Can thyroid medicine cause ectopic (skipped) heart beats?
Posted , 6 users are following.
Can thyroid medicine cause ectopic (skipped) heart beats?
I started Levothyroxine .5 mg last Fall for underactive thyroid. I noticed shortly after taking it that I had heart flutters. I looked at the symptom packet just out of curiosity and it said that it could be a side effect.
Well, fast forward 9 months, I've still been having them but sometimes it's more of a skipped beat. I have a rush of dizziness with them and sometimes some pain.
In the last 6 months I've had 5 EKGs (including one today). An echocardiogram and wore a 24 hour holter monitor that all came out normal.
Today I had a brief moment of numbness in left arm and dizziness so I went to urgent care where they did the EKG. Doc said it was prob a skipped heart beat.
Does anyone else have this or what's going on? Do you think if I took the brand name Synthroid or whatever it's called that these may stop?
Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.
1 like, 10 replies
tony_92886 Hayhue
Posted
Well I am on 150 mg off the same and it's not happened two me
ceola22 Hayhue
Posted
Sounds like mild heart palpitations to me due to thyroidism. Were you experiencing this prior to taking the meds? If it's heart palpitations it pretty comes with the thyroid decease. I've been hyper for many years and while on methimazole 15mg I had them quite often. I'm very shocked that the doctor didn't tell inform you of that. Do you see a Endocronologist for your thyroidism or a primary care doctor? I suggest a encronologists.
Hayhue ceola22
Posted
Thank you! No it didn't happen before I started the medicine. I see my PCP. She just told me it can cause some anxiety but they never mentioned any palps or etc..
ceola22 Hayhue
Posted
Oh I see. If I were you I'd make an appointment to see a cardiologist. Skipped heartbeats isn't anything to play around with. Also You might want to get new blood work to make sure you're taking the correct dosage of Levo .5mg seems very low to treat an under active thyroid. Make sure that your doctor is prescribing the correct dosage. If not successful, you might need to find another doctor preferably a good Endocronologist. Good luck to you!
Hayhue ceola22
Posted
Yeah I'm going into my PCP in about an hour to see if she will refer me to one. Usually ectopic heartbeats aren't anything to worry about but I'm just tired of it.
Also, I've had so much blood work done over the last year that I'd hope they'd tell me if something was different but you never know!
Thank you.
ceola22 Hayhue
Posted
tony_92886 Hayhue
Posted
Tutu123 Hayhue
Posted
They overdosed me on thyroid meds which caused heart flutter/palpitations and even now im on a low dose it still hasn't gone away. Specialist keeps saying it might not be thyroid related but I find it a strange coincidence that it started when they overdosed me! I take beta blockers which give me a bit of relief from it at night but the effects I find are short lived
mary59914 Hayhue
Posted
I was put on levo last february and they tried increasing dosage to relieve hypo symptoms but the meds caused insomnia, anxiety and heart palpitations. I don't know if i had skipping hb's but my heart raced for seemingly no reason. I now have reduced dosage and heart palpitations have gone.
Your endocrinologist may be like mine and not hear you well. I managed to find a good dr who changed treatment and I'm feeling much better.
Hayhue mary59914
Posted
Yeah when mine skips it takes my breath away for a second and I get a whoosh of dizziness. They're scary. I have a normally fast heart rate already. Why? I don't know. Maybe from anxiety all of the time? I have other issues going on w me as well at the moment (back problems) but they don't seem to be related to this.
I don't even see an endocrinologist so maybe that's something I should look into.
Yeah I've had chest pain before in the past before taking levo but my heart flutters never started until this medicine.