Increased Migraines

[Sixties123]

Hi I take 3 grains a day of Nature Throid and I have noticed I am getting more migraines! I also notice that i get very angry/stressed out of something bothers me or my friends are upset I take on alltheir troubles . I feel a bit anxious and took my resting pulse and it was 83bpm . I read that migraine is a primary condition and isn’t caused by being hypothyroid but if you are hypothyroid then you can be more predisposed to getting more migraines ? Not sure what to do or how to change this situation any advice welcome 🙏🏻 thank you

[Clutter]

Poppyrocks369,

Have you had thyroid levels checked since being on 3 grains?

[Sixties123 in reply to Clutter]

Hi thank you for responding , and I’m afraid not as my Gp doesn’t agree with what I’m doing and when I get my bloods tested she gets me in to tell me I’m headed for heart disease ( a very long name ) this scared me so I keep away . I am waiting for an appointment with a consultant in Cardiff soon

[Clutter in reply to Sixties123]

Poppyrocks369,

How much Levothyroxine were you prescribed before you switched to NDT?

[Sixties123 in reply to Clutter]

125 mcg but felt wasn’t getting anywhere

[Clutter in reply to Sixties123]

Poppyrocks369,

3 Grains is equivalent to 195mcg T4 so you may be overmedicated. I suggest you order TSH, FT4 and FT3 via Blue Horizon or MediChecks to check as overmedication could certainly be triggering Migraines. thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...

Take NDT 12 hour prior to blood test.

[Joanneconnor]

I am in thyroid s now but have migraines with both, my endo refused to see me, so referred me to another endo that would test bloods. I had all the symptoms you describe

[Joanneconnor in reply to Joanneconnor]

I ended up buying a cortisol saliva kit as docs tested my cortisol at 8am and tests come back the 11am and the 3pm were both high. So in the day I had too much cortisol, I can tell you how to lower it if yours is high and it only took me 6 months

[Joanneconnor in reply to Joanneconnor]

I am on 3 tablets of thyroid s equivalent to 250mg levo

[Sixties123 in reply to Joanneconnor]

Ah right I get it now thank you , is it expensive do you get on nhs ?

[Joanneconnor in reply to Sixties123]

From China £50 for 1000 tablets

[Sixties123 in reply to Joanneconnor]

This is my trouble I don’t have any idea if it’s high and also I take hrt (oestrogen) which I have taken since 37 to replace what my body missed because of s total hysterectomy . I feel abandoned by my Gp because she doesn’t understand and I get my nature throid from a private dr in London but I can’t afford to speak to him regularly as it costs so much and I have to pay for him to write my script and then £130 for my tablets also

[Joanneconnor in reply to Sixties123]

I know the feeling I just had to pay £300 for 2private appointment because docs fobbed me off about my calves and the pains in them since I have had hashi 14 years, sick of being ignored, he transferred me to nhs after that waiting MRI on sunday

[Joanneconnor in reply to Sixties123]

The saliva test was £200 but for me it was worth it, look up the symptoms of high cortisol and see if it's you

[Cher12 in reply to Joanneconnor]

Hi joaneconnor,. Can you also share to me how you lower your high cortisol, was advised to take adaptogens, holy basi etc., thanks in advance and take care

[Joanneconnor in reply to Cher12]

I did an art class for relaxation also did walking 3 times a week after work, I bought Phosphytidalserine tablets off the internet, drink fresh orange every day eat couple of prices of dark chocolate and tried to avoid gluten and eat better

[Maxxxx in reply to Joanneconnor]

Hi - sorry to highjack this post but I have high cortisol too - do you mind sharing how you solved this? Thanks

[Sixties123 in reply to Maxxxx]

Hi I don’t know if I do as I have never been tested it’s just the advice from the people on here advising me to get it checked , what are your symptoms if you don’t mind me asking

[Maxxxx in reply to Sixties123]

Hi Poppyrocks, On top of the usual hypo symptoms of tiredness etc. (largely ok now due to being optimally dosed on T4/T3), I sometimes get palpitations (like adrenalin rushes) and trouble sleeping through the night. I also get crashes after lunch when I am so tired that I feel like someone turned my OFF switch. After a couple of hours I am back to normal.

I had my cortisol checked and sure enough it peaks in the mid morning then goes really low after lunch.

I have switched over to decaffeinated tea (I'm a total tea-a-holic!) and that has helped a lot.

I am getting concerned about this as I have been reading recently that you need to get your adrenal glands fixed before you can sort out the thyroid.

Re: migraines - have you thought about food intolerances as this is what caused my migraines. It got worse and worse until I would be in bed for a day or two when the perfect storm happened which for me was doing too much, drinking wine and eating bread and/or sugar. It turns out I had SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth). I took a strong antibiotic for that followed by Probiotics and it has been a lot better. Still can't drink wine though. Hypothyroidism often brings digestive problems.

I have a couple of low level headaches since then when I upped my dose of T3 recently so I will follow the suggestion above to split the dose.

I hope this works for you as migraines are no fun at all.

[Sixties123 in reply to Maxxxx]

Hi Maxx thanks for your reply . My migraines aren’t through food intolerances as I have done all the food diary thing and it seems when I’m either over tired or stressed and believe me I feel stressed - I have now spent 5 days out of 7 this week in bed with it ! I honestly don’t know how you go about getting tested for all this (cortisol, adrenals, stomach gut thingy etc) when my dr doesn’t want to know because I am takin ndt ? I feel so confused as so many things can be wrong

[Joanneconnor in reply to Maxxxx]

Sorry Max only just seen this I have just commented above

[Sixties123 in reply to Joanneconnor]

It’s awful I have spent the last 4 days in bed and feeling desperate as letting my work colleagues down - it is like a vicious circle as the more stressed you get the more migraines and then you get stressed cos you have migraines 😤 please what is thyroid s ?

