Advice for a guy with breathlessness and burping

[DressingGown]

hi all. I have posted on here before and received terrific answers. People asked for test results for certain vitamins and hormones which I am now able to provide. I have a lot more than I am giving here so any specific questions, please do let me know and I will supply them.

I am in hell. I can't breathe, I'm burping all the time, I have dizzy spells and I am so tired I feel like I could die. Then you get the attendant mental difficulties as well which are not nice. Also my face is now permanently red in the cheeks and nose. Its not a rash and all tests for other autoimmune diseases are negative. I had a fundoplication to stop heart burn which worked but it has not helped the burping. Sometimes also my nasal passages inflame and I get a rash above my eyebrows. I think this is a food sensitivity issue.

I've had a million and one tests and no-one is sure. People have speculated over POTS, SIBO, Lyme or other tick-borne dieases or MCAD. for all of these I need international consultation as it appear that in Japan, no-one knows about these issues. I speak the language just fine, its a structural impediment as opposed to a linguistic one. With the coronavirus in swing, sending bloods to foreign countries is not possible and for good reason. It can wait.

In the meantime, I have recently received Armour Thyroid medication. I have only tried T4 supplements up to now but there is no doctor in Japan who will monitor me on this medicine and I cannot afford international consultation because I have kids and a family and, frankly, we're headed into a financial crisis.

I will take the medicine of my own accord. I get palpitations and have no tolerance for exercise. However, I did a stress test on the heart and several other tests over a period of a year and every single doctor tells me there is no problem there. I will take them for their word despite the scary sensations I get.

I have tried diets. The best one was Low Fodmap and gluten/dairy free. These work up to a point. They don't cure all problems.

I take the following medications as of January 2020

Levothyroxine - 137.5mcg

Vitamin D3 with Vitamin K2 - 3000IU

Magnesium (I forget the dosage)

Turmeric Tablets

My T4 dosage has gone up from 25mcg in March 2018 to today. A rocky ride.

My other test results are as follows:

SlowDragon, it took a while but please see my results:

Blood Calcium:

January 2018: 2.47mmol/L (range = 2.15-2.58)

September 2018: 10.3mg/dL (8.7-10.1)

March 2019: 10.4

July 2019: 10

December 2019: 10.5

Calcium (ALB Adjusted)

March 2019: 9.8mg/dL (8.2-10.2)

July 2019: 9.6

Ferritin

September 2018: 59.1ng/mL (<280.0)

August 2019: 115ug/L (30-400)

December 2019: 53.6ng/mL (<280.0)

Iron:

December 2017: 68ug/dL (56-168)

Folate - Serum:

August 2019: 7.83ug/L (>3.89)

Vitamin B12:

December 2017: 290pmol/L (>185)

August 2019: 157pmol/L (37.5-188)

Vitamin D:

December 2017: 22.6ng/mL (30.0-99.9)

August 2019: 46.8nmol/L (50-175)

Sex Binding Hormone Globulin:

August 2019: 25nmol/L (18.3-54.1)

Someone kindly helped me out with a new software called SPINA Thyr 4.0.1 which suggested that I may be a poor converter to T3. So I have got the Armour medication based on that but now have cold feet (metaphorically) about taking it.

Thyroid Tests in reverse order.

Most recent Thyroid Test (December 2019) (Increase to 137.5mcg)

TSH: 3.68 uIU/mL (0.5-5)

FT4: 1.49ng/dL (0.9-1.7)

FT3: 3.2ng/dL (2.3-4)

2019

June 26

TSH 2.830uIU/mL (0.5~5)

FT3 2.47pg/mL (2.3-4)

FT4 1.84ng/dL (0.9-1.7) High

May 17 (Increase to 150mcg - terrible consequences!) (Immediately lower to 125mcg within two weeks after)

TSH 3.020uIU/mL (0.5~5)

FT3 2.87pg/mL (2.3-4)

FT4 1.53ng/dL (0.9-1.7)

March 04

TSH 2.73uIU/mL (0.35~3.73)

No FT3 measured!

