Armour thyroid and heart palpitations
Common Questions and Answers about Armour thyroid and heart palpitations
armour-thyroid
A friend of mine who is also struggling with hashimotos asked me a couple weeks ago if I had noticed a link between heart palpitations and my menstrual. I told her I don't really remember and plus I'm not really tracking them, all I knew is that they were very rare now. My menstrual was due that week so I told her I'd keep an eye out for them. Sure enough 3 days prior to my menstrual I started getting them not bad but they were obvious.
I have been taking 120 of Armour for 4 years and about three years ago developed heart palpitations. They come about once every week/2 weeks and last 12-24 hours. I just had an echocardiogram and my heart looks fine. I have gone through all my meds to locate any that might cause palps. I don't eat sugar, drink or smoke and use just a little caffeine. Could these be caused by thyroid or thyroid meds? Because of the supply problem, I just switched to 150 mcg. of levoxyl and 50 mcg. of cytomel.
I have tried multiple meds such as antidepressants and Gabapentin... always have had multiple side effects. Things like heart palpitation's, anziety and vision troubles. I can take xanax and Soma with no problems. My question is "could it be the Armour Thyroid that I take that causes the trouble?"
I also have a movement disorder labeled as tremors/non-epileptic seizures which also gets worse with antidepressants.
I have been on Armour thyroid for 40 years with no problems and I guess from what I have read, I should consider myself very fortunate. In December I started with the heart palpitations and feeling bad. This has continued more than not until present time. I was decreased from 135 mg to 120 mg to 90 mg and lowered my dosage to 75 mg (I informed my doctor and he said that was fine if I was feeling better with that dose).
In members experience, are the symptoms of too much thyroid heart palpitations and lightheadedness or dizziness? I was thinking that the palpitations were from too much medication and lighheadedness from not enough. What I read on the board tends to both symptoms being from too much. I have both symptoms.
Thanks.
Did anyone experience bad heart palpitations while on Armour thyroid? I had been on Armour last 3 years. I do get occational palpitations, but its been really bad lately.
That is what I did when my heart was racing for real - I was put on 90 mg of Armour by my doctor on Jan 18th and must wait 6 weeks for blood work. But I was really having heart palpitations and lowered it myself about two weeks ago and felt a lot better. I called and told the doctor and he said that was fine for me to try 75. This latest thing with feeling like my heart is beating fast has only been the last three days and I am not sure what is going on.
I had my thyroid removed over a year ago because of thyroid nodules and thyroiditis and levels being inconsistant with anything,....Felt bad before and never have felt any better! I took Synthroid for awhile, but still felt like ****, so was changed to armour, at first I felt a little better, but then back to feeling crappy! (sluggish, tirerd, quick tempered, dry skin, dry eye, dry everything and just real Blah!) My doc is very thurough and keep a close eye on my levels!
About 6 weeks ago I started having heart palpitations and went to the doctor. I was taking Armour 120 mg + 15 mg. The doctor cut my thyroid back to just the 120 mg. and I was to go back in 6 weeks. At the 4 week mark, the heart palpitations were so bad, I went back. Blood work showed that even with the 15 mg cut, my thyroid levels were still too high. They cut the medication to 90 mg about 5 days ago.
Very difficult due to the fact that Armour has T3 in it and Synthroid and other versions of that only have T4 and your body must convert it. I have only learned that from the message boards. Had no problems over the years and was lucky and had no need to research until my thyroid went out of whack in December and continues today. I am glad you have no problems - I know my heart palpitations stopped since I went off the Armour - but that is just me and everyone is different.
t benefit from Synthroid - you are very lucky your found Synthroid to work best for you - it is the thyroid drug of choice and many doctors will not continue Armour if you need to change to someone else.
Go back to what works - and the question is still ot there - Why did you try it if Synthroid was working?
Lupo,
I wrote to you last month about problems I was having with Armour thyroid after taking it for 40 years - heart palpitations and feeling generally lousy most of the time. You advised me that the T3 in Armour was heart stimulating and sometimes as we age, the heart can't handle it. You also said if it continued, I may have to be switched to straight T4, Synthroid. That is exactly what happened this week.
2 Years ago I switched from Levothyroxine 100 mcg to Armour Thyroid 180's. My first test came back HIGH that my TSH was .10, but the doctor kept me on that dose. The next test TSH was normal along with all the others except the T3 has come back high 2-3 different times. It's been two years of that but I felt fine the whole time. 12 Weeks ago they stopped making my 180's so I started taking a Generic 180 Armour.
I know I'm impatient. I'm wanting an honest opinion. I've had adrenal issues and hoped changing from Armour (due to issues of it not working right) to NP Thyroid would help. I changed to NP Thyroid. My dose starting was 25 mg generic cytomel and 30 mg of armour. I know I'm just a week and a half into change but I'm sick. I don't get that feeling of wellness from the T3. Now I know it takes longer with natural thyroid but can anyone help me.
I was diagnosed hypo 6 years ago. Tried Synthroid & symptoms were still there. My doctor put me on Armour 3 yrs ago. I loved it all symptoms were gone except the weight & fatigue. I developed terrible heart palpitations while on Synthroid so when I switched & noticed that had stopped, I was excited! Well, last year I ended up in the ER with PAC's & reflux. I was told they were normal. Saw my doc & was diagnosed with ADD. I've been on adderol ever since.
Hi,
I have been on Armour thyroid for about 40 years without problem, but in Dec 2007 I developed heart palpitations and have been dealing with adjusting my medicine since then - now almost the end of February. I am hypothyroid which I know is I am not producing enough thyroid hormone and the medicine supplements that.
My prior labs requested by PRN were on 6/10/11 TSH 0.03, FreeT3 5.5 and FreeT4 1.31. Since cutting my Armour, I have palpitations, tired and my hands tremble. I have been on thyroid meds for 3 yrs now and still no one has me regulated. Does it ever get better?
Thanks to these boards, I ended up dividing dosages and then even reducing and ultimately after blood work and visit to doctor, I went down to 45mcg in the morning and 30 mcg and we added 25mg of Synthroid with no follow up blood work until June. UGH! Anyway, I still am so tired and feel very hypo, but when I increase Armour I get palpitations and I am very sensitive to so I think I need more stability.
t know of any reason to change dosage when switching from Armour to NatureThroid. Each grain of Armour contains 38 mcg of T4 and 9 mcg of T3, same as NatureThroid. The only difference is the fillers/binders used to make the pills. So the switch basically reduced your med dosage by about 10%. When did the symptoms start?
If it were me I would get back on 90 mg, regardless of the brand. Also, 90 mg of a desiccated thyroid med is not a large dose.
So a couple of weeks ago, I started having heart palpitations and she said to go off levo for 4 days then go back on BUT with 25 mcg not 50 mcg. When I went off the levo, the palpitations calmed down...now that Im on it, even with the 25 mcg, they started again.
Im not getting better in terms of hypo symptoms. Should I ask her to perhaps add Cytomel to help my body convert T4 to T3?
9 but not much help there until put on Armour thyroid (from pig?) I am feeling more and more tired w/ more heart palpitations. Can this be a result of the medication?
I am in the waiting process for blood work, having had my Armour changed from 135 mg to 120 to 90 and to 75 and still not feeling the best. Some heart palpitations, but not as often as with the higher dosage, but not feeling myself that much. Anyway, I think I may have a sinus infection - lots of sinus drainage and feeling really down. But with the thyroid problem, it is hard to tell what is from what these days.
Recommended
