Hi
I am hoping for understanding of symptoms which occur about 04.30 most mornings.
I awake with a frontal headache and a pounding heart. This has been getting more frequent over almost 3 years.
All blood tests have been normal. It’s been put down to health anxiety but I feel it’s a physical condition.
I am a 63 year old female with osteoporosis and a BMI of about 20. Recently I crept into the pre diabetic category.
Thank you for reading.
Suggest you get FULL thyroid and vitamin testing done
Are you in U.K.
Acid reflux common hypothyroid symptom
Low vitamin levels common with thyroid
Low vitamin levels also more common as we get older
Restless legs often low iron/ferritin and/or low magnesium
Are you currently taking any vitamin supplements
Stop any supplements that contain biotin a week before any blood tests as biotin can falsely affect results
Presumably you are not on any replacement thyroid hormones?
Any other medications or HRT?
For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4 and FT3 tested
Also both TPO and TG thyroid antibodies tested at least once to see if your hypothyroidism is autoimmune
Very important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 at least once year minimum
About 90% of primary hypothyroidism is autoimmune thyroid disease, usually diagnosed by high TPO and/or high TG thyroid antibodies
Autoimmune thyroid disease with goitre is Hashimoto’s
Autoimmune thyroid disease without goitre is Ord’s thyroiditis.
Both are autoimmune and generally called Hashimoto’s.
Significant minority of Hashimoto’s patients only have high TG antibodies (thyroglobulin)
Low vitamin levels are extremely common when hypothyroid, especially with autoimmune thyroid disease
20% of autoimmune thyroid patients never have high thyroid antibodies and ultrasound scan of thyroid can get diagnosis
In U.K. medics hardly ever refer to autoimmune thyroid disease as Hashimoto’s (or Ord’s thyroiditis)
Recommended that all thyroid blood tests early morning, ideally just before 9am, only drink water between waking
This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip)
Private tests are available as NHS currently rarely tests Ft3 or all relevant vitamins
Testing options and includes money off codes for private testing
Medichecks Thyroid plus BOTH TPO and TG antibodies and vitamins
medichecks.com/products/adv...
Blue Horizon Thyroid Premium Gold includes BOTH TPO and TG antibodies, cortisol and vitamins
bluehorizonbloodtests.co.uk...
Only do private testing early Monday or Tuesday morning.
Link about thyroid blood tests
thyroiduk.org/testing/thyro...
Link about Hashimoto’s
thyroiduk.org/hypothyroid-b...
Symptoms of hypothyroidism
thyroiduk.org/signs-and-sym...
Tips on how to do DIY finger prick test
support.medichecks.com/hc/e...
Medichecks and BH also offer private blood draw at clinic near you, or private nurse to your own home…..for an extra fee
That is so helpful.
I am a bit afraid of talking to my GP again although I do rate him. I might go down the private testing route .
All blood tests have been normal. It’s been put down to health anxiety but I feel it’s a physical condition.
Have you got any results you can add now?
You are legally entitled to printed copies of your blood test results and ranges.
The best way to get access to current and historic blood test results is to register for online access to your medical record and blood test results
UK GP practices are supposed to offer everyone online access for blood test results. Ring and ask if this is available and apply to do so if possible, if it is you may need "enhanced access" to see blood results.
Link re access
patients-association.org.uk...
healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...
In reality some GP surgeries still do not have blood test results online yet
Alternatively ring receptionist and request printed copies of results. Allow couple of days and then go and pick up.
When you have existing or new results write new post with results and ranges
Members can advise on next steps
I have had other more specific for liver, cholesterol, HbA1C , but don’t see thyroid mentioned.
Correct, no thyroid in those results. You will need tests as Slowdragon bolded in the above response.
are you vegetarian or vegan?
with restless legs GP should do full iron panel test
Stop any supplements that contain iron 5-7 days before testing iron
Test early morning, only water to drink between waking and test. Avoid high iron rich dinner night before test
Medichecks iron panel test
In UK.
No other meds.
I take Calcium and vitamin D plus B vitamins and Magnesium.
I rarely have RLS now but I will start taking iron again.
I am vegetarian.
You always need to test iron and ferritin before starting any iron supplements
I ended up in A&E with same symptoms last week, violent headache, joint pains, palpitations and feeling very poorly and scared.
They could only find low phosphates and referred me to my gp, he’s prescribed seven days of supplements with bloods 10 days later.
My thyroxine has also been reduced to 125 mg as from December as they said I was over medicated at 150 mg.