FT4 1.53ng/dL (0.88-1.81)

2018

August 30

TSH 2.05uIU/mL (0.35~3.73)

FT3 3.0pg/mL (2.2-4.1)

FT4 1.49ng/dL (0.88-1.81)

June 18 (Increase to 125mcg)

TSH 3.74uIU/mL (0.35~3.73) High

FT3 3.3pg/mL (2.2-4.1)

FT4 1.46ng/dL (0.88-1.81)

April 28

TSH 1.61uIU/mL (0.35~3.73)

FT3 3.5pg/mL (2.2-4.1)

FT4 1.6ng/dL (0.88-1.81)

February 13 (Increase to 100mcg)

TSH 4.885mIU/mL (0.450~4.50) High

FT3 5.35pmol/L (3.50-6.5)

FT4 17.64ng/dL (10.0-23.0)

2017

November 11 (Increase to 75mcg)

TSH 12.57mIU/mL (0.40~4.70) High

FT3 4.5pmol/L (3.5-6.5)

FT4 14.9pmol/L (9.0-25.0)

June 19

TSH 3.63mIU/mL (0.40~4.70)

FT3 5.0pmol/L (3.5-6.5)

FT4 18.0pmol/L (9.0-25.0)

There is a lot there. My apologies when everyone must be worried about other things. But I need to solve this problem. Your insights and expertise would be greatly, greatly appreciated. Am I crazy about this? Are my symptoms to do with thyroid? Could they be? Would Armour help? What do I need to watch out for if I take Armour? How do I do it? Any advice is welcome.

Best wishes to you all

PS for those interested, I did an analysis of recent (two years) thyroid test results through SPINA thyr. The results appear to show poor T4-T3 conversion due to a consistently low (from June 2019) GD, and possibly Thyroid Hormone Resistance due to high TTSI from the start of the dataset (November 2017). Any thoughts on that would be welcome too. Am I interpreting this right? Can post results on here.

[MrsWoman]

There a lot of posts supporting food sensitivities improve their symptoms. I’d probably keep a food diary for your digestion problems. Wind and gastric pipe run alongside each other so if the acids and reflux can overspill. Thyroid has lots of symptoms you mentioned fatigue breathlessness digestion anxiety etc . Breathlessness and palpitations suggest you haven’t got medication right. If you have breathing problems that aren’t anxiety related you should see someone. I can’t comment on your blood results as different ranges to mine. However although we are all individual a lot of posters say. Ft3 needs to be at high end of range and f4 midrange with Tsh on low end. Maybe post on other thyroid support forums Eg Facebook to see if someone has similar. Hope that helps you.

[DressingGown in reply to MrsWoman]

Thank you. It does help because it gives me something else I can do to solve the problem. I really appreciate your input

[greygoose]

TSH: 3.68 uIU/mL (0.5-5)

FT4: 1.49ng/dL (0.9-1.7) 73.75%

FT3: 3.2ng/dL (2.3-4) 52.94%

Well, your conversion isn't brilliant, based on those results. But your TSH is saying that you're under-medicated, and we can't really judge conversion until TSH is lower.

PS for those interested, I did an analysis of recent (two years) thyroid test results through SPINA thyr. The results appear to show poor T4-T3 conversion due to a consistently low (from June 2019) GD, and possibly Thyroid Hormone Resistance due to high TTSI from the start of the dataset

I do not know this SPINA thyr thingy, so could you enlighten us on the abréviations, please. What are GD and TTSI?

I wouldn't have thought that you had Thyroid Hormone Resistance because your FT3 isn't that high.

Your ferritin/iron is very low. Are you doing anything about that? It could very well be the reason for your breathlessness.

So are your vit D and folate.

The only way you can know if Armour is going to help is to try it. If I were you, I would start on 1 grain. See how you feel. If, after two weeks, you feel you need more, increase by 1/4 grain. Then, 1/4 grain two weeks later. Then, I would hold for six weeks and retest.

Remember, that blood tests were designed for people taking levo only. So, you can expect your labs to be different on Armour: TSH suppressed and low FT4. The important number is the FT3. You cannot dose by TSH or FT4 when on NDT/T3. But, more important is how you feel.

As for the burping, personally, I would think that is down to low stomach acid. When hypo, we often have low stomach acid, but the symptoms are the same as for high stomach acid, and doctors never bother to find out which you have. With low stomach acid, the food is not digested quickly enough, and ferments in the stomach, caused volcanic-like eruptions. Hence the acid reflux, heart burn and burping. What you need to do is increase the acid level in your stomach.

