches (gluten and non gluten). Specifically, it happens when I eat potatoes, maize meal or polenta, couscous, flour, sugar, and most breads.
It happened to me before I was medicated, and now it is happening less but I feel it more during supper than during the day. I'm not sure why.
I started adrenavive 11 approx 5 weeks ago. Palpitations were very frequent at first, now they are frequent.
I spoke with Dr P, who advised me to stop taking levothyroxine for a week, then restart on reduced dose.
Once I reintroduced that reduced dose, of levothyroxine, palpitations plus hypertension, came back, with a vengeance.
My symptoms now, most often, begin in the evening. I try to ignore them, however, I tend to wake early with palpitations. My diastolic blood pressure, and heart rate are easily over 100 bpm (tachycardia), each morning since restarting meds.
Today, I decided to miss a dose of levothyroxine and feel much better in myself, so far.
Tea and coffee (I only normally have 2 tea, 1 coffee a day), make my palpitations worse, so I have stopped drinking tea and coffee. Bananas, which I love, increase pottassium, so I have reduced intake to one banana, every other day.
Dr P has got me to reduce my levothyroxine dose twice in 5 weeks, with the intention of reducing further, whilst increasing adrenavive 11. For this reason, I believe it is the thyroid meds that are problematic.
I guess its all trial and error, until we reach the correct dose, of both thyroid and adrenal meds/supplements.
Yes, all trial and error. I was lucky to phone the office and Dr P answered the phone! Perhaps, you could just ask his advice, (as I did), if all else fails? He was very pragmatic and reassuring.
Hi Mikegov I also get ectopic heartbeats, mine are not necessarily after I have eaten, they can also be when I am hungry. I can also go days without any then the next couple with a few here and there. I am on 50mcg Levo and had the 24 hour Holter monitor done end of last year. Doctors just say nothing to worry about, I do have stage 2 adrenal fatigue as well, I have a stressful job. My bp is generally optimal at 118/78 and resting pulse of 54, albeit I am not an athlete by a long shot, naturally carrying a little more weight than I should, but these are all, shall I say, features of being hypo. I was interested in reading about the vegus nerve and the correlation to the stomach, some have written to say that a full stomach can push against the nerve and trigger the wrong signal to the hearts electrical system. Might be worth a read
Have you had an ECG done at the time you have palpitations? Is the beat regular or irregular? It's possible that you have something else going on that may have been triggered by other inflammatory conditions. It's only possible to tell from detailed examination of the ECG trace.
Mikegov That's good. I expect the docs are checking for atrial fibrillation and other electrical disorders. I think the incidents being in the evening may suggest involvement of the vagus nerve. I have AF which tends to kick off in the manner you describe. As well, as others have suggested, you might have magnesium or other electrolyte deficiency. This doesn't show up in blood tests as the problem is intracellular, ie inside the cells, whereas the tests are usually of serum. You might want to consider discussing the whole thing with a nutritionist. You may be able to find one who takes a holistic non medical approach via the Institute of Functional Medicine. Where do you live? The IFM is US based but includes UK registrations. I'm not sure about other countries. If you are interested i am happy to share more of my thoughts, research, ideas etc.
hi mike. first off, the below about eating more carbs is nonsense. sugar will race your heart more.
every day at 4 - everyone's TSH drops slightly, it's simply part of the diurnal thyroid hormone cycle. check pubmed for references. the drop in tsh , as you know, has a rise in t4/t3 - just enough that you tip slightly over into racy. if you get your labs done first thing in the morning, you will have the highest levels of TSH/lowest of t3/t4 of your day. so it will appear WNL - but at 4 , you will be just slightly out of normal limits.
the part below about cortisol compensation is slightly right. your cortisol levels are highest in the morning (it's what wakes you up, in addition to being the stress hormone) and the body therefore doesn't also need high thyroid levels.
so... you can get your labs checked after 4 pm and adjust your dosage. you can reduce teh dose to a a mid-point pr you can stay at the lower dose that you had no issue with , and add something easier liek kelp. which will spur the thyroid just a bit, but not too much.
but rest assured - it isn't anything you are actually doing, you are just seeing the every day metabolism of everyone medscape.com/viewarticle/45...
p.s the same thing happens to me, every day at 4 pm like clockwork. that's how i knew to look it up. my HR could be 60 in the morning, and after 4 pm, pop up to 90. i take two propranolol then, but i have hyperthyroidism.
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