The debate I’m having now is could this be because of the reduction in thyroxine or is it something else!
I am also type 2 diabetic but controlled by diet HA1C at last test 36. Diagnosed at point 54.
I am 65 yrs old.
I will be interested to find what’s causing it, research suggests parathyroid . A conversation to have with the doctor no doubt.
Previous posts show low FT3. Did you ever address that? Headaches, joint pain and palpitations were my frequent symptoms while undiagnosed and undermedicated.
The doctor said my heart was racing and my Tsh was way too low at that time it was 0.035, I had lost weight due to dietary changes over 2 stone so she said I must reduce the thyroxine by 25 mg a day, I did it slowly and then 8 weeks later re did tests and results were
Serum TSH level 0.16 mIU/L [0.3 - 5.5]; Below low reference limit
Serum free T4 level 22.0 pmol/L [12.0 - 22.0]
Serum free triiodothyronine level 3.5 pmol/L [3.1 - 6.8]
This was January, started with palpitations begging off Feb. Hospital tested Tsh only and said it was 1.2 and satisfactory.
It’s a mine field.
It’s highly likely it’s your low Free T3 causing your symptoms. In any case, you should be working on increasing FT3, and as you are a poor converter, your Levo adjustments won’t do that.
Low phosphate can make you feel like you are dying. Have you just had IV iron by any chance?
I’m going to ask to be referred to an Endocrinologist, the only problem is where to specify to be sent to, Chesterfield or Sheffield.
Start a new post if you need input from the forum, no one will see this buried here at the bottom.
Foxylady1066
Hi! I did see your other post, which - as Admins do on this forum - they redirect answers to Direct Message and lock the thread.
But I just saw a response to someone else looking for an endo, and was reminded of this when UK folks give up on the NHS and go private. Thought I’d share as a resource in case you felt at a dead end :
From the other post:
If you have tried all that then a private Endo may well help but be sure to pick the right one.
email info@thyroiduk.org for a list of Endo's.
Pick one or 2 and start a new post asking for feedback by private message only on those Endo's. Explain a little why you want to see one. The post will be locked.
I wouldn't recommend either, my experience is they are both as bad as each other,diabetic and thyroid
Hello, I have a similar problem in that I usually wake between 3 &4.30 am. I don’t have a headache but I can feel my heart racing & sometimes I’m sweating. I’ve spent years trying to work out why. I think it’s to do with blood sugar either falling too low (hypoglycaemia) or it’s rising through something called the Dawn Effect. Best google it.
You mentioned that you recently had a pre diabetic blood test? I think it’s blood sugar & insulin resistance that is causing your problem. Being hypo increases the likelihood of developing diabetes.
You could try taking a Berberine supplement that I’ve found very effective before. The difficulty is that it shouldn’t be taken continuously so it might be better to see your doctor to discuss your headache & blood sugar. By the way, I’ve been following a low carb diet since November & it’s made my blood test results worse!
Thanks so much.
I will look at Berberine.
I bought a continuous glucose monitor and it’s not showing anything definitive about my nighttime issues.
I find lying flat on my stomach sometimes helps to relieve the symptoms and I fall asleep again.
Kind regards
A
I’ve been thinking about a continuous glucose monitor
. Did you get a Freestyle Libre? There are such mixed reviews I keep wavering! Did you find it easy to use? Did it give you some useful information?
Yes easy to use.
I thought £50 for two weeks of information would be worth it to see how I can adapt my eating to reduce my diabetes risk and to see if it throws any light on these nighttime issues.
If you do buy one and you sleep mostly on one side I would recommend putting it on the other arm.
Regards
A
Can I ask where you bought it. There seem to be reviews saying that sensors didn’t work & returns were not possible online. It doesn’t seem available at Boots anymore. All a bit peculiar. I definitely would like to try one.
I hope you find a solution to your headaches. It’s not dehydration is it?
Online on Pharmacy Prime. The first one stopped working after the first night which is why I mentioned think about which arm to put it on. I deleted then reinstalled the app and it worked again. I rang the manufacturer and although not easy of course to get through to customer service they said they would send a free second sensor.
Pretty sure it’s not dehydration no.
I wonder if this could be high histamine. It can occur in the middle of the night and can cause heart palpitations.
Can you tell me anymore? I only know histamine as hay fever issues.
Thank you.
If you google histamine symptoms at night and heart palpitations lots of information comes up.
I think it would be wise to speak to your GP about this, headaches that come on in the night can be a sign of something nasty.
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Hypothyroidism Symptoms 
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