My latest rabbit hole has been the fear and worry over palpitations, racing heart, flutters etc.
My worry grows when I read similar questions on this forum, I know so many people have palpitations… and some actually have heart issues, some probably do not , and then there’s others like me - scared with no idea if there’s something to worry about.
Is it just low or high FT3… well how do I really know? Is it my low ferritin? Or also ann actual heart health problem?
Ive posted before about my 9 months of constant palpitations when I started T3, which I only got respite from a couple weeks ago… but it was short lived!
Last few days, as I sit and feel my heart babble like a brook and physically see my shirt thumping from my heart beating so strongly… deep down inside I’m convinced that THIS is what’s going to do me in.
So was talking to a friend and they said - hey! I’m going to order you something, and this morning they brought it over:
1) I’ve used it a few times today - craziest thing ever after I did the first one and saw the “normal” result pop up. I watched my pulse go from 85 to 70 before my eyes. At that moment I recognized and acknowledged the unbelievable stress and worry related to my chronic disease. It’s like a computer program running in the background, eating up resources and energy and fatiguing the whole system. I did many more readings all day and for them ALL to say normal … I can now let my worry go.
2) I searched “Kardia” here and found lots of posts on healthunlocked’s afib forum. It’s well known, well used, and the only complaints are about inconclusive readings, or false negatives, but many people use their “have a Dr analyze your chart” option when they are worried about something. Also, many (all) people on the afib forum actually have heart rhythm problems they are monitoring for. Also, the device algorithm is improving and there are fewer and fewer inconclusive readings.
“Evidence suggests that the KardiaMobile algorithm has a high diagnostic accuracy per electrocardiogram (ECG) recording.”
4) But for me - I have no personal or family history of heart issues. I have been worrying myself all day long with these palpitations, watching my heart rate jump from 75-95 while doing nothing but sitting.
Worried - like - how can palpitations and a racing heart be ok… how do I know if it’s NOT OK?
Conclusion:
I’d never heard of one of these devices before. I bet there are people reading this who have heard of it and some not. I also will always say - obviously just because we have common thyroid problems… and just because that can indeed “cause” palpitations… and that most of the time they are nothing to worry about. OF COURSE that’s not the case for everyone. We all know to see a “real” doctor or go to the emergency room in an emergency.
But I wanted to share because this little device was a direct answer to a prayer for knowledge, answers and peace of mind that my weird heart feelings were NOT afib or other cardiac rhythm problems.
Just sharing - it’s possible some people will reply with positive or negative opinions if they’ve used one.
But I’m writing this for the person out there who might be worried like me, knowing that this little device can confirm with a good level of confidence that there is actually nothing at all to worry about.
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Thanks for posting!! I'm going through the same thing and waiting to get my Kardia on the 20th from the GP. Had bloods done yesterday for a cardio referral.
Went to urgent care Friday and a&e a couple days ago. Not sure on current t3 levels but tsh and T4 are ok. I have above range magnesium though.
When it’s happening to us - YES we worry CONSTANTLY!
I did like the idea in some cases doctors provide this device to their patients, and I’m glad you’re engaged with yours to get one.
I know it’s not perfect - but again, for me, it’s the perfect answer and because I don’t really think anything is wrong… not really. But … in the moment I absolutely imagine I’m a breath away from a heart attack…it’s exhausting to be on high alert.
Monitoring my vitals helps at least, but still imagine the day I hit my sweet spot with my Ts : ) I have to imagine the palpitations will subside! They did for a week or two and not noticing my heartbeat for those times was so refreshing.
Yes, there are a couple things I think it could be that are treatable. But happy I will have a cardio referral to be sure. My own GP has completely ignored me. Things are only moving forward as the urgent care doctor and then nhs 111 forced them to act. I am being taken seriously now though.
It is scary reading how many people have been under treated for so long and then have repercussions. I'm trying really hard to not be another.
Having been to A and E several times in the past with symptoms of fast pulse, palpitations & tremor, I can fully appreciate how reassuring it must be to be able to monitor symptoms yourself.
Although I don’t have a Kardia machine, I’ve found having my own blood pressure monitor invaluable, as ‘white coat syndrome’ is definitely a feature when I visit a GP surgery/ hospital, with elevated readings recorded in these settings.
Having a thyroid condition can affect mind as well as by body, so I’m delighted that this device has put your mind at ease regarding your heart health!
You can’t assume on a few Kardia readings that the symptoms are nothing to be concerned about as it can take a very long time to actually diagnose cardiac problems. I do have Afib along with heart block and it took 4 years of repeated tests and scans to catch it and get a definite diagnosis.
Hopefully you are ok and have nothing to worry about but the Kardia has its limitations and isn’t always 100% accurate.
