Heart flutters with hypothyroidism
Posted , 11 users are following.
The first time I ever experienced a "heart flutter" was after my low thyroid had been diagnosed and I started levothyroxine. I asked my doctor about them and she said that if my levels are off that it can happen.
Ive been having intermittent chest pain for the last year to where I've had a 24 hour holter monitor, an echocardiogram, a lot of EKGs, bloodwork, and a nuclear stress test. It doesn't come with physical work or anything like that and feels mostly sharp.
Anyway, I've been messing up my medicine times and taking it with food because I absolutely cannot take it in the morning anymore on an empty stomach. These flutter feelings started Thursday and have been happening multiple times throughout the day. It's to the point where I'm not sure if they're happening or if I'm imagining them.
Could messing up the medicine time be a reason for this heart flutter feeling? Or can low thyroid cause this in general even if we take medicine to keep levels steady? I know I've read HYPER can but I've not seen anything about hypo. I've had so many heart tests this last year I'm just confused as to what could be going on.
Thanks!
1 like, 26 replies
PRthyroid Hayhue
Posted
It could be. All meds should be taken around the same time everyday, the best you can. Low thyroid can cause heart discomfort as well due to low blood pressure or other things. I'm currently dealing with werid chest discomfort myself, but it's not a fluttering feeling. It's more of a constant tugging feeling.
Also not sure if the food is effecting the thyroid meds as well. You're supose to take it on an empty stomach to make sure everything gets absorbed correctly. So try your best to do that and see if it helps after about a few days straight.
Hayhue PRthyroid
Posted
Yeah when I took it early in the morning around 4-5 AM on an empty stomach, it worked the best. But it also rips my stomach to shreds and causes me to run to the bathroom and feel sick half the day. So I started taking it with a bowl of Cheerios (minus the milk) and it didn't seem as if it was working as well but it didn't hurt my stomach anymore either. My anxiety started acting up as it wasn't absorbing as much. That's what I think anyway. How the heck do we win with this? Lol
Have you pulled any muscles recently? Even if you press on some in your shoulder/back, you can feel it pulling at your front. That all seems to be connected. A chiropractor told me that once.
PRthyroid Hayhue
Posted
Hmm, not sure why you're getting an upset stomach with it. It's not suppose to give you stomach problems. Are you drinking a full glass of water too, when you take it on an empty stomach? If that's not the problem, maybe your stomach is senstitive to the flllers in the pill itself. Some pills have gluten and lactose in it, and that could cause problems. You might want to try switching to another set of Levo or even NDT pills. I'm currently on WP thyroid meds, which are NDT pills and it gives me no problems at all with stomch issues. It has barely any fillers in it compared to the others.
I have not pulled any muscles, at least to what I'm aware of. My chest discomfort normally comes on when I'm keepng still or laying down to sleep, which would most likely be caused low blood pressure. I measured my blood pressure and pulse and they're both pretty low, so that's probably what it is. My TSH is still in the Hypothryoid range, so upping my meds should help fix that problem.
Hayhue PRthyroid
Posted
I have a lot of acid reflux issues and a nervous stomach so anytime I'm upset or worried, my stomach gets upset. So who knows.
Id like to mention it to my doc but I'm afraid she'll just brush it off like she does most things. I'll ask her about them then.
Thank you for the advice! I hope your chest starts feeling better!
PRthyroid Hayhue
Posted
Ah, I see. That's most likely the problem. The fillers tho might also be irritating the acid reflux. So hope it gets figured out.
Thanks, hope you feel better too!
danielle2500 Hayhue
Posted
are you feeling better with the stomach and acid reflux, have you found something that helps?
MtViewCatherine Hayhue
Posted
Hello Hay, if you didn't have heart palpitations prior to taking the meds and only got them once you started the meds, the symptoms are probably caused by the meds. Do check the list of side effects on the literature that comes with your meds or with an online search. Unfortunately, many of the thyroid meds seems to exacerbate symptoms, especially as the dose gets higher.
As for missing doses or skipping... The higher the dose, the more likely you are to have problems if you skip a dose.
The he symptoms for hyper are very similar to hypo symptoms. So it's often difficult to tell what's what. Throw in the side effects from the meds, and that's even more difficult. If you have too high T4,compared tonT3, thus can also cause problems.
Unless your numbers are well over normal ranges, you probably aren't hyper. Many people find the meds work best at the high end of normal or slightly above. So it's unlikely you're hyper.
As for the difficulty you're having taking the meds, the upset stomach and all. I can tell you from my experience that this doesn't improve.
Lastly, I'm not sure why this stuff doesn't show up when they do tests. I went through a bunch of heart testing and they found nothing even though I was having funky fluttering and other irregularities.
Hope that helps.
MtViewCatherine Hayhue
Posted
kathleen14567 Hayhue
Posted
Hi it's been several months almost a year since you posted that but I've been going through medication changes this year and I'm currently on the halter monitor going through lots of heart flutters causing me anxiety and fear and I'm wondering if you ever got your situation under control I do believe it is my thyroid medicine but nobody will confirm that because my last TSH was 1.5 for although it had been very hyper when I was on armor and I was switched to Synthroid it all started while I was on armor 90 and so I'm just very concerned and don't want heart damage of course causing me lots of anxiety does anybody have experience with what was done for your work up and how your heart flutters finally went away . I do have work stress but it seems to be the same as usual work stress maybe a little more but this all coincided with the armor and then I will switch back to Synthroid a lower dose I'm on now on 137 of Synthroid
Any responses are welcome and thank you so much
Hayhue kathleen14567
Posted
I'm actually seeing a heart doctor tomorrow because the ectopic beats have increased. So it's actually worsened for me. I'm not sure if the synthroid has anything to do with it but it seemed to start around the same time. I don't even take the pill regularly anymore because all it does is cause me stomach upset. I'm going to ask the heart doctor about it. I'll let you know what she says.
dmdeblois Hayhue
Posted
For many years I was taking Rhodiola Rosea to rebuild my brain after Lyme disease spent a few years tearing it down. I've been rebuilt for quite a while and so I quit taking it a couple of months ago. Then came the wild heart issues ..... crazy palpitations and shortness of breath. Add to that the falling out of hair. So, I spent some time online trying to figure out the connection between heart and thryroid last week.
