Severe lightheadedness?

[liaratsoni]

Hi everyone,

Has anyone ever experienced severe lightheadedness as a symptom of hypothyroidism? I’ve been undermedicated for months and working on slowly raising my dose and I have terrible lightheadedness that’s been going on for months. I have to spend all day lying down and can’t stand up for long - more than 5/10 minutes- without feeling incredibly unbalanced, taking subconscious deeper breaths and if I continue standing I get a panicky sensation and HAVE to lay down. When I lay down it calms. Today I had to go to the pharmacy to get my Levo Prescription and I felt very lightheaded standing in line and soon because I couldn’t sit it morphed into the panicky lightheadedness and after I walked out waiting just a few minutes to be picked up I felt like I was going to black out, got terribly panicky, was taking deep fast breaths and started shaking uncontrollably. When I got into car and sat back it went away and my cheeks flushed slightly.

It got better a month or so ago on a slightly higher t3 dose then came back when I went back down in order to increase my t4. I want to increase my t3 again but am waiting for my body to settle on my current dose. Has anyone else experience this? It’s very frightening! Thank you!

[Baobabs]

Hello, yes I suffered light headedness when I was first diagnosed and gradually increasing Levo. I was like this for months until my thyroid hormone levels improved. My symptoms were not as severe as yours. This was one of my key symptoms and very frightening as I teach young children. I was also at the beginning of the process of getting my vitamins and mineral levels raised. It may be helpful to post your FT4, FT3, TSH, Ferritin, B12 and D3 levels if you have them so more experienced members can comment.

[liaratsoni in reply to Baobabs]

Thank you for the reply! I’m hoping to get a blood test next week but when the lightheadedness first began and was very severe I was undermedicated with T4 good at 16.3 (10-20) but t3 too low at 4.8 (3.5-6.5). Vit D, B12 all good but I also had low ferritin which I’ve been working on for months and which is raising slowly but is still a bit too low. I’ve been on meds in varying states of hypo since October last year but this symptom is new and very frustrating and debilitating as well as somewhat frightening! I am glad you are doing better now that gives me hope! 😊

[Baobabs in reply to liaratsoni]

Interesting as your profile sounds similar to mine when I was experiencing light headedness. All the best, oh and it does take time for Ferritin to rise so try to be patient. I wasn't!

[elsaldo]

Hello Liaratsoni.

Yes I too suffer from lightheadedness which causes bad nausea.

It’s very unnerving and lying down helps me too. On standing my heart raced and i felt faint. When I walk I feel drunk or almost like i’m walking on a boat.

GP prescribed many vertigo type medications but none helped whatsoever.

I recently had my levo increased by 25 mcg and I’m also taking supplements to increase low vitamin levels following advice from on here and it’s helping me.

There are now days when I don’t have this feeling at all and on the days I have the lightheaded feeling it’s more bearable.

Hope you get it sorted it’s very hard to do anything at all whilst you feel this way.

Sally x

[liaratsoni in reply to elsaldo]

I also get the heart racing when I stand though interestingly it’s not always as bad. Climbing the stairs at home is a feat though! 😂 I think for me ft3 is the source of the problem - I’ve tried recently raising t4 but the dizziness is just as bad if not worse and I also unfortunately got other bad symptoms like multiple superventricular tachycardia episodes a day. thank you for the reply and I am glad you are doing better - that makes me more hopeful too 😊

[annnsandell]

Have you been to your GP? It can be caused by a number of conditions and is very dibilitating. I have had a few "turns", I think it is something I get with a virus and passes after a day, might be the brain swelling . However, the last time a had it for a while it was my blood pressure too low. A friend had it for months and was eventually diagonosed with an inner ear infection. So it needs further investigation.

[liaratsoni in reply to annnsandell]

I haven’t no - that might be a good idea. I have had a similar though not as severe thing in the past seemingly related to thyroid levels and did also have lowish blood pressure. Recently it did seem to improve a bit when I took slightly more t3 but I think sometimes it’s difficult to separate thyroid from everything else!

