I was wondering if anyone can help. My levothyroxine was increased to 125mcg about a month ago. Since the increase I have had terrible bouts of extreme chest pains with palpitations and like a tight tingly feeling down my arm and in my back which lasts anything from about 2 to about 10 minutes. When this does happen everything has to come to a complete stop I can't function normally either. 2 weeks ago my husband thought that I was having a heart attack and phoned an ambulance. By the time the ambulance arrived it had calmed down. They gave me an ECG but everything was fine. They took me into hospital to be sure. I had another ECG, chest x-rays blood tests and all was perfect. I was told I could go home but had to see my own doctor as they thought it was extreme acid reflux. I have suffered all my life with digestion problems and in my heart I knew it wasn't that. When I went to the doctors she was concerned about the swallowing problem I have been having of late and sent me for an Endoscopy and a scan. I have had the Endoscopy and all is fine and am waiting for the scan later in January. To bring this long winded story to an end, I have read that being over medicated can cause severe chest pains.
I am at this stage quite desperate as this is happening daily sometimes once and sometimes twice and is stopping me from leaving the house as I am so embarrassed when it happens as there is no warning of this.
I would appreciate any advice anyone could give me
Many thanks in advance
Written by
Floydy102
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What were the numbers? "Normal" means nothing other than somewhere within the range. And "virtually normal" conjures up a picture of out of range results. So we need to see the result, with the reference range, to be able to offer any helpful comments.
Also you didn't say whether you were given a different brand of Levo. There is one brand in particular that has caused many serious side effects for some members. So what brand(s) do you have and did the chest pains/palpitations start when you added a new brand?
I had a very similar experience when my levo was increazed to 100. My TSH justified the increase, and i was tired all the time so the doctor put it up. I started getting palpitations and asked should i reduce the levo but as my hypothyroidism symptoms continued the doctor told me to stay on it. I got a flu virus that laid me low for days and it was while in bed with that that palpitations became so uncontrollable i ended up in hospital - for a week. That episode has dogged me ever since: with heart meds, and very complicated symptoms that at the moment seem to only result in a downward spiral in my health. My advice then to anyone getting palpitations on a raised dose of levo is to immediately drop the dose back down to what it was. If it then does need raising (based on symptoms and blood tests, which should be examined carefully as 'normal' means nothing when it comes to treating hypothyroidism) then titrate it very slowly. Good luck.
Thank you, but my particular consequences of taking too much levo have been long term - mostly due, I think, to one wrong decision by one A&E doctor four years ago. This is why I responded: doctors seem to adore cardiac conditions - they have dozens of pills for them, each one causing its own symptoms too - and they dismiss the thyroid as easily managed, seeing no connection between thd two. Try to see my story as a warning: do not ignore palpitations as a result of an increase of Levo; don't stick with the higher dose if you're still getting them, no matter what the doctor says.
Some people who take levothyroxine can have side effects. I, myself, was far more unwell on it than before I diagnosed myself when TSH was 100.
It is the standard prescription.
I had so many checks on my heart as I had constant palpitations (night and day) and we just don't understand what's going on. After all we've been given thyroid hormones so wouldn't have expected to feel worse with additional symptoms. The cardiologist was considering putting an implant in my heart 'to see what was going on' as he was also puzzled.
Coincidentally I had some T3 added to T4, and it resolved the palpitations. I eventully went onto T3 only. T4 is an inactive hormone and has to convert to T3. T3 is the active thyroid hormone and we have millions of T3 receptor cells and brain and heart need the most. T3 calmed everything - of course that may not resolve others horrible symptoms as we're all different.
Ask to be referred to a cardiologist as I know how bad palpitations can affect us. My basic 'first aid' during the night (it was worse then) was an ice-cold damp towel in fridge and wrapped it around my neck whilst I sipped iced water while breathing calmly (not easy).
That's so reassuring! I ended up in hospital for a week after some severe palpitations. They'd done a blood test that indicated I'd had a heart attack, but a week in they could find nothing wrong and so nothing of th e sort could've happened. However, they put me on a slew of heart meds anyway and my health has been going gradually downhill since then. I take a combination of T4 and T3 and am very nervous of increasing T3 despite obvious signs of needing it.
I seem to suffer chest pains when I need an increase in thyroxine. I also get tummy problems when I’m under medicated. The chest pains can scare me as I wonder if I’m having a heart attack but they go away on their own within about 5 minutes. I’m only on 75mcg at the moment but when I was on 50 mcg they were quite regular. Within about a few weeks of the increased dose they stopped and I haven’t had them since. Although the opposite to you, maybe you could be putting the pains down to the increase when, in fact you may still be under medicated. Just a thought as I definitely get them when I need an increase. I’m on Teva brand of levothyroxine.
I went undiagnosed for years as it didn’t show up on blood tests and I saw a heart specialist because of xanthelasmas round my eyes and uneven heartbeat. He never once suggested a thyroid problem and my heart checks were fine. I saw a skin specialist a few years later for something unrelated and he said immediately the xanthelasmas were caused by an under active thyroid - you’d think a heart specialist would’ve known that, and instead of my GP offering me statins, which I refused as my cholesterol was fine, somebody in the medical profession should’ve known they were a symptom of Hashimotos which I finally got diagnosed with as it showed up on a blood test after years of symptoms!
Thank you all for replying your advice and support is just so good as at the moment I'm feeling pretty low if I'm honest which is totally out of character for me.
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Not sure if under or over medicated...
Hypothyroid, dizziness/ Nausea
over medicated?
Over medicated
Paraxysmal A.F 
