Heart rate pulse and hypothyroidism

[Meadowsmom]

Question: what is the relationship between your heart rate and hypothyroidism? What does the heart rate pulse reveal about whether your thyroid medication dose needs to be higher versus lower? Thanks.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Wearing a Fitbit or equivalent to record resting heart rate and activity levels can be very helpful

[cjrsquared]

The answer is not straightforward. ‘Normal’ resting heart rate is considered to be 60-80 beats per minute, but a very fit individual may have a resting heart rate of 55 with no deleterious consequences. Another individual may have a resting heart rate of 80 bpm, become hypothyroid and it drop to 65 bpm, so for that individual 65 would be to low. Other hypothyroid patients may have a low resting heart rate but then develop a fast irregular heart rate on exercise (atrial fibrillation) Fast heart rate (tachycardia) is considered a sign of hyperthyroidism or over medication but this is only true if it is a resting heart rate.

So for heart rate to be used diagnostically you need to know your ‘normal’ resting heart rate and then if it drops with other hypothyroid symptoms it could be that you are developing hypothyroidism or that your medication needs increasing. Ideally you would need a full set of blood tests looking at TSH, ft3, ft4 plus vitamins and minerals to have a good idea of what was going on.

[FancyPants54 in reply to cjrsquared]

According to my GPs now, a resting heart rate is considered normal up to 100.

I am hypo and under medicated because my free T3 is consistently below the middle of the reference range. I have the faulty Dio2 gene and can't stand to push my free T4 up very high either because it makes my free T3 go down!

I developed intermittent Afib 7 years ago when my thyroid started to go caput. I then had it for 11 months straight last year and into February of this year when I had a cardioversion. It worked, but has left me with a resting HR in the 90's, occasionally 80's. And that's with a beta blocker! My free T3 is still persistently low. In fact my last blood check had it less than 8% through the range, the worst it's ever been.

So I don't think HR is a very good indicator of much at all.

[cjrsquared in reply to FancyPants54]

Your gp is wrong. The NEWS2 score for scoring of vital signs to assess acuity of illness (which is validated by the Royal College of Physicians, and used by all nhs trusts) states that ‘normal’ resting heart rate is between 51-90 but that must be interpreted using clinical judgement, ie age, underlying co morbidities etc. So I agree with you that heart rate on its own is not very helpful as a diagnostic marker.

Are you under a cardiologist for your af or just a general physician? If a cardiologist I would query your low ft3 with them as I believe that low t3 can be important in heart disease.

[FancyPants54 in reply to cjrsquared]

I am "under" a cardiologist, but that means I've seen him three times in 7 years. Twice in the last year. He too says my heart rate is normal up to 100, as does the GP and the pharmacist and the endo. My normal heart rate before the 11 months of Afib was in the 70's. I have no idea why it's stuck higher now. I have no heart disease.

Cardiologist freaked out when he found out I was taking a tiny dose of T3 when the longer spell of AF started. I was taking 12.5 a day with Levo and my free T3 score had actually gone down and was something like 32% through the range. He wanted me to stop it. I did. It made no difference to the Afib, but it did take away the tiny bit of extra energy I used to have when I took it.

But I know T3 is important for the heart. None of the specialisms I've seen will speak to the other or consider the other at all. Little wonder we all get worse when we are under doctors for any period of time.

[Roadrunnergreg in reply to FancyPants54]

its quite possible you have adrenal fatigue coexisting with the thyroid issue... heres why I suspect that is you most likely have high cortisol, a sign of high cortisol is rapid heart rate, been there, and given you cannot raise your FT3 also suggests adrenal fatigue.

Theres an adrenal and thyroid see saw in play, High Cortisol suppresses tgyroid hormone, and if thus us going on then odds are your low in Zinc, Raising Zinc levels will aid in suppression of cortisol and allows thyroid hormone levels to balance out...

Also your CoQ10 may be low and another probable cause of Atrial Fibrilation. My heart used to miss a few beats a minute before I tried CoQ10 now its history... even taking statins chronically depletes CoQ10

Hope that helps...

[FancyPants54 in reply to Roadrunnergreg]

Doubt it’s zinc because I have been taking a supplement for it. Not tried CoQ10 for a while.

