Im having occasional issues with palpitations that can push my pulse to over 130 doing something as simple as taking a shower or standing too long (15 mins) usually causes me to race to sit or lay down before I get sick (NO dizziness or Breathlessness) and now Im finding my resting pulse is currently sitting at high 70s to low 80s when normally it would sit in the upper 60s or mid 70s .
I have started walking again a month and half ago …. if this matters.
Whats changed: In early November my doctor added an extra 100mcg Levo per week to go along with my regular 100mcg Levo per day plus 10mcg Cytomel (T3) everyday. I do split my regular prescription into 2xs per day … the extra 100mcg levo I split them and add them to my current medication Monday- Thursday (extra 25mcg )without issues.
I have experience this rising pulse all this week “expect” for the pulse over 130 hit me today and I did not take the extra Levo, Connection? Not sure.
I won’t be testing thyroid until sometime after the new year and I still need to see my regular doctor for Iron and vitamins testing.
Any idea what could be behind this or should I stop taking the extra 100mcg?
Thanks in advance
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Batty1
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Low iron and/or ferritin can cause palpitations. I'm sure there must be many other causes that could apply, but iron just happens to be the one that most affects me.
I assume that there must be a "tipping point" where iron and/or ferritin get low enough and palpitations then become a problem.
When I'm low in iron/ferritin my heart speeds up a lot. I ended up in hospital (briefly) when my heart rate was 150 beats per minute when I'd just got out of bed in the morning. I was checked for heart attack then was told I was fine. But they didn't check my iron or ferritin. I had to learn that connection by myself with research online.
At the time I had that particular problem I was bleeding due to a large bleeding polyp, and my ferritin was dropping every time it was measured. What I didn't know at the time was that my serum iron was already well under range, but nobody was interested in that because my ferritin was still in range - just.
I had to learn about iron and ferritin, buy my own iron supplements, and treat my own iron deficiency in the end. It took nearly two years because my family don't absorb iron very well, for unknown reasons.
Low iron may be a cause of my own palpitations, but just remember it will certainly not be the only reason that palpitations could develop.
Oh, I've just remembered... If I go a bit crazy with indulging in lots of sugar, then that can cause my heart to beat too fast.
its funny you mentioned sugar I feel like Im coming close to being diabetic and of course everyone thinks Im nuts but my last sugar test said I was at 98 and the one 6 months earlier was 88 and the one before that was 70 …. The only thing I did before my pulse jumped to 130 was eat breakfast which was and egg sandwich and take excedrine migraine pill for stupid migraine.
Just acknowledging that Excedrine (at least in US) has a dose of caffeine. I know as I have gotten older, my pulse does seem to be more sensitive to caffeine in teas and coffee.
My palpitations happened day and night - a few years ago now - and cardiologist was contemplating putting an implant in my heart 'to see what was going on' the majority was overnight. When T3 was added, palps eased but when I took T3 only they ceased altogether. I have taken T3 only for years now and am healthy and well.
That is so interesting. I am having heart issues (novel in family tree). Includes breathing drama. Began when Cornish gp’s refused to treat ext low iron & left me without thyroid medication - imagine. Most of 5 years back in uk i have been in same scenario. Were i in London I’d have gone private but am 5 hours+ from London & local private docs are all nhs too so seems pointless to pay twice for same incompetence. I have begun t3 alone, up to 50 mcg / day in split dose - your comment has me hopeful.
GPs seem to be very ignorant with regard to patients who've a problem with the thyroid gland.
Many members have more knowledge than those who've passed exams to be doctors.
Dr Lowe advised 'one daily dose' (he took his in the middle of the night when he went to the toilet' and stated that the daily dose lasted about 3 days.
I trialled this and took my dose a.m. none on day two or day three and I still felt well and no symptoms.
This is a link that Helvella posted and check dropbox:-
A PDF Conversion of Dr Lowe’s Thyroid Science Website
A conversion of some of Dr Lowe’s website into a PDF to help make it accessible.
dropbox.com/s/w7cjut689r1w1...
Just adding: Of course there will be mistakes, things missing, etc. in these documents. Please do let me know if and when you find them.
Its frightening how little modern doctors know. We’re back to snake oils salesmen. Will check out pdf.
I was told about the implant idea - no way are these idiots cutting open my chest. Said I’d rather die than go that direction!!! Figure if they can create crisis that fast they can unravel it too. been off meds for 4 months after being on t3 fr 2 months - most of the time before that i was off as well. Realistically since arrival 5 years ago I’ve been taking thyroid medication approx 18 months, maybe 2 years. It’s going to take time to fix mess. But i am optimistic - if i can stay away from nhs & have reliable source for meds.
