Breathless and difficult digestion. Other autoimmune?

[DressingGown]

Hi everyone.

I wonder what advice you might have for a guy wrestling with Hashimoto's. My main symptoms are fatigue, exertion to breath, bloating, sometimes it can be tiring to stand but I don't know if this is more to do with being bloated and breathless. finally, although it seldom quells my appetite, I find that my stomach is chronically uncomfortable. I have these fits of deep, dry belching. It happens when I move around a bit, particularly several hours after eating (perhaps a motility problem; perhaps a blood problem), and chest pain. I can get facial flushes after a day of work. It feels like its a constant task to dispel air from the stomach. Finally, I get a heated warm sensation similar to heartburn but it can spread all over the body, particularly to the legs. I don't know about nerve problems but it feels like the warm flowing of blood. Its really uncomfortable. What usually follows is a panic attack, no matter what I tell myself. I can't tolerate alcohol without this warm flowing feeling getting much worse and getting a pounding heart.

I've been trying to move on to T3-T4 combination but things move slowly where I am and there is reticence on the part of the doctors when there is any possibility of heart problems.

Up to now I have had:

Endoscopies (24-hr included)

Nasoendoscopies

Manometry

FBC

CT Scan (Thorax, Chest, Upper Abdomen)

X-Ray

EKG

ECG (24-hr included)

Ultrasound on the heart

Spirometry

Skin-prick Test and Blood Tests for allergies.

Full-liver panel (but a long time ago)

Basically its all clear. I'm on 125mg levothyroxine. I have Hashimoto's. Sorry for the approximations but antibodies are usually over 1000 and 600 respectively. It feels like even when I'm in normal ranges, theres just problem after problem. I have good days and bad. But the breathlessness is troubling (SP02 is good and red/white blood cells are within range). This all started with terrible indigestion. The blood rushing sensation is particularly troubling because despite the tests I've had, it is difficult to get it out of mind that it could be heart related.

I take Vitamin D, Selenium, Glutathione, Omega 3 Fish Oil, Iron Tablets, Vitamin C and Peppermint Oil Tablets.

Basically, I wonder about other autoimmune diseases or angina. The stomach issue I wondered whether it was gastroparesis but to be honest, despite this I rarely get nausea and it doesn't negatively impact my appetite. I wonder if anyone could offer some advice. I've got a family to support and really need to think about how to prioritize things. If I go to the doctors and say this, they'll say its mental and tell me to leave. Obviously obviously obviously, this was the first thing I thought of and really made improvements on that. Its not psychological.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Essential to regularly retest vitamin levels with Hashimoto's

Can you add most recent Thyroid and vitamin results and ranges

Hashimoto's affects the gut and leads to low stomach acid and then low vitamin levels

Low vitamin levels affect Thyroid hormone working

Poor gut function can lead leaky gut (literally holes in gut wall) this can cause food intolerances. Most common by far is gluten. Dairy is second most common.

According to Izabella Wentz the Thyroid Pharmacist approx 5% with Hashimoto's are coeliac, but over 80% find gluten free diet helps, sometimes significantly. Either due to direct gluten intolerance (no test available) or due to leaky gut and gluten causing molecular mimicry (see Amy Myers link)

Changing to a strictly gluten free diet may help reduce symptoms, help gut heal and slowly lower TPO antibodies

Ideally ask GP for coeliac blood test first or buy test online for under £20, just to rule it out first

Assuming test is negative you can immediately go on strictly gluten free diet




(If test is positive you will need to remain on high gluten diet until endoscopy, maximum 6 weeks wait officially)




Trying gluten free diet for 3-6 months. If no noticeable improvement then reintroduce gluten and see if symptoms get worse

chriskresser.com/the-gluten...

amymyersmd.com/2018/04/3-re...

thyroidpharmacist.com/artic...

scdlifestyle.com/2014/08/th...

drknews.com/changing-your-d...

restartmed.com/hashimotos-g...

But don't be surprised that GP or endo never mention gut, gluten or low vitamins. Hashimoto's is very poorly understood

Roughly where in the UK are you?

Email Dionne at Thyroid Uk for list of recommended thyroid specialists who will prescribe T3

please email Dionne at

[e-mail]

[DressingGown in reply to SlowDragon]

I will do that. You always provide great feedback, SlowDragon.

I'll be back in the UK in August. It would be nice just talk to a doctor if there is the time. Thanks for this and the other feedback you give.

[K8TE]

Hi Dressing Gown,

I'm sorry to hear you're having such symptoms.

I have hashimotos and I too had breathlessness and difficulty with things like walking uphill and going upstairs.

