I want to get off this rollercoaster!!! Ack.

[ywammomma]

I have been having low thyroid symptoms for quite some time and never went to check it out...until I began having PVCs and a rapid heart rate in March.  At the ER, they diagnosed me with low thyroid and told me to "take this pill and all my troubles would go away..." riiiiiiiiight.

So thankfully, the little levothyroxine pill of .50mcgs DID stop the PVCs... and it stopped my overall fatigue.  I am left with numbness that comes and goes in my hands and feet, muscle fatigue that also comes and goes and a rapid heart rate of around 100+ if I don't take the 2 heart meds I am on.  So I went from taking NO pills to taking 4 a day! ( I also have to take a cholesterol medicine because suddenly my cholesterol is high too---and I am mostly vegetarian!!)

I found a WONDERFUL rheumy who did some more sensetive tests than just the TSH.  He did a TSH 3rd generation, and sadly it came back normal.  My TSH (it says TSH 3rd generation with reflex to FT4) came back at 2.65 (ref. range .40-4.50)  So does this mean that I actually have heart disease?  Why is my heart STILL beating fast if my thyroid is apparently normal?

All the symptoms that I have point to heart disease even though I have had an EKG, an Echo and c-reactive protein all which come back normal.  Could I still have thyroid issues even if the test is normal now?  (It was a TSH of 10 before)

What do ya'll think? Talk me out of the tree and tell me I ain't dyin'.  I have FIVE children and need to cort this out with hardly any income and no insurance!

[magpieannie]

If your doctor won't test what Goolarra said, then find a new doctor who will. She is right on! Life is too precious to continue on with inadequate treatment. You've got kids to raise, places to go, and people to see! Get the book "Overcoming Thyroid Disorders " by Dr. David Brownstein on Amazon. com. It will help you get a better understanding of all this! It's an easy read and helped me lots. Also, my daughter is 9 and was born without a thyroid gland. She had PVC's (premature ventricle contractions) in her lower right ventricle of her heart. A 20 day Holter monitor study revealed 83.Her heart is fine, (had all the other heart test too)! the problem was that she did not have enough t3 available in her body as she was on t4 only Synthroid and was not converting it well.Her body was out of balance and her heart was trying to compensate for this! Now her hormones are more in balance, as she gets t3 as she is NOW on dessicated thyroid hormone, which has both t3 and t4 in it, and NO LONGER HAS HEART PALPS! Get that freet3 tested ASAP!

[goolarra]

The very first thing you need to do is have your doctor test free T3 and free T4.  FT3 and FT4 are the actual thyroid hormones and much more important than TSH in determining thyroid status.  Without these tests, any meds adjustments are like flying blind.  TSH is a very poor indicator since it is a pituitary hormone, not a thyroid hormone.  Unfortunately, many doctors have not caught up with this fact yet.  You might be overmedicated or undermedicated, but without FT3 and FT4, you simply don't know.  It also might be worthwhile to have thyroid antibodies tested (TPOab and TGab) to see what the underlying cause of your thyroid problem is (if it's an autoimmune disease).  After you get results of FT3 and FT4, you can post them if you wish, and members will help you interpret them.  

High cholesterol is a symptom of hypothyroidism.  Levels often go back to normal once a proper dose of meds is achieved.  

These days, TSH and TSH 3rd generation are one and the same test.  "TSH 3rd generation with reflex to FT4" is an instruction to the lab.  It means "test TSH and if it's out of range, test FT4 also".  Since your TSH was within range, they never test FT4.  That's a shame.