I would definitely not recommend you post of Facebook thyroid groups! You can get some really weird and damaging 'advice' on those!

[DressingGown in reply to greygoose]

dealing with several things at the moment. but just popping in to say thank you once again.

its so helpful to get pointers like this. i really appreciate it.

[greygoose in reply to DressingGown]

You're welcome. Don't hesitate to come back with questions if you have any.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Low stomach acid can be a common issue and cause gut issues like burping

articles.mercola.com/sites/...

thyroidpharmacist.com/artic...

stopthethyroidmadness.com/s...

Testing for low stomach acid

healthygut.com/articles/3-t...

naturalendocrinesolutions.c...

Thousands of posts on here about how to improve using apple cider vinegar, or Betaine HCL or Slippery Elm

healthunlocked.com/search/p...

Vitamin D

Aiming to improve to at least around 80nmol and around 100nmol may be better

100nmol = 40ng/ml

Ferritin and iron look low ....this often causes breathlessness.

SeasideSusie or humanbean may pop along to comment on iron levels

nahypothyroidism.org/uncove...

Japanese diet is very high in Iodine

Iodine can be a problem for anyone with Hashimoto’s

Are you restricting intake of high iodine foods ?

ign.org/newsletter/idd_aug1...

Are you supplementing selenium to counteract the iodine

Thyroid levels

Ft4 is 73% through range

FT3 only 52.93%

Helpful calculator for working out percentage through range

chorobytarczycy.eu/kalkulator

[DressingGown in reply to SlowDragon]

thank you slowdragon. i have increased vitamin d. i bought c and iron. now waiting for the post.

my supplements are now

vitamin b complex

vitamin c

vitamin d3 with k2 (now 4000iu)

iron

magnesium

selenium

turmeric

i failed to mention i take hcl betaine with pepsin. im on two tablets per meal. it worked a treat for two weeks but things went back to normal after that. its hard to tell if i have taken too much or too little because the fundoplication prevents heartburn.

also, do you happen to know how much iron i should be taking? absorption is problematic if low stomach acid. and i dont know which supplements interact with others. all this i better find out and make a regimen.

thanks as ever for your invaluable help!

[Lily288 in reply to DressingGown]

Ditch the turmeric... I tried that but hard on my stomach....that's all I know.. . hope it helps...

[DressingGown in reply to Lily288]

I do it because I take Vitamin K2 to stop calcium build up in my arteries due to taking Vitamin D. I have slightly elevated calcium. Given the Vitamin K2 is a coagulant (I think thats right - it helps blood to clot I think), I use the turmeric to thin the blood a bit. Sounds crazy, I know. But I take it before going to bed and generally don't have too many problems. And I certainly had these symptoms before taking turmeric. Thanks for the pointer, though. I will consider it!

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to DressingGown]

Iron must be four hours away from Levothyroxine (or Armour)

Vitamin D (if it’s tablets) and magnesium also four hours

Magnesium best taken afternoon (if take levothyroxine at bedtime) or evening

Magnesium helps improve sleep

Remember to stop taking any supplements that contain biotin a week before any blood tests (eg vitamin B complex)

Biotin can falsely affect test results

Iron ....taking vitamin C alongside may help improving absorption

Levothyroxine may be better taken at bedtime

verywellhealth.com/best-tim...

markvanderpump.co.uk/blog/p...

healio.com/endocrinology/th...

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to DressingGown]

Suggest you ask on separate post re Betaine HCL

I haven’t used this. Others can share their experiences

[DressingGown in reply to SlowDragon]

Can do. Thank you

[Lora7again]

Have you been tested for gallstones?

verywellhealth.com/gallston...

[DressingGown in reply to Lora7again]

i see your thinking there but yes i have so it can be ruled out. thanks for the suggestion!

[Lora7again in reply to DressingGown]

Taking Iron tablets can be hard on the stomach, I took Spatone when I had low ferritin because it is easier on the gut.

[Batty1]

"I am in hell. I can't breathe, I'm burping all the time, I have dizzy spells and I am so tired I feel like I could die"

If your having issues with breathing (this is serious) and needs to be looked at by a doctor before you start messing around with thyroid meds.

[DressingGown in reply to Batty1]

thank you for the advice. i have done this and they cannot find anything. lungs, heart and circulation all apparently fine.