Chest pressure on Armour

[Nitak88]

A little background info on myself, I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and high blood pressure during my pregnancy in early 2016. My doctor put me on Synthroid 50 mcg which I took until September 2017 when I switched doctors and was then placed on Levothyroxine 50mcg. I never noticed any difference or symptoms of having hypothyroidism besides hair loss. Being a new mom, I was always tired and never thought it could be from my thyroids.

In February of 2018, I got the flu for the first time in 10 years and then got it a second time a couple of weeks after. Since then it's been a rollercoaster of crazy symptoms such as constant dizziness, brain fog, feeling lightheaded, difficulty concentrating, also had chest pain at one point (could be when my doctor tried to change my blood pressure medicine). My doctor ran several tests and couldn't find anything other than vitamin D deficiency. I've been taking vitamin D3 since April to correct it. I also saw a cardiologist and had a stress test, EKG and echocardiogram due to the chest pain I felt at that time. Everything was normal. Cardiologist said my heart was in great shape. The chest pain eventually went away.

Getting frustrated with not getting any answers, I switched doctors a month ago. My new doctor immediately thought about my thyroids after seeing my bloodwork from my previous doctor. My last test with previous doctor was done on 6/04/18 (while still on levothyroxine) with the results of:

Thyroxine (T4) 9.3 (range 4.5-12.0 ug/dl)

Free thyroxine index 3.2 (range 1.2 - 4.9)

TSH 3.020 (range 0.450 - 4.500 uIU/mL)

I've been researching loads and now know that my FT3 and FT4 should have been checked as well.

My current doctor wanted to put me on Armour 60 mg which is definitely something I wanted to try. I started taking it on 8/5/18. I didn't gradually switch from levothyroxine to Armour. Stopped one and started the other the next day. Within the first couple of days I noticed a big difference. My dizziness had decreased and I was able to concentrate better. After the 5th day of taking the Armour I started to get heart palpitations only at night while resting. A week later I started to get chest pressure that felt similar to the chest pain I had earlier in the year. I called my doctor and he believed it could be the Armour causing the palpitations. I cut down my dose to 30 mg on 8/18 and within a couple of days the heart palpitations subsided but I still had the chest pressure. Blood was ran on 8/21 (the day on which I was told to take my 30 mg dose that morning and bloodwork was drawn that evening)

FT3 2.8 pg/mL (range 2.2 pg/mL - 4.0 pg/mL)

FT4 1.03 ng/dL (range 0.76 ng/dL - 1.46 ng/dL)

TSH 5.087 mIU/L (range 0.360 mIU/L - 3.740 mIU/L)(HIGH).

My doctor believed that these results were from taking 60 mg and not from the few days that I reduced to 30 mg. He wants me to up my dose to 90 mg and retest 10/1. He doesn't seem too concerned about the chest pressure since I was previously seen by cardiologist a few month ago. I believe he mentioned taking something for indigestion but my pressure doesn't go away after belching. He also wants me to eat organic and start exercising (I'm about 40 lbs overweight).

I am slowly increasing my dose to the 90 mg by 15 mg every 10 days. I am currently on 45 mg, no heart palpitations, still have chest pressure but seems to have decreased in intensity. I am terrified that this medicine will give me a heart attackor stroke because of the chest pressure. Any advice?

[sonship_quality1029]

Nikita88, I'm sorry to see you are having problems with chest pressure. I have had great results from taking Armour. I've been on it for over two years. I was started on 15 MG, then was changed to 30 MG and have been on that dose ever since.

Pharmacists told me to take it as soon as I get up and at the same time every day. I've seldom been able to do that since my schedule is not the same. She also told me to not eat anything for, at least an hr. after taking it. I have followed that since day one.

I did have some problems with acid reflux, but that has gone away. I didn't attribute this to the Armour, though.

This has been my experience. I hope it helps.

[Trillylil]

Hi Nikita,

I too am hypothyroid with a diagnosis of ME/CFS. The symptom of chest pressure is something I identify with. It happens when my energy levels crash. I refer to it as “An elephant sitting on my chest.”

I’ve also had heart tests. I believe it may be an autonomic stress or para sympathetic system response when my body detects low energy.

It’s uncomfortable but does lessen when my energy increases.

I’ve learnt to live with it now when it happens as just being an idiosyncratic symptom.

[Knit1pearl1 in reply to Trillylil]

Hello,

I just wanted to say that I have the same feeling in my chest, iv been on Levo now for 8 weeks so it’s all very new, I put this chest feeling down to a lung problem I have, but as you said it happens when I’m completly exhausted and because of that I’m laying down,it’s happened this last week. So glad I joined this group it’s so very helpful, Iv read up on hypo but there’s nothing like personal experiences.