Diagnosed as hypothyroid in 2013 and have been ok on levothyroxin up until late 2019 when after loosing a little weight I started getting heart palpitations mostly at night. Last year was a nightmare with a lot of personal stress and I lost even more weight, palpitations continued and got worse and I also started experiencing gluten intolerance and slight pain under breast bone. After loosing just under 2kgs Dr reduced my levothyroxin dosage from 100mgs/75mgs alternating days to just 75mgs. Heart palpitations have now reduced during the day considerably and I only get the odd 1 night per month where I get palpitations for a few hours during the night.
I’ve continued without wheat but occasionally sneak it in with some consequences and I’ve taken to blending my five a day and taking kefir which seems to help. Dr also put me on omeprazole for stomach acid. I’m still worried about the occasional heart palpitations which happen at night and my stomach seems to make so many noises which often leads to rising to the loo. I need to get my TSH levels retested as it’s been six weeks since reducing my levothyroxin dose.
Has anyone else experienced these symptoms and how have you coped, reduced them?
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Yes I had pain under breast bone & kept rushing to toilet. Also experienced weight loss. I had an endoscopy and this showed gastritis. This resolved with short course omeprazole and (more importantly) eliminating gluten. I do think lactose has some adverse effects on me too, but I’m finding this harder to give up completely.
I find juicing really helpful if I have any gastric issues- eg carrot and ginger. I like Rosemary Ferguson’s juicing recipes; definitely worth a look!
Thanks for your reply, it’s good to know someone else has experienced what I’m going through. I’ve been sick a few times too so that may also be conclusive to gastritis.
I’ve been on omeprazole since October last year but as I’ve been experiencing diet issues for some time I suspect it will take its time to sort itself out.
I’m also thinking lactose isn’t too good for me too. I’ve resorted to low sugar almond milk and only skimmed milk in an occasional tea but mainly drink fruit teas, especially camomile and peppermint teas seem to help.
I’ll definitely take a look at the Rosemary Ferguson recipient - thank you!
Gluten and wheat intolerance extremely common with Hashimoto’s
Poor gut function can lead leaky gut (literally holes in gut wall) this can cause food intolerances. Most common by far is gluten. Dairy is second most common.
According to Izabella Wentz the Thyroid Pharmacist approx 5% with Hashimoto's are coeliac, but over 80% find gluten free diet helps, sometimes significantly. Either due to direct gluten intolerance (no test available) or due to leaky gut and gluten causing molecular mimicry (see Amy Myers link)
Changing to a strictly gluten free diet may help reduce symptoms, help gut heal and slowly lower TPO antibodies
Ideally......While still eating high gluten diet ask GP for coeliac blood test first or buy test online for under £20, just to rule it out first
The predominance of Hashimoto thyroiditis represents an interesting finding, since it has been indirectly confirmed by an Italian study, showing that autoimmune thyroid disease is a risk factor for the evolution towards NCGS in a group of patients with minimal duodenal inflammation. On these bases, an autoimmune stigma in NCGS is strongly supported
In summary, whereas it is not yet clear whether a gluten free diet can prevent autoimmune diseases, it is worth mentioning that HT patients with or without CD benefit from a diet low in gluten as far as the progression and the potential disease complications are concerned
Despite the fact that 5-10% of patients have Celiac disease, in my experience and in the experience of many other physicians, at least 80% + of patients with Hashimoto's who go gluten-free notice a reduction in their symptoms almost immediately.
Recommend you get full thyroid and vitamin testing done after 6-8 weeks on constant unchanging dose and brand levothyroxine
Remember to stop taking any supplements that contain biotin a week before ALL BLOOD TESTS as biotin can falsely affect test results
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
Ask GP to test vitamin levels
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 .
Last dose of Levothyroxine 24 hours prior to blood test. (taking delayed dose immediately after blood draw).
This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip)
If/when also on T3, make sure to take last third or quarter of daily dose 8-12 hours prior to test, even if this means adjusting time or splitting of dose day before test
Is this how you do your tests?
Private tests are available as NHS currently rarely tests Ft3 or thyroid antibodies or all relevant vitamins
I find that I don’t have stomach pain if I avoid gluten but resisted trying GF properly for years. It took the last lockdown to convince me. Similarly to you, I managed OK with milk, but struggled with other dairy, although my big obvious symptom was post nasal drip. Eeeu! I have currently cut dairy completely again and my working conclusion is that I absorb my medication better when dairy isn’t part of my life, although it is only a walking conclusion as there are always other factors in the mix! It seems that when I cut it out, things improve and when I reintroduce it I don’t absorb the meds so well again. I struggled to find a non-dairy milk alternative but have since discovered Rude Health cashew milk, which doesn’t have any nasties in it and works wonderfully in coffee and is OK in tea. It is literally the only thing I have found which works OK with tea, sadly and even then, it is only OK. I find non-milk coffee shop late alternatives a bit of a mare, as I don’t want soy products before 5pm because I take T3 at around 1.30 - 2pm and want to absorb it properly and I don’t want coffee after midday! It turns out that there isn’t enough gluten in oat milk to cause me any obvious or immediate trouble, but if that changes in a couple of months, then I will have to think again!
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