I went to gp complaining of palpations, shortness of breath, almost passing out 3/week

Hormones
1

Hi,  I have been feeling unwell for months, 

I just didn't know what was happening, I had spent a lot of time lying on the couch.

Then this past week the palpitations worsened with shortness of breath, lightheadedness and almost passing out three times in one week. 

So off to the dr I went, my bp was normal and my resting heart rate was 120. 

The gp said little other than to send me for a full blood work the next day and an apt w the dr for the following week.

The following day I was washing the dishes when the palpations started again so I used my app on my phone to measure my pulse and it was 169!

I went to the ER and they looked up my blood results taken the previous day and the results showed I had hyperthyroidism and they took my bp and checked my pulse and it was averaging 120-140 bpm. 

An ecg was done and They gave me beta blockers to reduce my heart rate and a diazepam to calm me as I was hyper and wouldn't stop talking very fast and nonstop. I was grateful as I was so fatigued. They then transferred me to a city hospital by ambulance. 

In the ER they monitored my vitals and hooked me up to the ecg again and set about stabilising my fast heart rate with quite a few tablets of beta blockers and antithyroid tablets. 

I was very unsteady on my feet and felt better than before but still felt unwell. 

After a night of observation I had an ultrasound of my thyroid. The ultrasound operator said my thyroid looked patchy and lumpy when it should look smooth. 

And he kindly showed me his thyroid with the ultrasound so I could see how a healthy thyroid gland looks like. 

I feel hot all the time now and yet it's not a temperature.  I am due to do an antibodies  blood test which the dr said would confirm whether I have Graves or not. 

I'm still not up to doing much so I'm reading everything I can regarding this disease. I am worried about possibly having the beginnings of TED. As my eyes have been blurry off and on for the last few months and I get a feeling of pressure in one eye socket, the upper inner side of my eye. It feels like tge start of a pressure headache in my eye socket and inner side of my eye ball. 

Does anyone understand what I'm describing?  What do I do now with the eyes?

2

Hi jilena0435, the antithyroid medication will likely bring your thyroid values down within a few weeks and you will gradually feel better. 

Regarding possible TED you should apply lubricating eye drops if you feel that your eyes are dry and gritty. It might help to apply a warm compress in case your tear glands located in the upper outer corner of your eyes are (partially) blocked. Some patients with very dry eyes might have collagen plugs fitted to their tear ducts. This reduces the drainage of the tear film and keeps the eyes from drying out. 

If your eyes are puffy (happens especially in the morning) then it will help you to sleep with your head slightly raised. 

You could read about the mineral Selenium. For example in this article: Selenium supplementation in thyroid associated ophthalmopathy: an update

Brazil nuts contain Se and it would be good if you can eat a few every day.  

3

Very interesting article, Dan. Thank you for sharing.  

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!) if you had a full and complete list of side effects of the medications you were on you would know these pharmacy chemicals are driving these side effects. 2) if you had the understanding I now have of how these chemicals were being made and the loose standards regarding potency of especially generics you wouldn't be surprised. This is all I can say because it is what I have learned the hard way. God Bless you and restore you.

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What you described in your symptoms is known as "thyroid storm".  I am glad you finally got diagnosed through the Emergency Room and started on treatment.  I was fortunate to be diagnosed early and I had a resting heart rate of 130 at times so I know what you mean and how that felt.  Once I was started on treatment with the thyroid hormone blocking drug, the excessive thyroid hormones normalized (as long as I took the meds) and my symptoms improved, especially the heart rate.  However, my TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) remained at less than 0.001 when it should be between 0.40 and 4.00.  It remained that way for two years until I did more research and found adding supplements to my medical treatment helped me resolve this problem.  Every time I added a supplement, I would get my blood values measured so I knew where my values were when I started (for example, I started by taking 3,000 mg of Regular L-Carnitine and before I did, I got my Total Carnitine and Free Carnitine levels measured and I was deficient).  I found I was deficient in Vitamin D so I added vitamin D3 gel tabs, 1,000 to 5,000 IU per day.  Vitamin D is extremely important to good thyroid functioning.  Also found I was low in Magnesium and added that as well.  I never had bulging eyes but had very very dry eyes and did get the collagen plugs which need to be reinserted as the collagen ones only last about six months..  You can get more permanent Silicone plugs but given what I know the problems women are having with silicone breast implants, I opted to stay with collagen.  Now my eye specialist has given me Restasis, a steroid eye drop, and (I never heard of this before) made eye drops out of my blood supposedly because there are certain benefits you get out of this procedure that your body produces.  Going to pick them up today or tomorrow.  There are eye specialists who treat the Graves eye disease, usually they are located in cities with large teaching hospitals so if you live in a small town, find out which one is closest to you and get a referral to see this kind of eye specialist.  Getting your thyroid values under good control will help the eye problem immensely.  I am going to send you an email with a link to a site that has a lot of information about thyroid disease so you can become an empowered patient.

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Thank you Linda, I really appreciate your advice. Wow Possibly Thyroid Storm!

I have read about it and didn't even think that I could've been there. I new that having such intense tachycardia symptoms wasn't good 'cos I couldn't seem to do anything without a pounding chest and shortness of breath, lightheadedness etc. 

I will definitely follow your advice, others on this page are saying similar things. I really want to avoid the radioiodine treatments and look at alternative methods to Achieve a healthy thyroid. I really don't want to replace one thyroid condition with anotger if I can help it. 

I still can't seem to do my daily tasks atm and how long will it be like this?

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Hi. I wasn't taking any meds. I was medication free for more than a year. 

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Thank you for your reply. I will see an eye dr soon and, in the mean time, will eat brazil notes and use eye drops and sleep more upright than I do now.