[Lily288 in reply to liaratsoni]

I have had dizzy or vertigo related to webmd.com/brain/vertigo-sym...

The exercise in this link didn’t help me I then joined a forum and people on there had great ideas to help get rid of it My remedy one final day of a real bad episode was taking a gravol and using a small face massager on my affected ear. I had a great sleep that evening and the dizziness was gone next day.

I’ll try to find the forum link for you I can’t tonight cause I’m having trouble with my computer

And I also have low blood pressure, born this way .. So what I do is add a bit of salt .. sea salt in a glass of water every day. Salt will raise it some. Or you can add more salt to your diet in any other way. Hope this helps you as sometimes our symptoms are not always related to our thyroid. 😊 .

[Summer64]

I'm going through the same at the moment with varying degrees of dizziness and visual disturbances. Really frightening. GP thinks urine infection but tests all come back negative. Waiting for blood test results and wondering if its b12 deficiency. Had a private cortisol test that was OK. Can I ask what make of Levo you are taking? Just wondering if there has been a change in the ingredients of one.

[liaratsoni in reply to Summer64]

I am sorry your going through this too its so debilitating! I take mercury pharma! I don't think there has been any change recently as far as I know!

[greenhills]

Hi, Interesting......Yes I have this and its one of my worst symptoms out of them all, it can last for months. For me its like I'm being shafted to the side and I'm walking as if drunk. Its like as though something disconnects and its scary as feel as though going to go down. I have to stop sometimes if I'm out. But I can just be stood still talking to someone and it happens. Ive been on thyroxine for 55 years, but this thing has only happened since we discovered a low cortisol prob/ACTH deficiency. But, I used to be on a much bigger dose of thyroxine all the years' I felt ok, and wonder if I'm undermedicated? (only on 100 mcg now) Am told that is perfect dose.. Ive not had a thyroid gland since I was 11 years of age. I'm having blood cortisol taken this week and lipids fasting. Ive spent 9 years going to three different endocrine doctors at big hospitals and we really never came to a concrete conclusion on why I constantly feel 'ill'..

[liaratsoni in reply to greenhills]

I definitely get the walking thing! Its difficult to explain but it feels like the ground feels lumpy but like I am simultaneously not walking right like I'm on air! I would definitely consider undermedication - I am undermedicated at the moment and this has only started since my FT3 level dropped a lot. I also get low cortisol when I am undermedicated and it seems intrinsically tied to my FT3 level. 100mcg does seem quite a small dose! I would definitely push to get the FT3 tested especially! Hope you get answers soon!

[M333]

Hi, I too occasionally suffer from light headedness and I take levothyroxine. However, my doctor suggested that I try the epley manoeuvre or brant-daroff manoeuvre. I found this helpful. The vertigo symptoms can be caused by crystals forming in the ear canal.

It is an easy exercise to do and may provide relief so worth a try 😊

[liaratsoni in reply to M333]

I will look this up thank you!

[KenAhora]

Have you considered anemia as the possible cause?

[liaratsoni in reply to KenAhora]

Thank you for the reply! Back when this was first happening I did have signs of anemia - my ferritin was very low and I had low haematocrit and vit d but I worked on them and haven’t had low red blood cells or vit d deficiency for months - my ferritin I’m still working on but it’s not very low anymore. I also still supplement and take sublingual b12 to

[Canta]

I agree that anaemia or B12 deficiency might be making your lightheadedness so severe. Better You have an iron mouth spray and it's the only thing that raised my ferritin level.

[liaratsoni in reply to Canta]

Thank you! I did have signs of anemia previously but haven’t for months as I keep to a strict supplements schedule at the moment with iron and sublingual b12 on the list

[kferrer]

When I was grossly undertreated, I began to be dizzy most of the morning. I've been working with a nurse practitioner for almost two years now, slowly raising my T3, and at long last, the morning dizziness is pretty much gone.