I’m glad you posted this, and reflected this when I posted - totally agree and important to flag.
I’m looking at it as a step one (ie, better than nothing) foray into monitoring my heart. But I will also be asking my doctor at my next appointment and probably do some preventative things with an “expert” too.
Just one more thing to watch on my journey to thyroid health!
Some time ago, I had simple check-up type ECG at the GP surgery. They sent me straight to hospital where I was connected up to an ECG and I lay there watching the screen.
My heart rate was crazy. Zooming up above 180, then dropping down to around 100 or so. Across the ECG screen you could see the rate rise and fall - sometimes more than once even in that short time that the screen scrolls across.
Eventually they seemed to decide it was because I was on too high a dose of levothyroxine. And dropped me from 112.5 to 100. And wanted to put me on statins and propranolol.
Eventually I got an Apple Watch 8 and have done quite a few ECGs with that - as well as its standard monitoring. The pattern (insofar I can understand it) is very similar to the full multi-lead hospital one.
I have managed to increase my levothyroxine dose to 125. And my maximum heart rate has fallen from sometimes going above 200 to rarely reaching 180. More usually it is below 160. Indeed, I rarely get a heart rate alert now for being above 120 (the alert threshold). Note: This is highly individual and is not a general answer for everyone!
My point is really that my Apple Watch has at least let me see something of what is happening. And that alone is incredibly reassuring. Knowing that there has been some improvement is good. Knowing that any feeling I have a high heart rate can be confirmed, if I wish. And knowing that in at least this direction, my levothyroxine dose increase appears to be helping.
I have thought about the Kardia. Indeed, I got to the point of being unable to decide whether to get an Apple Watch or a Kardia. And ended up deciding that the permanent monitoring of the Watch suited me better.
The biggest difference between me and many others is that I can rarely notice anything.
And I absolutely do not track myself. Simply put, it is good to have something to look back over if either my mind chooses to or there is a reason. E.g. changes over months possibly related to doses.
Am I lucky? I can tell most of this from my Pulsatile tinnitus. I invested in an oximeter cheap and easy to use, which confirms pulse rate (I am aware of anyway) and oxygen levels.
I also know from umpteen ecgs in hospital over many years nothing ever shows up on an ecg! Even in the middle of a full blown angina attack nothing shows.
Not saying this in any way to frighten anyone but there are clearly limitations - dare I say - when actually what’s going on underpinning this Sh1t is hypothyroidism - that no doctor or cardiologist I have come across has any comprehension of! So far!
I won’t go into my story but I have found that palpitations and SVT do no harm if there is no underlying heart disease. It’s extremely unpleasant and anxiety producing. Of course it does show something is clearly going on but what? Again IMO it’s an effect brought about by hypo AND often raises its head at change, or need change of medication dosages.
That is if you have ruled out AFib which must be taken seriously.
It’s my experience that this is purely a functional reaction in its early years. However improperly addressed for decades, it will eventually cause a problem. I think I pretty much exemplify this situation.
It’s vital to get properly medicated to avoid cardio vascular issues due to improper thyroid treatment.
Just to give you a clue I have had my (IMO due to undiagnosed hypo) heart condition for more than 25 years. It’s only very recently cardio vascular disease has been present. Good medication for hypos and sub clinical hypo should hopefully avoid this situation.
Hence my encouragement to tweak meds until you hopefully get your sweet spot.
I plan to ask for a small increase but want to feel a bit more recovered from this episode first. Then will run a medichecks thyroid panel. Maybe in July.
Absolutely. Bodies need time to adjust to changes. Changes can still be in the making many weeks and months down the line, by one change of dose. T3 which I had to stop because of issues I could not cope with, have left my brain clearer, which has stayed with me, so far. Naturally we are all in a big hurry but I have definitely found too many changes in too short a time wreaks havoc. It’s hard to be patient when we so want to get well!
Thanks for your reply… I feel like repeating/bolding every word of it for emphasis!
I am taking a few weeks to increase Levo from 75 to 100. I guess one just can’t go low and slow enough! I’ve been alternating 75 and 100 but am heading to 100. What a bumpy road these titrations are!
Yes I still find it difficult to believe and I am adjusting by adding 3.13 mcgs to my daily 100 mcgs because my T4 was getting too high (at 106.25 mcgs) and T3 continues to languish below range. Another test very soon but if no improvement I will cut it back to 100 mcgs as I am not keen on the high T4 and low T3 combination. It’s not good!
Been really good with the Selenium this time so ultra hoping conversion improved. We will see.
I have thought about these and realised that a picture only gives you a snap shot and would like a watch instead that does the same think continuously. And, for it to check blood pressure too! That would fab!
Since landing up in A&E a fortnight ago with a racing heart, I have fallen down a similar rabbit hole.
