Thyroxine, sugar and alcohol

[eeng]

Feel free to laugh, I know it serves me right, but I arrived home to find my daughter drinking some rather nice sparkling wine, and she encouraged me to finish it off. I was quite thirsty so i downed a couple of glasses, ate probably 4 chocolate and caramel biscuits, then it was time for bed so i took my 125mcg of Levothyroxine. When I tried to sleep I found my heart rate was about 120 (instead of my normal 60) and it was really hard to sleep.

Does anyone else have this problem? I felt as though i had been drinking caffeine.

[grannydoug]

Yes I find that happens sometimes when I've drunk wine (but i take my levo on waking etc). It's possibly the double effect of the fizzy wine and chocolate! Especially if that's not your usual practice. Has this ever happened to you before? Strong coffee also has a similar effect with me - I now mainly drink Redbush tea and/or decaf tea and coffee.

[Hele1]

Hi

Yes I find this happens to me every time I have alcohol, sugar or too many carbs. I have researched it and although I’ve found a few people reporting the same thing, I cannot find any link to hypothyroidism.

It’s a pain because I am trying to raise my thyroid meds and I’m not sure if these are symptoms of over medication? It would be interesting to hear of other hypos with the same problem.

[maymay28]

levothyroxine should be taken 2 hours after eating; not to do so would decrease significantly the full effectiveness of the medication, leading to the symptoms that you've encountered i.e. the palpitations.

[humanbean]

Lots of sugar can raise my heart rate quite dramatically.

If I eat a lot of sugar in the evenings (something I am desperately trying NOT to do) I sometimes end up with my heart going at 120 - 140. Trying to sleep with my heart going that fast is impossible. Luckily I have some beta blockers that I use when essential. But using them to deal with a self-inflicted problem like eating a lot of of sugar is hugely embarrassing, even though I'm usually the only one who knows about it.

[Loobs39]

I always have a problem after drinking more than one glass of wine - after 2 or 3 hours my heart rate increases dramatically (when cuddled up to my husband at night it is enough to wake him) and it is much the same for excessive sugar consumption. I have never considered it linked to my Hashimotos, assumed it was post-menopause as a friend of mine who doesn't have Hashi's suffers the same effect from alcohol.

[sweetsusie]

Cholocate has caffeine in it, but not as much as one cup of coffee? Maybe that's what caused this?