Heart rate 209

[Asyn]

Yesterday I was in A&E with a Heart rate of 200, they did a thyroid check and I managed to see that my TSH was .44 which I appreciate is within range, I could not see the other result, could this have contributed to a high pulse, I’m fine now but it was pretty scary at the time

[shaws Administrator]

I often had high heart beats when on levothyroxine. Very unpleasant and worrisome if you've never had this before.

I also had to go to hospital who found nothing wrong and they did settle down.

[humanbean]

There are lots of conditions sometimes connected with thyroid disease which cause tachycardia (fast heart rate).

1) Your Free T3 might be too high or too low. Your Free T4 could be too high or too low for you to have good health.

2) Your iron and/or ferritin (iron stores) could be too low.

3) Your vitamin B12 could be too low. And since the body needs adequate folate to make best use of the B12 you do have then low folate could be an issue as well.

4) Check the Patient Information Leaflets of any drugs, hormones or supplements you take to see if tachycardia is a known side effect.

5) You could have an undiscovered physical problem with your heart.

6) Anyone eating lots of sugar or high levels of carbs or with undiscovered or unsuspected diabetes can end up with tachycardia.

7) Having a gastro-intestinal bleed would probably cause tachycardia.

8) I'm sure there are many possible causes of tachycardia that I haven't listed because I don't know about them!

[Buddy195 Administrator]

The exact same happened to me- as I was ‘swinging’ between hyper and hypo symptoms and heart rate over 200. It’s very scary, but once my thyroid medication & key vitamins were optimal, no more racing heart or rushing to A and E. I did wear a heart rate monitor for 48 hours as a precaution, but in my case it was caused by my thyroid, not a heart condition. I’ve read many posts from other members with very similar experiences. I do feel for you having to go to A and E in the current climate.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Looking at previous posts

2 years ago you have/had extremely high TG antibodies

Low vitamin D, folate and B12.....high ferritin

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Recommend you get full thyroid and vitamin testing again

For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4 and FT3 plus both TPO and TG thyroid antibodies tested. Also EXTREMELY important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12

Low vitamin levels are extremely common, especially if you have autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto's) diagnosed by raised Thyroid antibodies

Recommended on here that all thyroid blood tests should ideally be done as early as possible in morning and before eating or drinking anything other than water .

This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip)

Private tests are available as NHS currently rarely tests Ft3 or thyroid antibodies or all relevant vitamins

List of private testing options

thyroiduk.org/getting-a-dia...

Medichecks Thyroid plus vitamins including folate (private blood draw required)

medichecks.com/products/thy...

Thriva Thyroid plus antibodies and vitamins By DIY fingerpick test

thriva.co/tests/thyroid-test

Thriva also offer just vitamin testing

Blue Horizon Thyroid Premium Gold includes antibodies, cortisol and vitamins by DIY fingerprick test

bluehorizonbloodtests.co.uk...

If you can get GP to test vitamins and antibodies then cheapest option for just TSH, FT4 and FT3

£29 (via NHS private service ) and 10% off if go on thyroid uk for code

thyroiduk.org/getting-a-dia...

monitormyhealth.org.uk/thyr...

[Asyn in reply to SlowDragon]

I’ve ordered tests, TG antibodies have remained high but GP says not a problem as lots of people have high anti bodies!! Thanks for advise will post results when I receive them

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Asyn]

healthline.com/health/antit...

If you have high levels of antithyroglobulin antibodies in your blood, it may be a sign of serious autoimmune disorder, such as Graves’ disease or Hashimoto thyroiditis.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/303...

Conclusions: Elevated TgAb levels are associated with symptom burden in HT patients, suggesting a role of thyroid autoimmunity in clinical manifestations of HT. Based on these results, we recommend screening for TgAb antibodies in HT patients with symptom burden.

[fiftyone]

I started suffering from irregular, fast heartbeat. Was in hospital overnight. They diagnosed atrial fibrillation. Sometime later, my doctor thought it was caused by highT4 levels and a heart specialist thought this may be the case. Then, for no particular reason, I started introducing uncooked cocoa (high magnesium) into my diet. 3 weeks later, the AF stopped. I later read that magnesium is one of the elements which conctrols heart rhythm and have carried on with this regime, together with cacao nibs, even higher in magnesium. This may be coincidence. I was getting bouts of AF once a week from last November to May. So was this the problem and not the h high T4? I have constantly remained on a high dose of levo, with my TSH suppressed but my heart beat has been normal for at least five months. Everyone is different, of course but this is my experience to date.

My doctor referred me to a specific hospital endo in February. The consultant was supposed to phone me. Nothing yet. Now November!! Just as well I am well again, at least for the timebeing.

[Aqua123]

Hi Asyn, I’ve had the same symptoms and suffered severe accelerated heart rate of 200+ which went on for 3 years while I was taking T3 meds with Levothyroxine. I lowered the doses steadily over a year but it didn’t make any difference. I was eventually rushed into hospital with pulmonary embolisms, severe lung infection and water on my lungs, which I now know was caused through an accelerated heart rate. The endo consultant said I was over medicating and insisted I come off the T3 meds’ and reduced the levothyroxine back down to 100 p/d. I’m now on meds for AF after having cardio tests including a Heart CT Scan. I’m still not out of the woods but the severity of my heart rate has lessened. The Endo consultant has now taken me off her case list and I’m seeing a Cardiologist regularly. Im still suffering hair loss symptoms of hypothyroidism but am afraid to up the dose of Levothyroxine. I concluded after trying various T3 meds that I did myself serious damage in the end and would not risk it again.

I hope you manage to solve the problems you have experienced, and my advice would be to follow the advice of your Endo Consultant even though they only seem to treat T4 results and don’t believe T3 results count for much. I consider myself lucky to be alive given the severity of the symptoms I had. I’ve been told that if I get an accelerated heart rate again I’m to call for an ambulance right away. Good luck and I hope your feeling much better now.

Just to add: my endo consultant did thorough investigative bloods testing for all levels of vitamins, minerals and the above mentioned on others posts. My results were found to be normal but she did put me on a regular dose of folic acid which i took everyday for 4 months and now take 3 per week.

[Sewit1 in reply to Aqua123]

The same thing happened to me when my doctor increased my Levo and liothytonine to an equivalent of 200 from 125 I too saw a private endo and cardiologist after 3 trips to hospital with high Bp and breathing problems the meds had accelerated my heart and affected my lungs making me toxic. I’ve been mainly plant based with some fish and following an auto immune protocol diet and 10 months later feel much better and now on 75mcg.

[Sewit1]

Same thing happened to me when my doctor increased my meds to 200 split between levo and liothyronine. My heart affected my lungs and I was made toxic. After 3 ambulances during lockdown was given bp meds and beta blockers but eventually discovered the toxicity caused food sensitivities to eggs dairy and nuts. I’ve since seen an endocrinologist and a cardiologist privately plus a nutritionist had my meds reduced to 75 levo, come off the bone and beta blockers and regained my health following a mainly plant based diet and autoimmune protocol. Hugh doses of thyroid meds in some people can have serious affects in the heart. I also supplement b complex and vitamin d and have never felt so calm and well. I have also lost 16 pounds since January. Stay safe