What I found was that the Rhodiola effected not just my brain but also my thyroid in a most positive manner. I've been back on it for about a week and the palpitations and shortness of breath have all but disappeared.
So, you might want to look in your arsenal at any changes from longstanding regulars that you've made in your diet or supplements. You might even check into what herbs may work for you. Please buy only quality if you go that way. No point in expecting good out of a mediocre base.
lashell dmdeblois
Posted
Hi, I've been having problems with heart flutters / palpitations as well. I'm Hypo. I started taking Synthroid for it about 6 months ago. At first it took me quite awhile (aprox. 2 months) to build up to even taking just (1) 25mcg. tablet of the Synthroid. I was experiencing slight heart flutters and ringing in my ears. After finally getting to where I was able to take the (1) 25mcg. tablet everything was ok for aprox. 3 to 4 months. I felt great, all my symptoms had receded. Then I started to get the heart flutters again, so I went to see my endo. and she suggested that I increase to 50mcg. which was way to much as I began feeling a lot of anxiety, restlessness, sleeplessness, ringing in my ears, and heart palpitations (again). She had me go down to 1 1/2 tablets (aprox. 37mcg.) the symptoms didn't get any better, she had me go back to taking the original (1) 25mcg. tablet. After a month of going back to this dose my symptoms got somewhat better but still existed. I'm at a loss as what to do. I went down to 12.5mcg. with no relief at all. I've now gone down to taking just 6mcg like I had stated off with back when I was first diagnosed. I'm still experiencing ringing in my ears, and the heart flutters, though not as bad as before, the anxiety has also somewhat receded and I'm now able to sleep at night. But I just can't seem to get it right. I did started using the 50mcg tablets (cut down to size), as I've heard that the orange 25mcg tablets have fillers in them, and the white 50mcg tablets do not. I think this has made a slight difference but with all that is going on I can't say 100% that this has made a significant difference. My endo. thinks that since I still need to have an increase in my medication, that I may need to start taking a Beta Blocker in order to help stop the heart flutters so I will be able to handle the increase. I'm torn as I wonder if the heart flutters are caused by the medication, and my hearts response is to warn me of this by causing them, and if it is a good idea to take the Beta Blockers in order to withstand this increase in medication by telling my heart to ignore itself. I often wonder if taking the right vitamins and supplements, eating the right foods, and exercising may be a better way to go ! On the upside, my endo has "finally" told me (after many calls to her), that she is going to put in a referral for me to see a Heart Specialist and have a complete work-up done, along with being set-up with a Halter Monitor for 24-48 hours to see what is going on. I have VA Medical so it's a long slow road to get where you need to be as their not very proactive with your care. At this point I just want to be able to take a medication that doesn't make me feel like I'm all zipped up, my heart is racing, my ears are ringing, and I can't sleep at night. I long for the day when I can just feel normal again, or at least something close to it. If anyone out there has experienced this and or can offer any support, I'd be more than grateful. This whole Thyroid thing has turned out to be quite the roller coaster ride !
Thank you so much.
lashell dmdeblois
Posted
Please forgive me for such a long posting, I had no idea until I clicked on the final "reply" button that I had gone on and on and on !
Chimama lashell
Posted
Hi there,
I read your story and it sounds exactly like what I am going through. Wondering if you ever got any resolution to finding out what was causing your heart palpitations?
I've been on this roller coaster for months!!
Sunshine916 Hayhue
Posted
I know it has been 9 months since the last response. I had a total thyroidectomy recently to help treat my GRAVES disease. I am now on 100 mcg of levothyroxine from 75 mcg. A week into my recovery, I started having heart palpitations quite often almost feel like heart skipping beats and fluttering. I never had heart palpitations before even when I was hyperthyroid so this is all new to me. I complained about the heart palpitations to my endo and she increased my dosage to 100 mcg levo from 75 mcg synthroid. I felt better for two weeks with less palpitations and not as noticeable. after those two weeks, the palpitations returned and now I can my heart flutters when it comes on. Endo said my thyroid levels are normal and that the palpitations are not due to the thyroidectomy or the medications and are going to do urine test to rule out adrenal gland problems. I feel like they are not addressing my concerns. I need a better explanation to why I start having heart palpitations after my surgery and after being on this med.
MtViewCatherine Sunshine916
Posted
Hi Sunshine, Thyroid medication is extremely difficult to regulate. Also, thyroid medication is very different from the thyroxin produced by humans and medication really doesn't work well for a lot of people.
Thyroxin medication has a different delivery than the body's natural method. And thyroxin levels ate interrelated with every aspect of the endocrine system, as well as metabolism.
The bottom line is, yes, thyroid medication an greatly affect heart health. So much so that when my mother was hospitalized for tachycardia, docs refused to allow her to take her thyroid medication even though she's had a thyroidectomy.
The common belief is that the synthetic medications don't cause heart problems and are safer than natural meds. I've found this to be backwards, the natural having fewer side effects.
I would encourage you to read through the many posts here where people talk first hand about the extensive side effects of levothyroxin.
In the end, you know your body, and if you feel the meds induced the palpitations, you're probably right.
Take into consideration also that following thyroidectomy, thyroxin levels take a while to stabilize.