High HR and Levo

[Caitlyn6]

How do people cope with high HR on levothroxine. This is the 3rd week on it and endo upped dose from 25 to 50 to 75 as TSH was 20. I got palpitations so he said drop back to 50. But I don't feel any better. HR gone up about 20 points and I feel like my heart is quivering all the time. I am already on bisoprolol 1.25 for tachycardia following a different issue which had resolved itself for 5 months and this tachycardia feeling is horrible. Even if HR isn't high , I still feel shaky and anxious. It's been a week now. Speaking to GP tomorrow.

[greygoose]

Palpitations can be a hypo symptom. And with a TSH of 20 you certainly are hypo. But, your endo doesn't seem to know much about dosing. Not really a good idea to increase every week like that, it doesn't give your body time to adapt. He would have done better to give you 50 mcg to begin with, and then retested after six weeks. Your heart is probably a bit stressed because of that. Start low and increase slowly, should be engraved on every doctor's forehead. But, not to low, and not too slowly.

[Caitlyn6 in reply to greygoose]

In fairness my gp put me on 25 initially when my TSH was 16. Then I saw my diabetes consultant who is an endocrinologist and he said 25 is too low and my TSH had gone up to 20 in a week so he increased it to 50 for a week then he said take 75. I was fine on 50 but not on 75. But I had too a stressful weekend and it feels like the adrenaline hasn't left my system.

[greygoose in reply to Caitlyn6]

I was fine on 50 but not on 75

Probably because it was increased too quickly and your body hadn't had time to adjust. You could go back to 50 and stay on that for a while, see if it helps. Then, you could introduce the 75 slowly by alternating 50/75 for a while. Do it in your own time.

[Caitlyn6 in reply to greygoose]

Thank you. I plan to do that. 🙏

[greygoose in reply to Caitlyn6]

You're welcome.

[Buddy195 Administrator]

Hi Mollypet,

I just wanted to say that I ended up in A and E due to palpitations & HR linked to Levo increase to 50mg. I’m now increasing only in increments of 12.5mg as the palpitations scared me so much. Luckily, it hasn’t happened again. Remember low doses are available if you choose to increase at a slower pace.

[Caitlyn6 in reply to Buddy195]

Is it that the heart can't cope with the extra demand of levothroxine , after the slower HR of an underactive Thyroid.

[Buddy195 Administrator in reply to Caitlyn6]

I asked my Endocrinologist this and he just said it sometimes happens and there is no reason to suggest it would happen again (ie on the next increase). I didn’t get to the bottom of how/ why! However, it scared me so much I don’t want to take the risk of a larger dose increase again.

[humanbean]

Low iron can cause palpitations and tachycardia. However, iron and ferritin need to be tested before supplementing with iron because iron in overdose is potentially dangerous if it gets too high.

Another thing that helps with palpitations and tachycardia is magnesium supplementation. As long as your kidneys function well then magnesium can be supplemented in doses of 250mg - 400mg per day. Magnesium comes in various different forms and you should choose the one that fits your circumstances best :

naturalnews.com/046401_magn...

Eating a lot of sugar can raise heart rate too.

There is also the possibility that your cortisol levels are non-optimal for you - either too high or too low. Cortisol issues often go hand-in-hand with high adrenaline. Unfortunately it isn't possible to decide based on symptoms whether or not you have cortisol and/or adrenaline issues. There is a lot of overlap in symptoms between high and low cortisol.

The best form of testing for cortisol is saliva testing, producing a sample four times in a day, and also getting DHEA tested as part of the saliva test. If you want more info on saliva testing then just ask. But you might be able to save the cost of it if you get your thyroid hormones optimised along with your basic nutrients first. It isn't worth testing cortisol at the start because non-optimal thyroid hormones and non-optimal nutrients will change your cortisol and adrenaline levels when they are optimised.

[Caitlyn6 in reply to humanbean]

Thank you. I am always quite low on ferritin but just above the medication threshold (about low 20s) so I buy my own. I tried magnesium in the past and felt bad on it.

[richard123]

Hi Mollypet

I had very similar issues with dose increases, I had lots of heart tests went to addenbrooks for second opinion and I have recently discovered following stopping smoking that is gone!!!!

For some reason my heart become very sensitive to the nicotine even when I tried a patch to help me quit up went the HR

I am tolerating my dose increase well following not smoking after such an awful struggle I can't believe that was causing it but it was

Do you smoke?

[Caitlyn6 in reply to richard123]

No, a glass of wine in the evening most nights is my vice of choice. I exercise and I'm not unfit, just hypersensitive to everything - or my heart is anyway.