Got an appointment this week with my GP, wants to start me on meds for high blood pressure but sure I’ve read somewhere on here that it interferes with thyroid levels!
Struggling with levothyroxine anyway Result's not stable but do have sensitivity to lots of medications!
Really struggling with other stuff too but My T4 has been over range for a while but waiting for appt with Endo next week!
My question is could anyone suggest a type of blood pressure medication that will work best with levothyroxine!
Thank you guys!
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Blanche1960
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Having too high a level of Free T4 is not a good idea. It has various potential dangers such as an increased risk of developing cancer. It would be better if you were to reduce your Levo dose so that your Free T4 is kept in range, and add in a dose of Free T3.
jimh111 has posted about the relationship between T4 and cancer. You can find his posts and replies here :
There are other ways you could try to reduce your blood pressure apart from taking prescribed drugs. There are some non-prescription supplements you could try. Here are some links on the subject of reducing BP and possible causes of high BP:
One or two of the links above mention folic acid as being beneficial for lowering blood pressure. I wouldn't take folic acid if you paid me. I would prefer to take folate supplements, specifically methylfolate, for reasons given in these two links :
Constipation can raise blood pressure. "Natural" remedies that can help are fibre supplements such as flax seeds, psyllium seed husk, and inulin which must be taken with plenty of water so that people don't get clogged up even more. Other things that might help are marshmallow root and slippery elm (which also must be taken with plenty of water). It's probably best to take fibre supplements and thyroid hormones a couple of hours apart.
I take potassium and magnesium to help keep my blood pressure at a healthy level. Specifically I take magnesium citrate and potassium bicarbonate.
Magnesium supplements should be avoided by people with dysfunctional kidneys. And anyone trying potassium supplements should start with a very low dose and raise slowly.
I have tried a very short trial of adding T3 to Levothyroxine plus had Armour thyroid for 12 months couple yrs back now… long complicated story but been back on just T4 11 months and had quite few changes in dose as not stable and symptomatic! Stick to sane brand Levo and protocol for bloods etc.
My results are always all over the place so Constantly get dose changed every 3 months I have a nhs endo who doses to TSH levels like many do I gather from this site!
3 months ago my T4 was 24( 22 range) TSH just under under range
bloods on 3rd Feb are T4 27 (22 range) - TSH just back in range! Got appt to discuss this on 24th Feb
Think the T3 was 4.2 (3.8 - 6) Know this is low in range!
Endo said before my T3 didn’t raise on armour or adding T3 but shuts me down when I start to ask ins and outs… scares me as mentioned in previous posts… not seen the hospital results from that far back but I try and always ask for results now.
The magnesuim thing was interesting…. I’ve always took magnesium as have ME/CFS/FIBRO but my kidney function has not been brilliant since 2015 after two kidney stone ops…. Been told I have one kidney bigger than the other but not a problem and stage 3 CKD which is not too bad but often wonder if this affects me tolerating thyroid meds !
Lots of symptoms but main one is feeling bit lightheaded… worse when stood up, longer I stand feel strange/ hot/headache/BP and pulse go reality high… hence the GP wanting to start Bp meds!
I have no thyroid due to cancer in 2017
Thank you so much will have a read through the links!😊
The problem with magnesium and kidneys is that the body disposes of excess magnesium via the kidneys. If someone has non-functioning kidneys and supplements magnesium then their magnesium levels can build up. But obviously your kidneys are still functioning at CKD Stage 3.
If you ever wonder whether you are low or high in something you are supplementing with it is worth the effort to find out what the symptoms are of deficiency and toxicity :
There are several things people can supplement with that are electrolytes, and that includes magnesium. High or low levels of electrolytes can make people feel very ill. This is worth keeping a link to :
My results are always all over the place so Constantly get dose changed every 3 months I have a nhs endo who doses to TSH levels like many do I gather from this site!
Being dosed according to TSH is a recipe for failure for many people with thyroid disease. But doctors do it because its cheap and they want to save money all the time - they stopped caring about patients with chronic disease years ago in the UK in my opinion. I don't know about other countries in that respect.
A lot of people on this forum either go private and hope to find an endocrinologist with a brain and some compassion, or they learn what they can and buy thyroid hormones online and treat themselves. Another possibility is getting a higher dose than you need prescribed by your doctor and cutting your tablets to create the dose you decide you need.
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I'm not an expert on Hashi's but my understanding is that the immune system goes through phases of attacking the thyroid. When that happens cells in the thyroid get damaged and die. The thyroid hormones contained in those dead thyroid cells are released into the body. As a result T4 rises and TSH drops while the attack carries on. I don't think T3 is directly affected by these immune system attacks, but I'm not sure about that.
The damage to the thyroid is permanent. Over time the thyroid gets smaller and smaller and is less able to produce thyroid hormones, and the patient becomes more and more hypothyroid with each immune system attack.
The biggest problem with having Hashi's is doing what you can to reduce the immune system attacks. Since there is no treatment that achieves this, the patient has to do what they can to get everything else in the body as healthy as possible.
Things that have helped some patients (nothing works for everyone) :
1) Go 100% gluten-free. No cheating at all.
2) Give up all milk products.
2a) If you want to experiment with giving up gluten and dairy, give up one at a time, leaving two or three months between giving up each one. If you give up both at the same time, and get a benefit from giving up gluten but not dairy you given up something you didn't need to, and unnecessarily giving up food items restricts your diet for no reason.
3) Optimise ferritin (iron stores), vitamin B12, folate, vitamin D. Also getting an iron panel done is helpful rather than just testing ferritin.
4) Selenium. I don't know how often people get this tested before treating. I think it might be an expensive test, and I've never had one done myself.
It mentions on that link about toxicity that the upper tolerable levels is 400 micrograms per day. Personally, I could never tolerate more than 100 micrograms per day, and from comments I've read on the forum I'm not alone in that.
5) There are other nutrients that some people test and optimise but the ones I mentioned in number (3) above are the most important ones.
6) Optimise gut health.
7) Test and treat low or high cortisol. This can be tested in blood, saliva and urine, but they aren't all testing the same thing. We usually suggest testing saliva cortisol because it can be done four times a day and give an idea of cortisol levels throughout the day. Doctors test blood if they test cortisol at all, but that is just a single snapshot, usually done at 9am. It isn't as helpful as saliva cortisol (in my opinion, and I'm not a doctor). Doctors would disagree with me.
8) Exercise - might be helpful - you'll have to try it and see. But be aware that exercising requires T3, and if you don't have very much to start with it could backfire on you.
9) The whole point of the things suggested above is to a) Help convert T4 into T3. T3 is the active hormone required by every cell in the body. b) Help to reduce immune system attacks on the thyroid.
I take liothyronine and levo, have suffered from high blood pressure for many years, and take Losartan and Lercanadapeine, have tried others in the past, but these suit me best.
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