[vocalEK in reply to Roadrunnergreg]

Once in the past when I was trying to get a doctor to agree with my self-diagnosis of hypothyroidism, I was sent for a huge bundle of tests for other things. It's as if the doctors were praying "Please, please, don't let this be a thyroid problem." Due probably to my use of stimulants (caffeine and nicotine), my resting heart rate has been between 90 and 100 for as long as I can remember. When the test results came back, the doctor told me "You have a male-pattern output of cortisol." That was supposed to be an explanation, I guess, for why I was feeling so poorly. It took about 20 more years before I was finally diagnosed and treated.

[PolyannaYorkshire in reply to FancyPants54]

You are so lucky your GP is taking an interest! Even when my blood results said TSH out if range...they haven't bothered.

Interesting about HR. I waken in the night with my heart 'fluttering'.Im on BP medication, GP isn't bothered about that either! Thinking of changing GP practice after Vivid 19.

[TheProf]

I have not noticed any change on 75mcg of levo but I now take an anti-arrythmia drug which dropped resting heart rate by 10. I had used to train a lot in the past and my heart rate was oftem 39-40 now it's mid 40s.

[mourneadventurer]

Dr Carolyn Dean has free resources on her website regarding heart challenges.

Dr Isabella Wenz’s book on Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis is also informative and useful to identifying your root cause.

If you’ve got your blood sugar stabilised with diet the thyroid hormones dialled in correctly then go after replacing and optimising electrolytes, and vitamins.

This is crucial when upregulating our metabolism using T3 as our mineral levels have been depleted when unwittingly hypothyroid on a T4 only regime alongside other medical interventions.

ReMag (MgCl), ReMyte and ReAlign(Botanicahealth) are 100% effective. Magnesium Breakthrough from Bioptimizers (Amazon) ensures a range of magnesium salts as they all have different functions.

Magnesium supplementscan be taken to bowel tolerance.

[FancyPants54 in reply to mourneadventurer]

I bought and used those expensive supplements for quite some time. They didn't improve anything at all. I've done better with tablet forms from different suppliers at a fraction of the price.

[HMBradley53]

I had an EKG done and I was told I have Sinus Brady Cardia which is a very slow heart rate which is caused by being hypo...I had no clue.

How does hypothyroidism cause sinus bradycardia?

In people who also have heart disease, it may be due to worsening heart failure. Slow heart rate (bradycardia)—The heart rate is modulated by thyroid hormone. So, with hypothyroidism, the heart rate is typically 10 to 20 beats per minute slower than normal.

[FancyPants54 in reply to HMBradley53]

Hypothyroidism slows down the metabolism. The HR is part of the metabolism.

It's why the digestion gets slow too and causes constipation.

I seem to be opposite to the norm though, with fast and loose digestion and a high heart rate with low free T3 levels and nowhere near optimally medicated.

[HMBradley53 in reply to FancyPants54]

Oh, ok Thank you for the explanation

[6957]

Hi, meadowsmom, are you having, palpitations and a fast heartbeat? I always had a very fast heartbeat that caused shortness of breath, but Everytime the Dr would higher my dosage of the levothyroxine, it would get way worse, so eventually I slowly weaned off the levo, and the fast heart beat stopped, currently I'm taking a more natural approach, cuz I can't tolerate thyroid meds, I don't want my heart to get damaged

[Meadowsmom in reply to 6957]

Hello 6957,

No, I am not having heart palpitations. The only time I had palpitations is when I tried low dosages of T3. Both times sent my heart into palpitations. Once I ended up in the hospital because the palps were so high and needed medication to get my heart back into a normal rhythm (heart rate had escalated 129-140 bpm). My normal pulse is around 68. I thought I was going to die. I am now only on Synthroid as it does not cAuse heart palpitations for me. I am afraid of T3 now and will not try it again because it does not appear to agree with me, even at the very lowest doses.

[6957 in reply to Meadowsmom]

Hi, Meadowsmom, I'm glad you know your body well, you know what works for you. We just have to listen to our bodies when something is not right and have a great Dr that works with us and listens to us when we tell them something is not right.

[magsyh]

Levothyroxine has reduced my resting heart rate as I was living on adrenaline being hypo for so long and my adrenals not doing very well. I have a problem trying to raise levo for the same reason so I'm kind of stuck. I'm stuck on 50mcg and still under medicated but if I raise slow I hit 75mcg and become even more hypo. I've never pushed past 88mcg coz I'm scared so my high heart rate is controlling me. Doctors say oh you must be hyper, I know it's the opposite but because I'm getting no medical help I'm stuck on 50mcg coz it feels like a safe place. So heart rate is an individual thing by looks of it.