For the past two weeks I have been experiencing recurrent symptoms of dizziness caused by a drop in blood pressure. I just checked my blood pressure after feeling fatigued and dizzy and it came up to 110/65. I read that diabetes may be a factor however I recently checked my A1C and it came out much lower than last year. This year my A1C came out at 5.2 last year it was 5.7 range (4.0-6.0) my blood sugar was 100 this time around. Therefore I doubt it's due to diabetes, does hypothyroidism cause blood pressure? I haven't checked my thyroid levels yet but will check them this week. I do have TSH from two weeks ago which was 1.80 range (0.5 - 5.0). One thing to add is that I have added T3 (25 mcg) medication two months ago and haven't increased yet I take 88 mcg Levothyroxine and 25 mcg t3 (cynomel Mexican T3). If anyone has any advice or information on what I should do that would be great!!
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MrWellness94
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In your case it may be down to adrenal insufficiency... hopefully will be resolved once your thyroid is optimally treated, because your adrenals may have been struggling to compensate.
If the symptoms continue see your endocrinologist as you may need hormonal help with your adrenals. It's important to stay well hydrated with water and electrolytes for adrenal issues and for P.O.T.S type symptoms.
Thanks for your advice, I too think it may be an adrenal problem though I wasn't too sure. I will definitely look into POTS and hydrating with electrolytes. Thank you for your advice!
This sounds adrenal. Are you experiancing low blood sugar at times as well, shaky, very hungry.
Ive had that . I have graves and get dizzy but occasionally I can be really dizzy and shaky and feel better when I have sat down and had a drink and a biscuit. They have never tested my adrenals should I ask for that 🤔
It's certainly a good idea as it's worth ruling out Addison's Disease. A salivary cortisol test will show if your levels are out of synch with your body clock.
Yes you should. It could be addisons disease ( the non functioning adrenal gland) but more likely to be adrenal fatigue which is reduced function. Mainstream doctors on the whole do not recognise fatigue just the collapse of adrenal gland. There are supplements you can take to support adrenal fatigue. Such as NAX and vitamin C and there is a need to try to reduce stress, meditation helps, gentle walks. If doctor will not test then you can do a saliva 24 hour test .
Yes I am, I feel dizzy and often feel like the room is spinning for a few seconds. Is there anything I can do to help my adrenals? Any certain vitamins or something that helps alleviate this?
I regularly take Magnesium Citrate (mid-morning, late afternoon and night) and Zinc Citrate (at night) and if I'm a bit wobbly I drink Coconut water (which is high in Potassium). Water Melon is good for electrolytes as well. In my experience the best vitamins for adrenals are b6 (best form is p-5-p) and b5 (pantothenic acid) although all of the b vitamins are helpful to some degree and vitamin c is vital.
The gist of this article is that in general we need a lot more magnesium in early stage of adrenal fatigue, but at later stages sodium becomes critically important. I've managed to avoid the total crash state by keeping up my magnesium levels, but someone who is in a state of collapse needs ordinary salt and should re-introduce magnesium once sodium levels are good.
You do need to see your doctor as addisons disease can be serious. However it is probably adrenal fatigue.Lots of good advice here re minerals and supplements. It sounds like you are quite poorly with it so you could try some hyrocortisone cream which you can buy from chemist and some Nutri adrenal extract know as NAX. I take 2 a day and it helps loads.
I would ask GP to do blood test and do saliva test for your own information. the saliva test more accurate and indicates at what point in the day your levels drop so helpful in regard to timing of medication.NHS generally only recognises blood test.The saliva test is able to detect adrenal fatigue but not bloods.
Hi MrWellness 94. I get dizzy when my blood pressure is up and then my doctor has to up my bp meds. Thyroid does cause bp problems in some people and also runs in family history. I hope and pray that u get better.
I feel like it may have been my thyroid meds I probably increased too much that my body is trying to keep up. Thank you for your concern, that is very kind.
ReMag and ReMyte (Botanicahealth) are produced by Dr Carolyn Dean MD ND whose book Magnesium Miracle is worth a read. Dr Deans recommendation is drink half body weight in ounces of water containing iReMag, ReMyte and Himalayan sea salt. The ReMag doesn’t create loose stools but the picometer size ensures the magnesium gets to where it’s needed inside the cells.
Ashwaghanda and Rhodiola are also worth researching.
I got this a lot when I was not optimised on medication I think the hypothyrodism interferes with blood volume (sure I have read that) whatever othostatic blood pressure is a symptom. I still get it occasionally even though I am optimised on medication and have to get up from kneeling gradually. I don’t have diabetes. My systolic bp has gone up (c140 😱) but I understand blood pressure treatment would lower the diastolic as well and mine is about 70 and could cause dizziness passing out perhaps that is the problem in your case. My doc decided to leave alone.
I definitely feel I am still not optimized on my meds, not having enough thyroid seems to be a recurrent theme. I will make an appointment with my doctor and check my FT3 and FT4 and raise accordingly. In an unrelated note my A1C levels indicated pre-diabetes last year close to being diabetic. This year after finally getting thyroid medication my A1C came down a lot to almost normal levels. I did not change my diet or my physical activity so it must be the same with blood pressure and other things. I do have a question, is weight loss easier for you now that you are optimized? That's what I have so much trouble with, I've always been pretty chubby and still are hoping to lose weight. Any advice on that? Thank you!
