Heart palpitations

[victoriageorgina]

Hi.

I've just been for my second lot of blood tests. My first showed low thyroid and low t4. My doctor wanted me to wait 6 weeks and repeat bloods.. which I have done. This time t3 has been tested too along with full works. Just waiting for results.

I'm on iron tablets which has helped with my tiredness an awful lot. I was really animic too so been taking iron tablets 2x day for 6 weeks. They really have helped but my heart palpitations are awful still.

They can be constant all day. The last two days have been particularly bad. They make my chest feel quite heavy and I have to really concentrate on my breathing to make sure I get breath deep enough into my chest. It's really hard to describe.. but my chest goes crazy with flutters, I have to breath in really deeply otherwise I feel like I struggle for breath and then my head goes all funny too.. dizzy/light headed and I really struggle to focus on anything until the feeling passes. The last two days I've had to stay quite still and just rest because this sensation has been quite constant.

Episodes like this happen about once a month, usually coincide with my ovulation cycle too.. only started when I started having symptoms of thyroid problems too.

Anyone have any idea what it could be or what I can do to help it? I don't drink cafine or have sugar in my diet or smoke and I don't suffer from anxiety or stress.

Thanks. 😊

[greygoose]

When you say your 'thyroid' was low, do you mean your TSH? Because FT4 is a thyroid test, too. So, you have low TSH and low FT4? Do you have the actual numbers and ranges, because 'low' can mean anything.

Don't forget to get a print-out of your results - none of this low/high business, which is meaningless - a print-out with ranges. Then you can post them on here, and let us have a look, and we'll be better able to advise you.

[victoriageorgina]

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

These were my first lot of results. Just waiting on my 2nd lot which I had taken on tuesday.

[Marz in reply to victoriageorgina]

Can you just pop your latest results onto this thread - the one you have linked has 60 Replies - so beyond the call of duty to expect members to plough through them all. Happy to help ...

[victoriageorgina in reply to Marz]

Oh I didn't expect anyone to read the replies. Just look at the results at the top of the thread as I can't attatch a picture to the thread. I'll just put my reslts for t4 and tsh here 😊

[victoriageorgina]

Tsh 0.261

T4 7.8

[greygoose in reply to victoriageorgina]

We need the ranges. As I said twice above. Ranges vary from lab to lab so we cannot interpret your results without knowing which range was used by your lab.

TSH is not your 'thyroid'. It is a pituitary hormone that doctors mistakenly believe tell them all there is to know about the thyroid. Yours is low, so the average GP is either going to think there's nothing wrong with you, or think you are hyper. But, if we look at the FT4, it will probably tell a different story, because it looks low - we need the range to tell how low.

So, the next step should be to test your FT3 - let's hope the lab does it, because they don't always do it, even if the doctor orders it! If your FT3 is also low, then the next step should be to refer you to an endo to consider Central hypo, and do tests for the pituitary.

Central hypo is when the problem lies with the pituitary (secondary hypo) or the hypothalamus (tertiary hypo) rather than the thyroid (primary hypo). To find out if this is the problem, the other pituitary hormones should be tested, and a brain scan carried out. If this is the problem, then your other pituitary hormones will be low and need supplementing, as well as your thyroid hormones. So, it's very, very important that this is looked into.

[Hidden]

Let me share my experience. I am now 74 with a diagnosis of Permanent atrial fibrillation. I am doing fine and am very stable with an ablation and a pacemaker. But it has been a long road since being diagnosed in 2011. The bottom line here is at that time both 2 Electrophysiologists, a Cardiologist and an Endocrinologist all of whom were in my hospital room and ALL agreed my atrial fib was caused by mismanaged and ineffective thyroid treatment. There can be many causes for a-fib and I certainly could have had other contributing factors. But I wonder if the thyroid issues had been picked up sooner I may have skipped the a-fib phase of my life. If it were me I wouldn't put off any testing that involved checking out cardiac symptoms. Just my opinion. Take care. irina

[victoriageorgina in reply to Hidden]

Thank you for sharing 😊

[SlowDragon Administrator]

You need vitamin D, magnesium, folate and B12 tested too

Low B12 and low folate more likely when thy

Low vitamin D can go with low magnesium. Low magnesium can upset heart rhythm

Extremely important to have both TPO and TG antibodies thyroid antibodies tested too