When I took levothyroxine alone I had severe palpitations, especially during the night.
The cardiologist couldn't figure out what was causing the palpitations and was considering putting an implant in heart to 'see what was going on;. Just then, T3 was added to T4 and palpitations ceased and I then went onto T3 alone.
Maybe I actually need a little more T3 but I don’t know I also started being bothered by muscle fatigue when Im walking (upper thighs, calves) I chalked this up to starting to exercise or Psoriatic Arthritis acting up although it too hits me randomly just like the pulse. I don’t want to mention any of this because you know as soon as I do it the Endo will start removing my meds from me.
Sometimes for us, the patient, it is best to keep our thoughts/ideas to ourselves as some doctors are annoyed if we seem to be belittling their knowledge.
There's no harm in asking them a question saying (do you think, doctor, that a small increase could help relieve palps? ) and hopefully they'll consider
Or you could always try by asking the Endocrinologist 'as I still have some symptoms do you think a very small increase will help?
I've recently found that exercise is having a negative effect on my heart palpitations and fast pulse I've been having incidents of this for the past couple of years. Since March last year I'd been starting to increase my walking, and it was all going well.
But I was also having more frequent and longer incidents of heart trouble. I finally got the calendar out and all my notes and figured out the more I was walking the worse the heart was getting.
I realised this a month or two ago and cut out the exercise, and have had massive improvement with my heart since.
For me sugar is also a big trigger. Just this time I worked out the impact of sugar is dwarfed by the impact of exercise. I assume both are inflammation related, even though overall I was doing very well on the exercise and felt it was very manageable.
I gave up sugar and grains for a couple of months before I realised exercise was the issue. I've kept with it as I find I like this style of eating. Giving up grains is one of those things that makes it easier to eat healthier because with no rice, pasta, bread, etc on the plate there is a lot more space for vegetables.
That just sucks Im so morbidly obese since my thyroidectomy and its ugly step sister psoriatic arthritis and have been really excited to get back to exercising now that Thyroidectomy's ugly sister decided to start playing nice with me …. Im by no means walking for hours or fast for that matter just happy Im even able to walk at all.
Yes, for me it was super disappointing because I was getting a lot more freedom, being able to walk to nice places and do fun things.
It did mean this Xmas I decided I needed to take a mobility scooter seriously so I can get out and about more. I bought an entry level machine, so I'm hopefully going to keep a bit of the freedom, because I felt I couldn't give that up.
In the end I've also enjoyed having some of the time back, AND some of the energy that I can use on hobbies and making the house nice instead.
Same with me, I've never walked more than about twenty minutes at a time 🤣 But it takes a lot more time than that out of my day because of preparing, procrastinating, and of course resting and being tired afterwards, even though I did try to keep it to levels where there wouldn't really be tiredness after.
It might be different for you, and exercise might not be contributing to the higher pulses. All you can do is keep a close eye on it, and if you're very concerned give up the exercise for a month or so and see if the heart improves. I actually got improvement within weeks (my episodes are usually one to two a month, so it took some time to be sure there was a change).
Actually a kind of related thing, I feel like to keep my pulse low it helps a lot for me to make a specific effort to get it low in my normal range as much as possible during the day. This can just mean lying down watching tv or other peaceful activities. Particularly doing breathing exercises to get it low. If I don't do this it will tend to drift up, or the night time lows recorded on my Fitbit won't be as low as usual. Obviously exercise detracts from this because it means I'll be getting to highs during the day, and using up some of the time I'd be resting instead being highly active.
There is a lot of juggling with this. I tend to think resting before lunch is more valuable than after, because my pulse will raise with lunch (my biggest meal of the day), and takes hours to get down again. Blah blah blah... It's a pain having to think so much about these things
I am also very overweight But I don't care as much about it as I did for all the years when I was longing to lose some piddling amount and actually looked great 🤣. I feel like hoping or planning to lose weight is a bit pointless when hypo and sick. You're more likely to become more sick, and maybe even gain weight than to have a positive outcome. I still have the faint hope I will finally stumble on the correct dose and it will all fall off with no effort. My motivation to exercise is to keep as much mobility and muscle capacity as I can, and be as fit as possible within my limitations. And of course to be prepared for the golden day when I suddenly get all better!!
I definitely can relate I too am walking to just get my poor body strong again between the thyroid mess and even worse the PSA its been a miserable and lonely painful road.
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I've been having incidents of this for the past couple of years. Since March last year I'd been starting to increase my walking, and it was all going well. 
Should I alter my dose of Levo? 
How long is a piece of string (aka am I hyper or hypo)?
Could I be over medicated?
