| Tachycardia and Hashimoto's
Hello all. It's been a little while since I've posted on here. I found out last May that I had a TSH of 6.87 (no FT4 at this time) and started on levo 25mcg daily. Then in June found out that I had Hashi's with an anti tpo of 570 and antithyroglobulin of 44. Referred to an endo in July who switched me to synthroid 25mcg daily except to take 50mcg on weekends. Was sent by my gp to the endo because of my unusual presentation. In June when I saw my GP, my tsh was down to 3.7 and My FT4 was 1.0 (range 0.8-1.5). The majority of my complaints were heart palpitations nearly all day everyday, anxiety with occasional panic attacks. I am a normal weight and sensitive to both hot and cold temps. Anyway, my resting heart rate has been in the upper 80's to 90's and my GP wanted the endo's opinion on treatment plan because thyroid medication is known to increase heart rate and mine was already problematic. The endo really didn't address this at all, saying that he wanted my tsh between 1 and 2 and then he thought I would "feel all better". Also adding that when my tsh got down below 2 that my heart problems might get worse and if they did, I should see a cardiologist. That's when he gave me the synthoid and off I went.
Well, I would be lying if I said that I don't feel a little better in some ways. I have occasional days where I feel well enough to clean the house or get outside and enjoy a walk. I also used to have daily dizziness that drove me insane. Now I only have this some days and when I do have it, it is usually for a few hours, then lets up. I have developed headaches since July and I never had those before. But the most awful thing is that last Wednesday I had an appt with my GP and it happened to be on one of those days where I felt very hyperthyroid. I had visible hand tremors and my heart rate was very irregular in the 120's when he listened to my heart. This was kind of a blessing because at least he was able to visualize the process when it was happening. He gave me an rx for metoprolol but also took blood not only for my thyroid levels, but also for all the other autoimmune diseases. He admitted to me that he was confused. I've never even been that bad hypothyroid according to blood work but extremely symptomatic. I am not one to hardly ever go to the doctor and complain about anything and he knows that,so he's luckily taking me seriously. Well yesterday I was at work and having a good day. I was having one of my usual slightly dizzy days, but nothing more than usual. I was sitting down at my desk when suddenly within just a few seconds time frame my vision went very swirly and I had an extreme feeling of dizziness and felt like I was going to fall out of the chair. I am a nurse and had a pulse oximeter sitting right at my desk and I was able to put it on my finger and saw that my heart rate was in the 130s and quickly climbing up to 150. This was just BAM out of nowhere. My coworker took me over to the ER. Long story short, all my bloodwork came out fine, they even did a ct of my head and it looked fine. However, I did notice that while my TSH was 3.87 and My FT4 was 0.9 and this is withing the normal range, I also just had a results of TSH of 2.5 and FT4 of 1.0 from my GP just 8 days before this happened. I know it's not much, but regardless of the fact that my meds have been slightly increased, my FT4 decreased a little.
Anyways, I just started the metoprolol yesterday while in the ER. I was supposed to start it last week but hesitated until I got the lupus panel and other autoimmune panels back because I want to know for sure what's going on before I start taking new meds. I am very stubborn in that area,I know. BTW, the autoimmune panel came back negative on everything. That's great, but I am so frustrated about this heart thing. They are not changing my thyroid medication for now, just told me to take the dang metoprolol along with a daily baby aspirin. I guess I'm just venting, but also wondering if anyone else has had these types of problems, especially when they aren't even that severely hypothyroid??? According to medical books, hypothyroid should have bradycardia issues not these bouts of tachycardia. My EKG did show some slight depression of the ST segment in 2 different leads, btw. But I guess it wasn't anything too concerning.
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