Guest guest Posted June 5, 2002 Report Share Posted June 5, 2002 Just reading some of Butch's stories about people's misadventures w/ doctors. Have recently l had a bunch myself, after being taken to ER in ambulance due to a spell in which I felt I was dying. Doctors have done an echocardiogram of my heart, a CT scan of it, a MRI and MRA of my brain, tested me for a rare adrenal tumor... and a bunch of other stuff. Found only slightly low thyroid. Began treating me for that and I began to have real awful spells of blood pressure and pulse shooting up suddenly, with heart arrythmia. Hands and feet turning icy cold and panic setting it. Finally it dawned on me that 30 min. after taking the thyroid med. was when a lot of these spells occurred. Aha! I wasn't having " panic attacks, " the spells were caused by too much thyroid hormone. I was on Armour, which is mostly T3, which, as I now know, really packs a punch. The synthetics are T4 which the body then converts into the active T3. That gives a time release effect. Your dose can still be too high, but you won't suddenly get hit with it like a freight train. I have just picked up a copy of a precious book, THE THYROID SOLUTION, by an endocrinologist, which would have saved me a lot of grief (and a second midnight ride in an ambulance) if I had had it several weeks ago.. May still save me a lot of grief, as it outlines different scenarios very clearly, with lots of suggestions and case histories. I'm fortunate that my heart is in good basic shape. Some folks have been pushed into heart attacks by overdose of thyroid med. Even if you need quite a bit, you have to start out low and let your body make the changes gradually. And levels in " normal " range may not be what is right for you. Some folks experience dramatic differences with small adjustments in their dosage. An impt. point is that millions of people have undiagnosed thyroid imbalances that cause all kinds of physical and mental suffering. Even if you have been tested as normal, the test may have been the wrong test. If you experience unexplained: fatigue, irritability, depression or anxiety, mood swings, weight gain/loss, sleeping poorly or insomnia, body too hot/cold ..... it may well be your thyroid. I highly recommend this book. Shivani Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.