I was thin from my 20’s until the last few months of my very overt hypothyrodism (at 52) when I started to feel so hungry I would eat and eat yet still feel like I had not eaten for days.
The weight gain got even worse once I was on Levothyroxine, even though I no longer had that hunger stuff; after two years I had put on 5 stone and felt truly awful.
Once I adopted a gluten free diet and switched to NDT the weight dropped off me. I am about half a stone heavier than I used to be before the hypothyroidism affected my weight, which I don’t mind.
I have the DIO2 mutation that reduces my capacity to convert T4 toT3 which might explain it.
It really does help, thank you. Strangely for me my appetite is nonexistent the only way I know I'm hungry is when I get dizzy or faint which is weird. I haven't felt hungry in months! Some things going on I will find out soon. Thanks again for your help.
I think some hyperthyroid people get that and even have to force themselves to eat as they have zero appetite. I could go for days without eating I basically did not even think about food or feel hungry...from my 20’s onwards. It does make me wonder if I had thyroid problems all my adult life. I had osteoarthritis and spondylitis by 23 which I have read can be a precursor to thyroid disorder. Perhaps like me you have mixed symptoms not just classic hypothyroid, many of mine were more common in hyperthyroidism - thinness, eye problems, heart problems, terrible anxiety....to name a few. If yours is autoimmune perhaps you are having bouts of overactivity as the thyroid dies (assuming you still have some thyroid function left) and those areas under attack give up their stores of thyroxine, temporarily causing too much in the blood stream and a spike. I got that a lot towards the end of my Thyroid’s life (spluttering I’d call it ha ha! I had not been diagnosed till it had actually just been destroyed so I have experience of the complete progress of the untreated disorder, not recommended btw - one more day without starting Levo I think would have done for me...the last bit was truly gruesome).
I hope you are able to get to the bottom of it and find some relief - at least I was thin and lacking appetite and fat when eating like a donkey! Mind you, I did just get fat on very little food on Levo and had virtually no energy - horrible. I eat a lot more now on NDT and do not put on any weight since I shed the Levo fat payload.
It seems to me that you did have some type of thyroid disorder at a younger age. While still horrible, you were lucky in being thin! I've never been thin except for when I was a child way before moving to the US. Once I moved to the US I ballooned up and have stayed that way unfortunately! I once gained 5 pounds in one week when starting levo!! I haven't been able to lose anything!! Even when adding T3. I do believe I have autoimmune hypothyroidism which explains why I sometimes get hyper symptoms (except weight loss lol) I honestly just want to lose weight and have more energy that's all I want at this point 😅
Are you gluten free? I found that helped me shed the weight along with NDT so not sure how much it contributed but I did feel better for it. It reduces a lot of calorie rich but nutrient low foods to tempt one and wheat seems to affect my digestion and skin adversely. It sounds like you simply are not converting food to energy which is T3/T2 driven. Perhaps it was not enough T3 to kick start you body back into balance or maybe your hypothyroidism is still evolving so is difficult to properly control. If it is that it is very difficult to deal with, if you reduce food it makes little difference and you can feel tired beyond imagining. If you do more exercise you just end up wasted as the calories do not burn away like they would normally. You must try hard not to beat yourself up over something that really is not your fault. May be vitamin and mineral deficiencies could be key as well as things like selenium play a role in promoting conversion of the thyroid hormones to active forms. I have heard eating tumeric can help not sure if it is based on any science but it does seem to be quite good stuff - tastes fine too! Did you ever try NDT? That has some T2 in it - no one knows if it is of any significance but I tend to think if a thyroid makes it it must be doing something. Some studies are showing T2 to be important in metabolism. It should be possible to get it all in the right amount from T4 but we know darn well that is not the case for everyone. Did you get your DIO2 gene tested to see if you have possible conversion problems? It is a really hard trying to unravel this disorder and get proper relief especially when symptoms can be so atypical.
I am not gluten free, I did try going gluten free and I lasted a few months but felt no difference and went back to old habits. Might try again though this time for longer. Yeah I think I'm still not optimal I'm going tomorrow to get my self checked for FT3 and FT4. I have never been on NDT I might consider it if T4/T3 combo isn't doing it for me. I know for sure by vitamins are not optimal, I may have low iron levels due to all my symptoms that I have been experiencing. I also believe I have low b12 and low b vitamins and I am supplementing. I started last week so too early to tell. No I have not been tested for the DIO2 but I will look into it since it will tell me if I am a poor converter. It's astounding how much thyroid disorders can affect one's life. At one point of adding T3 things were looking up and then I felt bad again. Sometimes it's hard not to blame oneself. However, you are completely right! You sound like a true expert in my opinion 😊
You may be able to ascertain poor conversion from the results as people like greygoose often make such comments when people post blood test info especially if you have free T4 and Free T3 in the list. SeasideSusie is a whizz on the vitamin side of things if you have not seen her comments in this area. It sounds like a lot of things are not right and causing your symptoms I had problems with vitamin D deficiency on Levo that really caused bad problems especially cognitive my memory was like a sieve and I was exhausted all the time. B vitamins and iron are really important lack of iron may be causing dizziness and I used to get numbness and pins and needles in my limbs which I think may be B6 deficiency I just thought it was normal because all my sisters got it - but it was more likely due to thyroid problems. I hope the bloods will give pointers for your next steps to health 😎
Good to know! Seriously though you've been so helpful and understanding. I appreciate you sharing your journey as it helps me put things into perspective. I will definitely post my results on here to see what people think. 🙂
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