Having monitored my heart rate quite closely over the last 10 days I am now practically certain of the following:
Menopause is having a last laugh. You and I are a similar age FiR so not sure if this could be appropriate to you too? But my periods stopped when I was 47, not long after I suddenly lost my husband to cancer. I’ve gleefully thought until recently that menopause was well behind me. Not so. Events of the last 6m have demonstrated that a further fall in oestrogen (despite it being many years since everything apparently “stopped”) is causing health issues. Not least a return of anxiety. And the more you tap into feeling anxious, the faster the old ticker goes.
Heart rate varies a lot more than I realised it did. At rest, I can have a heart rate of between 59-75. Pottering about the house, it goes between 80 and 100. Walking with a purpose outside—somewhere between 95 and 110, depending on pace but also other factors like temperature.
I take on board what someone else has said on here about heart conditions taking a while to diagnose but from everything I’ve observed in myself, I don’t think that’s what’s going on. I’m also not persuaded that it’s because I was over medicated but I have reduced my Armour dose by half a grain out of curosity. My levels were at the top of the ranges and maybe that hasn’t been the best level for me.
I’ve been massively stressed for years. I don’t say that lightly; it’s been a rollercoaster. In addition to the personal events that have caused much of the stress, I have a stupid middle management job that has stolen my life away.
I’m virtually certain I’m having panic attacks as a result of what’s happened to me over the past few years. You read about people reaching “burn out” without really thinking about what that might mean. I think I get it now…
Monitoring heart rate when you suffer with panic attacks is both a blessing and a curse. You become obsessed with looking at it, listening for it—but at the same time can gather incredibly useful information about what’s happening when you’re in the middle of a panic attack.
So now I’m looking at other ways to manage this that don’t have me obsessed about what my heart’s doing. I keep seeing references to working on healing the vagus nerve. I keep seeing prompts to try somatic yoga. Haven’t really done much about either yet but if anyone reading this has, I’d love to hear from you.
By far my most useful find so far has been a book called “DARE” by Barry McDonagh (there’s also an app) whose advise is to run towards the panic attack, not try to run away because that just prolongs the length of it. He reminds you that your personal record of beating panic attacks stands at 100% and that’s the thing to remember when it feels like you’re about to peg it. And panic attacks end faster when you challenge them to ramp up to 1000% percent. Sounds counterintuitive but it seems to work.
My panic attacks start if I get scared about how I’m feeling. At least 3 of them have started immediately after contact from a health professional and I’ve got scared about what they’re going to say (which has turned out to be innocuous every time). The adrenaline rush is horrible and it takes time for it to dissipate afterwards, which is how I got locked into an all day panic attack that Saturday that ultimately landed me in hospital. I’ve had multiple ECGs now that show no changes and that even when my heart rate is fast, it’s plain tachycardia, not Atrial Fibrillation. And my AppleWatch is showing everything’s in a steady state overnight.
I’m conscious I’ve burbled on here without seeming to come to a point. My point, I think, is by all means look into wearable tech but don’t let it make things worse for you. Most of what you’re now noticing was happening before you noticed it, it’s just you’re now hypervigilant. Look at it as gathering data but if it starts to become obsession, it’s going to do more harm than good.
Love all of this, lots of similarities and shared thinking (ie, why I don’t have an Apple Watch, and my moment-in-time tracking is right for me at the moment.)
Also - I don’t have panic attacks but I’ve seen my daughter (17 years old) freak out at the doctor ! Then, when I took her reading last night - her pulse was around 90-100… and as she watched the device, it just kept rising.
I did the reading a few times in a row and told her to try and relax.
It was eye opening to me - how much control she had to bring that heart rate down.
Even though panic attacks are real, and not “all in your head” - I have told her before that the solution is indeed within her power to control. It’s not like thyroid… can’t think myself out of that!
It’s become a source of fascination for me. I hate the implied weakness in the words “panic attack”—it’s probably not the best way to describe it but it’s the phrase we’re stuck with. I don’t have to have a full blown freak out for my heart rate to rise; I only need to have a stray thought that it’s going faster than it “should” and before I know it, it’s going even faster. That stray thought can be what opens the full on panicky can of worms (not always; sometimes my rational mind wins). In any event, it’s ridiculous as I’ve realised I didn’t know what my normal was before all this started.
My last post was already long enough, but I’m going to add a couple more things that raise my heart rate that might give you pause for thought as well. Like eating. In the hour after eating (possibly longer) I see increases in heart rate, presumably linked to digestion. If I get warm, the rate increases a bit, and slows when I cool down. All quite easily explained if you think about it.
So in your original post, you said that your heart rate varies for no apparent reason. Maybe there are other reasons than titrating an increase in thyroid hormone to take into account with those changes?
