Methimazole/headaches/high blood pressure

Posted , 4 users are following.

hi! i was wondering if anyone had the side effect of getting headaches 2mo after starting methimazole? long story short, i'm a 32yr old 6mo post-partum hyperthyroid patient that was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and high blood pressure after the baby was born. my endo put me on 20mg methimazole bc i was so hyper, then about a week ago lowered my dosage to 10mg a day bc i was going hypo. after my symptoms were controlled, my bp returned to normal and i no longer had to take bp medicine. since lowering my dosage my bp had gone back up, back on the bp medicine, and im getting horrible headaches i never had before. anyone have any advice? thank you!

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4 Replies

  • Posted

    I was on 10 mg and my doc cut my dose in half. Two weeks later I had symptoms so I learned that it is better not to do steep adjustment drops in meds. My new Endo never dropped me more than 2.5 mg at a time. Secondly, you need to know if you have an autoimmune reason for your hyperthyroidism like Graves or Hashimoto's or a combination of both. If you have Hashimoto's at all, people on this Board did better controlling it with Regular L-Carnitine rather than prescription meds. Hyperthyroid patients lose vitamins and minerals and amino acids when they have been running hyper. For me it was important to get tested and add supplements when I was found to be deficient. I was tested for Free and total Carnitine and Vitamin D and found to be deficient and was low in Magnesium so added that one as well.

    • Posted

      thank you! I did a blood test for hashimoto and it came back negative. the only test I haven't done yet is the uptake scan to see if it's a toxic nodule or not. i've even done an FNA, which came back negative thank god, rule out thyca. My endo wants to wait until the baby is 1 before exposing me to radiation, so in the mean time she's controlling it with methimazole. I just am sort of confused as to why my bp shot back up out of nowhere and why i'm getting these headaches when this was gone before changing my dosage. I have an appt with her next month, just was curious to see if anyone else had experienced something similar

  • Posted

    Headaches are a common symptom of hyperthyroidism. I still get them especially if I eat too many carbs or sugar. Try to watch out for those. Your headaches also could be because of the lower dosage. For the high blood pressure try limiting stress and watch your diet. Maybe search up on the Internet healthy foods to lower your pressure. I know limiting stress sounds like a struggle even though this disease is stressful. I can give tips if you like.

    I hope this helps even a little. I've had to do a lot of research to help minimize my symptoms. It's always a struggle. Congrats on the baby. What a blessing

    • Posted

      yes, i am very open to hearing any tips or suggestions. My endo just reached out to me today and said I was trending towards hypo and headaches aren't a common side effect of being hypo. As for my high blood pressure she said to work with my pcp, which is kind of no help. I insisted she run a full CBC just to confirm everything is ok. She reluctantly obliged, so I guess we'll see. I just don't understand because my bp had been so good for awhile, then out of the blue shot back up. i'm slightly over weight post-baby, about 5-10lbs, but other than that eat pretty healthy. I admittedly don't exercise regularly though. i'm working on it lol

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