[Joanneconnor]

It's like nature thyroid and all the other natural thyroid I get it off the Internet from China, my doc prescribes me max alt they're really fast acting. If it could be your cortisol for now eat dark chocolate over 70% and drink fresh orange, that will help

[Sixties123 in reply to Joanneconnor]

Ok thank you , if it’s cortisol then roughly how much chocolate and orange juice do I need to drink ? And how long before I might feel better ? Sorry for so many questions I am so stressed

[Joanneconnor in reply to Sixties123]

I ate about 1/4of a bar of the redo finest 70%dark choc every evening and a small glass of fresh orange every day, I also joined an art class to have time out to relax, and some walking, you can also purchase Phosphytidalserine supplement they really helped with the brain fog and the emotional wreck that I had become

[Joanneconnor in reply to Joanneconnor]

It took 6 months for the fog to lift, I didn't retest I just knew I was feeling better as I had stopped biting people's heads off

[Sixties123 in reply to Joanneconnor]

Ha ha that sounds like me , but I tend to rabbit on and on about something that is bothering me and drive my family crazy - my Mam says she knows I’m heading for migrain if I go on and on - I get very passionate about other people’s problems instead of looking after myself x

[Joanneconnor in reply to Sixties123]

Awww just have a read and see what you think, I also did the elimination diet too, I had lots of intolerances, good luck, keep us posted

[Sixties123 in reply to Joanneconnor]

🙏🏻😊 I will

[Joanneconnor in reply to Sixties123]

Sent you a link

[Noji in reply to Sixties123]

Poppyrocks369, bless you! High cortisol is a sign of adrenal burnout. Google adrenal cocktail. Avoid all stimulants, get rest as much as possible, and to help yourself offload, keep a diary and just write everything down. It helps you to deal with emotional stress. x

[Sixties123 in reply to Joanneconnor]

I want to thank you for your advice you have been so helpful , I am going to look into the cortisol thing and try and raise it I’ll also try the supplement thanks again and I hope you keep well x

[Joanneconnor in reply to Sixties123]

todaysdietitian.com/newarch...

[Joanneconnor in reply to Sixties123]

Ohhh just noticed you said 'try to raise it' I hope you meant lower it, lol

[Sixties123 in reply to Joanneconnor]

Oh sorry yes I meant lower it

[Sewnsew in reply to Sixties123]

Sixties123 be careful with the dark chocolate and orange juice, both those are migraine triggers for me, though I realise we are not all the same.

[Sixties123 in reply to Sewnsew]

Yes I will thank you , not normally my trigger but I appreciate your advice

[Joanneconnor in reply to Sewnsew]

I know for a lot of people they are, it's worth a try if you already getting the migraines go docs get some medication to take, it's hard to try and fix everything at once

[waveylines]

Also be careful of how much you eat of dark chocolate especially the high percentage ones. Very dark chocolate has a lot of caffeine in it.....I gave myself palpitations by eating too much!! Doesnt take a lot!! Lol....

[Sixties123 in reply to waveylines]

Thank you

[Charliebrowne]

Just wanted to point out tat splitting your NDT can help with headaches. When I was taking 2 grains, I would have a headache if I took them together and no headache if I separated them by 4 or more hours.

[Mandlou]

And be careful u dont have low cortisol x

[Silver_Fairy]

I used to get migraine before periods, it may be your HRT?

[SilverAvocado]

Poppyrocks369, If you're self medicating or using NDT with little supervision it's important to monitor whether you're becoming overmedicated. You can do this with mail order blood tests, but it's also useful to take your pulse in a systematic way every day, and temperature at the same time. I do mine on first waking and at night, but there are other protocols you could follow.

There's a danger that you might be overmedicated, as this will give you a generally speeded up feeling, and being impatient and snappy can be part of that.

[Hidden]

I never got migraines but had an increased resting heart rate of 85bpm when on 3 grains of NDT per day I also had a reading of 8.3 for FT3 when the top limit was 6.8.

I only take 1 grains of NDT per day now and have added 1 x 25mcg of T3 I feel so much better and not bad tempered at all, in fact I feel exactly the same as I did before my TT two years ago.

[Hidden]

Why not have your bloods taken privately they don't have to be expensive and then post the results on here that's what I did and followed the good advice and am now well. I was taking thyroid s it's very reasonable in price too.

[Sixties123 in reply to Hidden]

Hi thanks I would need to know exactly what I need testing as I’m feeling a bit confused about it all but thanks for replying

[Hidden in reply to Sixties123]

Your welcome

[Noji]

Do you take progesterone too? I have read countless times that you need progesterone to counter oestrogen. Oestrogen on its own can cause lots of anxiety, heart paps, nervousness, chattiness, over-excitedness. I know because I am oestrogen dominant. Oestrogen dominance is a big deal and can make you feel mad.

[Sixties123 in reply to Noji]

Hi no I don’t take progesterone as I got told years ago by my Gp that it wasn’t wise if I get migraine , thank you for taking the time to reply

[Noji]

Why would progesterone cause migraine? We produce it naturally! Doctors don’t have talk nonsense sometimes.