Fast heart rate

[makita777]

Hello I am takin 5 grains of Armour thyroid split in 2 doses ,my T3 is on the top of the range , mi TSH is 0.001. I notice sometimes when I eat sugar, carbohydrates or after a few drinks the night before my heart goes up to 120/ 132 I wonder if I am over medicated. Also my morning blood sugar levels are 101.

[Dannia]

Makita,

I'm also on NDT (self medicating). When my dose is too high I always get a fast heart-rate and BP. But I also get other symptoms such as hearing my heartbeat in my ears, feeling hot to the extent I have to strip off, flushed face, internal shakiness and hands shake. When I get like this I usually take myself off NDT for around 5 days before starting on a lower dose and increasing again.

I'm not knowledgeable about Reverse T3 but I believe this can also cause similar problems so hoping someone will be able to advise.

[makita777 in reply to Dannia]

Thank you, I lower my dose today! I do have a couple of the other symptoms you name.

[danym in reply to makita777]

did you symptoms improve when you decreased the dose?

[RockyPath in reply to Dannia]

Reverse T3 is produced in a feedback loop that has not been studied extensively. Its purpose is to regulate the amount of T3 that gets to your beta-adrenergic receptors to drive mitochondrial functions, and hence energy production. It was noted in studies in the latter part of the 20th century that reverse T3 is 100 times more potent than Propylthiouracil, a drug used to treat hyperthyroidism. Reverse T3 will put the brakes on cellular metabolism.

Self medicating with NDT is tricky because of the T4/T3 combination. The T4 has a half life of about 9 days, and hence a longer feedback loop. The T3 has a half life of about 24 hours, depending on individual genetics. The cellular processes adapt to the levels of available T3 in a feedback loop that can be quite long, making it difficult to tweak NDT doses.

The body's thyroid functions run on a circadian cycle that peaks around midnight and is lowest 12 hours later. TSH, T3 and rT3 each have different peak hours. This can account for symptoms that appear at certain times of the day. For example, when I was given levothyroxine I would feel ok until the rT3 peaked around 8 AM. Then I would feel awful until around 8 PM when the T3 started to peak.

[Jetsky in reply to Dannia]

What is NDT?

[Dannia in reply to Jetsky]

Natural Dessicated Thyroid hormone

[Jetsky in reply to Dannia]

Thanks. I'm taking 90 mg of Armour each day. 75 mg wasn't enough but my heart didn't pound like it does on 90 mg. It isn't consistent but is often enough during the day that it drives me batty!

[Monasingh in reply to Jetsky]

Hi jetsky...how are your other symptoms like weight gain hair thinning and fatigue with 90mg of Armour? My doctor is about to prescribe me this and right now taking 125mxg Levo and 10mcg t3.

[humanbean]

My heart rate shoots up if I eat lots of sugary stuff. The problem has been getting worse the older I get.

livestrong.com/article/1005...

independent.co.uk/life-styl...

Note that both links mention epinephrine, which is the US name for adrenaline.

[makita777 in reply to humanbean]

I noticed that too

[Hidden in reply to humanbean]

Interesting. Thank you.

[slopbog]

Hi I am on levothyroxine and have had palpitations with hot flushes for ages, I thought this was the menopause but I think it is thyroid linked as now I have increased my dose it has calmed down I also only drink decaffeinated tea now.

[jgelliss in reply to slopbog]

Hi slopbog ,

You are very preceptive . Sugar coffee , soda's with caffeine in them chocolates will race the heart . In fact personally I found that wheat has the same affect . So now I'm gluten dairy sugar coffee free . If one has allergy to certain foods it can race the heart as well .

When I dosed on T4 only I had palpitations as well . Adding low dose NDT for my T3 mix calmed my palpitations . You might want to consider adding some T3/NDT with a lower dose T4 .

[Hidden in reply to slopbog]

I've had hot flushes for around 25 years! But since being on Levo they seem different, more intense and don't feel quite the same. Maybe it's a mixture of both?

[Phoenix605]

It sounds like you may be over medicated. As Armour is mostly T3 which has a short half life it washes out of your system quite quickly. Try dropping quarter of a grain at a time and give it a week between drops initially, this will stop you missing your sweet spot and shocking your system too much. Monitor your heart rate, basal temp and other symptoms daily. Once adverse symptoms start to appear go back up a quarter and sit there for a while to make sure everything is stable if not, decide if you need to keep going or back up a little more. My over and under symptoms are almost the same so I find the small tweaks stop me trying to correct the wrong problem and find my narrow window.

[Dannia]

It can also be down to pooling can't it?

My symptoms of under medication are ache in my neck, feeling cold, wanting to sleep around 2/3pm, foggy brain, not sleeping at night because of worrying about stupid things.

[jgelliss in reply to Dannia]

That does sound like hypo symptoms . Do you have your recent FT3 FT4 TSH results ? One of the best signs one is on the right dose is that they fall asleep easily at night and stay sleeping till the morning and wake up refreshed .

[Dannia in reply to jgelliss]

Thanks jgellis, I'm actually fine as I've found my sweet spot with NDT, I was just explaining my hypo symptoms, versus my hyper symptoms I previously wrote about.

[LAHs]

5 Grains of Armour is a hell of a high dose! My first observation is to say that yes, I think you are over medicating. I have no thyroid (after a TT due to cancer) and I am on 1.5 grains Armour. I have experimented with various doses and, for me, if I increase my dose even slightly the increased T3 sends my blood pressure (BP) through the roof. This is a big draw back for me since I would love to raise my thyroid hormone levels just a little bit more although I do feel pretty good in general. Have you measured your BP? T3 does affect the heart, not necessarily to detrimental lengths but too much of it or too little will give you trouble. One of the indicators to watch out for when raising your dose to get to the critical point is to measure heart rate, if it goes too high then you should drop back to the previous dose. I would suggest you try decreasing your dose a bit and keep going until your pulse returns to about 60 or 70 or whatever your normal is.

[Mermaid238]

I had a terrible time with extreme fast heart rate - after calling Armour company they told me my 15 mg tablets were the lot number of the 30 mg tablet. I take a 60 and a 15 mg. My doctor stopped the 15 mg. I also did some trials with electronics since I know I am super sensitive to electronics. My extreme palpitations subsided thank God I was in such a bad state. They wanted to give me all sorts f medication - I only took what they gave me in the hospital enough to get my rate okay for them to release me. Did not fill subscription - I did all the trials I knew were perhaps the culprit and YES it worked. I hope you feel better soon I am wondering about Armour. I know another company bought them out and I heard they changed their formula. Since most of our medicine and food sources are made in China who knows.

[Dannia]

How are things with you now Makita777?

[makita777 in reply to Dannia]

I am doing better thank you , lower my dose 1/2 grain.