Case: ECG reading in a healthy, non-smoking, young person (42) with Hashimoto’s that indicates possible coronary artery disease.
Question: What is the most likely Hashimoto’s connection to this kind of reading / heart disease?
Background: No thyroid or vitamin tests done in hospital. Most recent TSH result: 4.6 (January 2021). Am awaiting CT scan on Monday. Came into hospital on Thursday with shortness of breath and upper body Covid-type symptoms. It’s not Covid. My ECG suggested to cardiologist here I was having a heart attack and yet I felt no pain / have no heart problem history.
I would like to rule out any Hashi’s connection before I leave hospital. So that even if my CT scan comes back clear, I’ve covered the bases.
Thank you for any suggestions. I know next to nothing about hearts so appreciate any guidance, no matter how basic. Am afraid I have no other recent thyroid data. My GP practice only tests TSH.
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HowNowWhatNow
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I have a mitral valve prolapse, it was diagnosed when my youngest child was around 2 years old, my doctor picked it up coincidentally when he was listening to my chest ( for a chest infection). it only took another 18 years for my Hashimoto's to be diagnosed !! I suspect I had been having hash swings for all those years.I used to hear a clicking in my chest when I had palpitations which I rightly (or possibly wrongly!!) though was my valve squeaking.
Since I have been self medicating with T3 ( and raised my T3 levels significantly ) alongside the prescribed levo I have not heard this internal sound at all. Maybe the valve has strengthened since I now have adequate T3 circulating, who knows. What I do suspect is that I developed Hashimoto's after the birth of my second child, I know for certain I did not have a prolapsed mitral valve before my pregnancies because I had an experimental anaesthesia when I had a knee operation a few year before I had my children and I was given a thorough examination before I was allowed to take part, I have read that adequate T3 levels are good for heart health overall I find it very strange that so many medics are quite happy to leave us languishing with such low T3 levels and that we have to treat ourselves not only to improve physical symptoms but to ensure we are protecting our hearts too.
I was hoping that the improved T3 levels might have significantly reduced my cholesterol and although it has come down a bit , it would probably cause my doctor to faint!
I'm trying not to let that bother me, as I don't think it's the demon it has been made out o be, at least not for women anyway.
Your doctor did well to pick that up! I say that as mum of a child who very often gets chest infections that doctors / nurses don’t always pick up when they listen to her chest. That’s why I own an oximeter - which I’ve found a reliable guide.
And you did amazingly to tolerate undiagnosed Hashi’s for so long. How do you know how much to self-medicate?
Thank you for sharing your story.
When you say you don’t think “it’s” the demon, are you still talking about cholesterol levels?
Hi GeogorI have read all about cholesterol ( Dr Malcolm Kendrick's books and Uffe Ravismov's books ( I hope that spelling is correct !!) Both these men completely dismiss the theory that cholesterol is dangerous in the way it's portrayed by the general medical profession, and Dr Kendrick points out that the lower the cholesterol level in women as they age the higher the mortality.
I had many years of struggling with Hashi's swings but it was never picked up, despite me having a VERY strong family history of thyroid problems , my mum has an underactive thyroid and I had 5 aunts who had it. On my mums side of the family it was the childless women ( apart from my mum of course ) who had it but on my dad's side it was the ones who had children who had it.
I also got tested for the DIO2 gene mutation which can inhibit conversion of T4 ( levo ) to T3 ( the active hormone) and I was positive for this.
My mum is very well taking levo so I don't think I got that gene from her as she seems to convert her levo quite well, but my dad had hypo symptoms on and off for many years, of course he never got a diagnosis for hypo because the NHS seem only to test TSH and sometimesT4 so there is every possibility that his low T3 ( if he had it ) was never picked up. I wish I'd known then what I know now !
My dad died with very badly blocked coronary arteries, he also had COPD, despite never having raised cholesterol, although that flies in the face of low T3 levels because low levels usually result in high cholesterol so it's all a bit of a mystery.
I tested my own antibodies as, again, if pushed the NHS will only test for TPO antibodies and it was my Tg antibodies that were raised, I had gone on a completely gluten free diet and the antibodies have come down to as low as 4 but they usually hover somewhere between 4-10, so maybe this suggests that my thyroid gland is not under as much attack a before.
Paul Robinson has written a few books about self medicating with thyroid hormones other than just Levothyroxine and I Read them from cover to cover before I embarked on T3. I now take 12.5 mcg alongside my 75mcg of levo. It took me about 3-4 months of being on this stable dose before I started to feel "well" again.
I also keep a check on my vitamin levels to ensure they too are optimal. If you need me to give you a more detailed account of how I dosed myself and how long it took me just PM me and I'll get back to you. Good luck .
Knitwitty, your reply was so interesting that will read it several times before I am done. I didn’t know about the DIO2 mutation.
And I’m sorry to read about your dad. How old was he when he died?
Can you please tell me how high your cholesterol reading is? I just remembered that I had had a recent ish cholesterol test result that the doctor didn’t flag, so I went to check it and it’s 42 which is, I read, normal for a woman.
Connections between heart problems and hypothyroidism (which is usually caused by Hashi's) that I can think of are...
Hypothyroidism usually reduces stomach acid. Lower stomach acid means that nutrients are absorbed poorly, and that includes Vitamin D and iron/ferritin.
Very low iron/ferritin can cause excruciating chest pain (I can say this from experience) - but strangely enough it hardly ever gets mentioned in the UK. Look at the NHS page for iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) and chest pain isn't mentioned.
Another problem caused by IDA is tachycardia (very fast heart rate). It is mentioned on the above link, but only as an afterthought right at the bottom of the page.
For a more thorough description of the symptoms of IDA see this US link :
Vitamin D is also a casualty of hypothyroidism in many people. Low levels are quite common.
Vitamin D raises absorption of calcium from the diet. But, in order for that calcium to end up in bones and teeth other nutrients are required - two that get mentioned on here are magnesium and vitamin K2. If magnesium and K2 are low then any absorbed calcium may be more likely to deposit in arteries and the heart.
Unfortunately, the standard magnesium test is a complete waste of time. Less than 1% of the magnesium in the body is found in the blood. The rest is found in muscles, organs and other tissues. However, the body needs a certain amount of magnesium in the blood, so if the level gets low then magnesium is "stolen" from other tissues to put into the blood. Having a good result from a blood test for magnesium tells you nothing.
You might find this link discussing magnesium of interest :
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