I particularly like the DARE bit in your explanation. I definitely agree that is incredibly helpful. Instead of being woken by SVT and it continuing for hours, I do this and it can be gone in five minutes. It’s a ‘thing’ but no doubt at all it’s further exacerbated by fear of what’s going on!!
However I am still apprehensive of trying T3 again. I really don’t want to experience all thatand my usual heart symptoms.
No burbling at all. A really clear message of how it is for you. Others will definitely benefit from your post.
As I say I realise I have been doing the DARE thing and I can definitely recommend that!
I like this conversation, it's giving me a lot to think about.
My phone can take my pulse but then when the rhythm doesn't look right to me I get more upset. So, when I take those snap shot pulse readings I cover the screen and wait for the final average rate instead. Monitoring more is not helping me at all.
If I use my smart watch (an old withings dteel hr) to monitor my heart rate over several hours that helps me feel a bit better. It only records averages not the sudden fast rates, I see the overall isn't as bad as I think it is. Helps a bit but I sk trying to avoid doing that to reduce anxiety.
I'm hoping that once I get the cardio referral (no idea how long until an actual appointment) they may do one of their monitors and that will tell them something.
I hoping that when the GP gives me a Kardia monitor on the 20th that that doesn't make my anxiety worse about it all. I'd like it if the results went to my GP but I didn't see them.
Glad it’s helped a little. I’ve just been reading a few of your recent posts to get a feel for what’s been happening with you lately—sending a big hug. For what it’s worth, I think the too high magnesium thing is almost certainly a red herring and the A&E staff member who seized upon it was grasping at straws, just as the junior doctor who saw me seized upon my suppressed TSH and deemed that to be the cause of my fast heart rate. Because magnesium slows heart rate, steadies it. Too much magnesium would probably cause a slow heart rate, not a fast one. But I would imagine you’re feeling like me in trying to balance what the so-called health professionals are saying against what you thought you knew about yourself and your body’s reaction to things you put in it. Greygoose could be on to something in suggesting it was the calcium in your supplement rather than magnesium—or, and I suspect this is even more likely—it had nothing to do with what’s been going on with you and this is just a separate thing, something that was always going to happen or something that’s happened because you had a virus or are going through a stressful time. Someone’s suggested to me that I could have had Covid without realising it. Palpitations are also a menopause thing—did you know that? I didn’t. And I’ve had a resurgence of meno symptoms recently. Like a last hurrah, LOL.
Try not to worry. I’m telling myself that as much as you. It’s not easy to do of course but the thing I’ve learned in the last fortnight is that the more I obsess about my heart rate, the more unsettled and anxious I feel. If I keep busy, take light exercise, focus on doing things that make me smile etc, I feel absolutely fine.
It is listed in my patient knows best test results description that high magnesium can cause palpitations. But, I do know that this might ne unrelated. In the case that reducing magnesium might help it's something I can do while I wait.
I fid know palpitations could be from menopause but I'm not sold on that at the moment. I have previously been omt a perimenopause roller coaster even on hrt but for the last several months I have settled into a stable dose with no symptoms in that area. Hoping this lasts awhile. So, that makes me think my hormones in that respect might be ok.
I have felt very stressed in the last few months and would love for it to be just that as it sounds like something easier to overcome.
But, I can't make any definite connections and feel very impatient having to wait.
and also want to add my opinion/endorsement of what GreyGoose said about magnesium and supplements.
95% of our body’s magnesium is stored in our bones. Only 5% is reachable in our blood for testing. So testing is usually limited in its usefulness.
Also - your supplement has a really reasonable daily dose of magnesium, and it looks like it’s in the form of Magnesium Hydroxide. There are a dozen different kinds of magnesium- but this one (and many others) are laxatives. So if you don’t have stomach upset or diarrhea that’s another indicator you are not supplementing too much.
Again - we are all going through this, and you are not alone while you fight the good fight to figure it out.
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My point, I think, is by all means look into wearable tech but don’t let it make things worse for you. Most of what you’re now noticing was happening before you noticed it, it’s just you’re now hypervigilant. Look at it as gathering data but if it starts to become obsession, it’s going to do more harm than good.
I don’t have to have a full blown freak out for my heart rate to rise; I only need to have a stray thought that it’s going faster than it “should” and before I know it, it’s going even faster. That stray thought can be what opens the full on panicky can of worms (not always; sometimes my rational mind wins). In any event, it’s ridiculous as I’ve realised I didn’t know what my normal was before all this started. 
Do I tell endo about shakes, pounding heart and palpitations?
Answers but worried about being dismissed as a hypochondriac -hypo Germany vs Uk
Is GP over worrying about my TSH level?
Heart palpitations and feeling dizzy
Heart palpitations and weight gain.