I too could find no reason for it, other than I am now 1 stone overweight and at the time of these issues I was 3 stone overweight, all due to hashimotos.

Hashimotos can swing between hypo and hyper and I've been told you can have symptoms for both at the same time. Perhaps it could be this?

When I was 19, I suffered with panic attacks and what you describe sounds very similar. I would sense something different in me, like a flutter in heartbeat and then the worry (as it happened often) would set off a flurry of symptoms just like you're describing. Flushing, a whooshing feeling throughout my body and a panic.

It may be, in hindsight, that this was the start of hashi in me and these were hyper symptoms, but when I stopped focusing on them and worrying, they simply went away. It sounds the anxiety building up as you experience some symptoms and that may make the whole scenario bigger and scarier for you?

K.

[DressingGown in reply to K8TE]

K8TE,

I would suspect that I have other issues at play. But I do definitely get both hyperthyroid and hypothyroid symptoms. Particularly before my diagnosis I was all over the place. I think this might be because of damage to the thyroid tissue which then releases T4 or converted T3 in bundles.

Pain in the back side if you ask me. And everywhere else....

Still I find strength in hearing that you had similar symptoms and they you never let it define you but managed it instead. That's wonderful to hear. It may be that you find it hard to talk to people about autoimmunity who don't have it. So take it from me that that is really impressive.

I will try to put my mind in the right place and see if accepting the anxiety and managing it helps.

[Clarrisa]

What came into my very novice mind after reading your gastrointestinal symptoms was (late) dumping syndrome. Have you ever had surgery to the gastrointestinal tract? Even if not I am wondering if panic attacks can induce food & gastric juices to move to your small intestine in a likewise abnormally fast manner triggering dumping syndrome like features.

You sound like a good candidate for meditation, aren’t we all ...

[DressingGown in reply to Clarrisa]

Meditation sends me to sleep. In parts of East Asia the Buddhist masters tap their disciples with sticks whenever they look like they've fallen to sleep while meditating. Its something I'm sure my wife would take up with relish!

I used to do it. I think I might take it up again. Particularly when times are rough.

Dumping syndrome sounds plausible. I shall look into it more. I had a Fundoplication on my stomach in fact, but then this was to prevent the symptoms that I still have so I doubt its the cause.

But its something else to consider. Thanks very much for your feedback !

[Hidden]

I'm so so sorry, I just did a quick read/skim because toddlers. Have you tried a probiotic? Or looked into low/high stomach acid? I've heard a probiotic can be helpful with autoimmune because our gut health is usually poor. And I've read stomach acid issues are common with thyroid. I went to my Endo with concerns of breathing difficulties. Every morning for hours it felt like someone had their hands around my throat. Not that my throat was closing (I ruled out allergic reaction) but there was a weird light pressure, which made it a little harder to breathe going up stairs or what have you. He gave my thyroid an exam and found it to be fine, then said it sounded like it could be silent reflux. If you're having other gastro issues, you might wanna look into that.

Once again, sorry if something didn't make sense or was repeated! There's a lot of background noise right now.

[DressingGown in reply to Hidden]

JTmerillin

thanks for your reply.

I had a fundoplication and all kinds of stuff done with the stomach. I do wonder about autoimmune gastritis to be honest and the first time these symptoms emerged they were related to the stomach. It all started with wild indigestion and the constant burping has been a constant theme throughout this odyssey.

The breathlessness now seems to vary. I have supragatric burping (essentially fake ones) but also deep belly ones which aren't normal too. I wondered about stomach acid levels but had a manometry once and they said it was fine. Although this was some time ago, the thing is, if I have gastritis then adding acid would surely make things far worse. If I have high stomach acid (which seems unlikely because my gastrin is low-normal, then the same goes. If I have low stomach acid then Pantoprazole or whatever would make me achlorhydric which is not good either. So its a constant source of confusion. Breathlessness actually gets better when I eat. Its when the food is passing through the stomach to the duodenum or beyond (I think) that it worsens.

At the same time my sinuses are now super sensitive. No allergies - blood and skin tests are all fine - lung spirometry was fine too but the doctors reckon its my asthma. I don't think so because the symptoms aren't relieved with asthma medication and it feels nothing like asthma. Its like the sinuses swell but are really dry so breathing through your nose is like breathing through a straw. Then my face goes bright red and I was to freak out about it. There are a host of other symptoms but the breathlessness is really uncomfortable.

I started proper probiotics about half a year ago. No results except my farts aren't as bad as before! (sorry if too much detail)

thanks for your comment though. And good luck managing the toddlers!