I have been experiencing a host of issues since July with little to no answers. Most being blamed on anxiety. I'll start at the beginning and list my symptoms. Please if anyone has experienced this, help me with what to go to the Drs with. I am seeking a 3rd opinion soon, but they are booked out til Jan.
Have been dealing with weight gain for uears. Last pregnancy in 2020 was horrible. Edema, high fluid with baby and on my body. Feet were HUGE, worsening diastasis recti, couldn't be on my feet more than 5 mins. I was on nexplanon from 2015 til recently in Oct 2023. Nuvaring for 2 years prior.
July 2023 - long day in the sun at the pool ended in an ER visit for high heart rate 150's after eating dinner and standing up. Hubby had recent SVG so I was freaked out by it a bit, hence the ER. It was found that I had low electrolytes, not surprising, they gave me an IV and meds and sent me home after a few tests. A few weeks later, experienced chest pain and palpitations, went to the ER again, low potassium again. Fixed up, not going, so they sent me home.
August 2023 - 2-3 ER visits due to similar issues. Some light headedness diagnosed as vertigo, nothing they could do, sent me home to do exercises for fluid on the ear. More of the same episodes, more getting sent home each time.
Vertigo resolved, but still have some light headed ness and weird pulsing pressure in the base of my head when I stand up sometimes. I had a monitor for 3 days on my heart + echo. Heart is structurally sound, but 3% of my beats (lower ventricle) are beating early. They are not concerned. I am. Electrolytes on blood work are consistently barely above bottom of "normal" range. (ie 15 on a range of 15-30 kind of readings). Alkaline phosphatase is consistently low, no one cares or can tell me why. I drink electrolyte concentrated supplements, still barely keeps me maintained. Edema in my feet off and on, some pitting in the past but not currently. Now have "bubbles" (best way to describe) of fluid around my ankles that popped up over possible couple of weeks or days (unsure only know when they weren't there and when I noticed them) and won't go away. NP tried to tell me it's fat. It's not. Dr seemed to barely even look or care. Ive had thinning hair for 3 years after my daughter's birth, never got better like it should have postpartum. Dry skin. Bruise easily. Heal slowly. Fatigue. Random extreme sleepiness. Internal tremors (it feels like when you shiver due to cold on your entire body, but I'm not cold and it's just my torso, I can feel them if I press on my chest or stomach). Chest tremors/pain. Joint pain. Muscle pain. Very stiff after waking up. Hip pain. Lower back pain (probably from pelvic floor issues and diastasis recti).
I now have a goiter showing a small cyst and nodule on my thyroid per ultrasound that showed up recently. I was taking propranolol but since seeing thyroid issues with it, have stopped (it was only an as needed for tremors/palps) and I still take buspirone. I recently removed my nexplanon to see if that would help. I have lost about 5 lbs most likely water weight as I retain a lot of fluid.
Buspirone was due to them diagnosing me with anxiety disorder. I previously had mild anxiety but nothing that hindered me at all daily. Now they say my episodes were panic attacks. The buspirone does help some symptoms, but I wonder if the anxiety is a symptom rather than the cause???
I also have poor circulation causing pain/needles in a bad position often. Carpal tunnel for years.
I know it's a lot, but I wanted to be thorough. Please tell me someone else has experienced this? I've read the thyroid can affect electrolytes and pretty much all the body. I thought it was my nervous system as the buspirone helped, but I am still not myself after months of taking it. I tried Lexapro once. It cause an episode that was severe and started the issues with edema in the first place in August/September which is when we then tried buspirone. I learned my lesson and took partial doses for a few days to slowly introduce it.
If you read all that thank you! Please let me know if you have suggestions or experiences.
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Mama-ash0619
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Hi Mama-ash, I am new here so not able to give any advice but if this is your first post the oracles in this community will ask you to post your thyroid blood test results including reference ranges so if you have them it may be worth adding them to your post 🙂
Absolutely! We do need to see blood test results to know what's going on. Have you been tested for thyroid: TSH, FT4, FT3, TPO antibodies, Tg antibodies, vit D, vit B12, folate, ferritin.
A lot of your symptoms do sound like posssible hypo symptoms. Anxiety is a hypo symptom, not a disease! So is water retention and hair loss. But, hair loss could be due to low ferritin. And dizziness due to low B12. Joint pain due to low vit D... Nutritional deficiencies cause hypo-like symptoms, so we need blood tests to show us what is what.
If you have a goitre then your thyroid obviously isn't happy, but a blood test will show us to what extent. Could be you have Hashi's - autoimmune thyroiditis - and testing antibodies will give us a clue about that.
Unfortunately, doctors don't always do all the right tests so you may have to get them done privately. But, show us what you've got: results AND ranges, please.
Could be thyroid. Low ALP shows up in hypothyroidism. Could potentially be Cushings—the low potassium is an indicator for that. But honestly, could be lots of things.
I think lots of blood tests are needed. Sorry to hear that your doctor seems to be convinced it’s all in your head. Sadly not unusual. I hate to say it but if you were male, you’d probably already have had a lot more investigation.
If you do have any blood test results to share, we’d be happy to have a look (just attach them as photos - one per reply to this thread (make sure to hide any personal identifiers if you do)).
Well, your antibodies are negative, but that isn't proof positive that you don't have Hashi's.
Among the other results only two are of any use for diagnosing hypo: TSH and FT4. FT4 is a bit low, but TSH isn't very high. What time of day was the blood draw for this test?
Yes, well, 'they' know nothing! But it does depend what you had for breakfast. Coffee would have lowered your TSH, so best to avoid that. Was the blood draw before 9am?
I did have coffee but it was decaf with no sugar. And no, it was not before 9am but i do sleep in, if this is based off of how long you e been awake. So it was within a couple hrs of waking up.
No, it has nothing to do with how long you've been awake. TSH has a circadian rhythm whether you're asleep or not. And it is highest at midnight, then slowly drops until 9 am, when it drops sharply until midday. So, it's best to have the blood draw before 9 am to get the highest TSH - because that really all doctors look at. So, it looks like your TSH could be higher if tested earlier and fasting.
hmm so according that not autoimmune (below range antibodies) but according ultrasound maybe 🤔 I’m with the message above suggesting pituitary conditions.
FT3 low in range, that makes me tired achey and anxious. Also gives me reflux.
My wobbly/vertigo is better since supplementing B12, my results look in range but I’m convinced I’m not making use of what’s available to me.
I don’t know about testosterone but that looks low to me.
Did you get any iron results? Ferritin? sorry if I missed them.
Hope you get the help you need, poor love, sending hugs 🌱
no, they did not test iron, but I will be requesting this plus vitamin D and anything that may show b vitamin levels if possible. I'm also now concerned concerned with liver after reviewing it next to last year and see a couple things elevated that they did NOT mention when talking to me about the results. And yes they did say low T. I need to look look further into that honestly, but life got in the way plus brain fog caused me causes me to forget things ALOT.
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