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Looking for advice for what may be Thyroid
My question is that for the past 3 or so years I have been taking Cymbalta for Fibro....which has been helpful. Then last year I started getting weird symptoms...My heart was racing, I felt like I the room was closing in on me, sweats, and gained about 30 lbs in the last yr. I thought maybe my dosage was off on the Cymbalta so my doctor increased it which I stopped as soon as I started...I felt it was not that. Fortunately, I have not suffered major side effects from the Cymbalta which I know can be awful. Then recently on top of those feelings I started getting horrible pain in my wrists which I thought might be carpal tunnel or tendonitis...severe burning pain going up the tops of my arms. Then I thought well maybe it is related to my heart because of the palpatations and all of a sudden my blood pressure is high and doctor put me on metropropol. So after all of the cardiac tests I am fine...but I have been doing some research and am wondering has anyone else ever gotten that feeling of brain fog. I get tired, my muscle hurt. Which I know are symptoms of fibro. I am going to blood work soon I am just wondering if anyone else has similar symptoms.
Duloxetine is sold under the brand names Cymbalta, Ariclaim, Xeristar, Yentreve, Duzela. Excepts from Cymbalta Side effects - Drugs website...
"Following is a list of treatment-emergent adverse reactions reported by patients treated with duloxetine in clinical trials. In clinical trials of all indications, 31,268 patients were treated with duloxetine. Of these, 29.5% (9222) took duloxetine for at least 6 months, and 13.8% (4317) for at least one year.
Cardiac Disorders — Frequent: palpitations; Infrequent: myocardial infarction and tachycardia.
Ear and Labyrinth Disorders — Frequent: vertigo; Infrequent: ear pain and tinnitus.
Endocrine Disorders — Infrequent: hypothyroidism.
Eye Disorders — Frequent: vision blurred; Infrequent: diplopia, dry eye, and visual impairment.
Gastrointestinal Disorders — Frequent: flatulence; Infrequent: eructation, gastritis, gastrointestinal hemorrhage, halitosis, and stomatitis; Rare: gastric ulcer.
General Disorders and Administration Site Conditions — Frequent: chills/rigors; Infrequent: falls, feeling abnormal, feeling hot and/or cold, malaise, and thirst; Rare: gait disturbance.
Infections and Infestations — Infrequent: gastroenteritis and laryngitis.
Investigations — Frequent: weight increased, weight decreased; Infrequent: blood cholesterol increased.
Metabolism and Nutrition Disorders — Infrequent: dehydration and hyperlipidemia; Rare: dyslipidemia.
Musculoskeletal and Connective Tissue Disorders — Frequent: musculoskeletal pain; Infrequent: muscle tightness and muscle twitching.
Nervous System Disorders — Frequent: dysgeusia, lethargy, and parasthesia/hypoesthesia; Infrequent: disturbance in attention, dyskinesia, myoclonus, and poor quality sleep; Rare: dysarthria.
Psychiatric Disorders — Frequent: abnormal dreams and sleep disorder; Infrequent: apathy, bruxism, disorientation/confusional state, irritability, mood swings, and suicide attempt; Rare: completed suicide.
Renal and Urinary Disorders — Infrequent: dysuria, micturition urgency, nocturia, polyuria, and urine odor abnormal.
Reproductive System and Breast Disorders — Frequent: anorgasmia/orgasm abnormal; Infrequent: menopausal symptoms and sexual dysfunction; Rare: menstrual disorder.
Respiratory, Thoracic and Mediastinal Disorders — Frequent: yawning; Infrequent: throat tightness.
Skin and Subcutaneous Tissue Disorders — Frequent: pruritus; Infrequent: cold sweat, dermatitis contact, erythema, increased tendency to bruise, night sweats, and photosensitivity reaction; Rare: ecchymosis.
Vascular Disorders — Frequent: hot flush; Infrequent: flushing, orthostatic hypotension, and peripheral coldness."
"Following is a list of treatment-emergent adverse reactions reported by patients treated with duloxetine in clinical trials. In clinical trials of all indications, 31,268 patients were treated with duloxetine. Of these, 29.5% (9222) took duloxetine for at least 6 months, and 13.8% (4317) for at least one year.
Cardiac Disorders — Frequent: palpitations; Infrequent: myocardial infarction and tachycardia.
Ear and Labyrinth Disorders — Frequent: vertigo; Infrequent: ear pain and tinnitus.
Endocrine Disorders — Infrequent: hypothyroidism.
Eye Disorders — Frequent: vision blurred; Infrequent: diplopia, dry eye, and visual impairment.
Gastrointestinal Disorders — Frequent: flatulence; Infrequent: eructation, gastritis, gastrointestinal hemorrhage, halitosis, and stomatitis; Rare: gastric ulcer.
General Disorders and Administration Site Conditions — Frequent: chills/rigors; Infrequent: falls, feeling abnormal, feeling hot and/or cold, malaise, and thirst; Rare: gait disturbance.
Infections and Infestations — Infrequent: gastroenteritis and laryngitis.
Investigations — Frequent: weight increased, weight decreased; Infrequent: blood cholesterol increased.
Metabolism and Nutrition Disorders — Infrequent: dehydration and hyperlipidemia; Rare: dyslipidemia.
Musculoskeletal and Connective Tissue Disorders — Frequent: musculoskeletal pain; Infrequent: muscle tightness and muscle twitching.
Nervous System Disorders — Frequent: dysgeusia, lethargy, and parasthesia/hypoesthesia; Infrequent: disturbance in attention, dyskinesia, myoclonus, and poor quality sleep; Rare: dysarthria.
Psychiatric Disorders — Frequent: abnormal dreams and sleep disorder; Infrequent: apathy, bruxism, disorientation/confusional state, irritability, mood swings, and suicide attempt; Rare: completed suicide.
Renal and Urinary Disorders — Infrequent: dysuria, micturition urgency, nocturia, polyuria, and urine odor abnormal.
Reproductive System and Breast Disorders — Frequent: anorgasmia/orgasm abnormal; Infrequent: menopausal symptoms and sexual dysfunction; Rare: menstrual disorder.
Respiratory, Thoracic and Mediastinal Disorders — Frequent: yawning; Infrequent: throat tightness.
Skin and Subcutaneous Tissue Disorders — Frequent: pruritus; Infrequent: cold sweat, dermatitis contact, erythema, increased tendency to bruise, night sweats, and photosensitivity reaction; Rare: ecchymosis.
Vascular Disorders — Frequent: hot flush; Infrequent: flushing, orthostatic hypotension, and peripheral coldness."
COMMUNITY LEADER
Fibromyalgia is a set of unexplained symptoms, that often turn go away once a patient is put on thyroid hormone replacement. You symptoms are all symptoms of hypothyroidism. Doctors often use anti-depressants, when the patient really needs thyroid medication
You need to get thyroid tests done. You should get, at the very least, get TSH, Free T3 and Free T4 tested. Make sure you get the Free T3 and Free T4, because those are the actual thyroid hormones and you need to know their levels. Many doctors insist on only testing TSH, which doesn't reflect actual thyroid hormone levels.
It would also be good to get thyroid antibodies tested. The tests you should get are Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies (TPOab) and Thyroglobulin Antibodies (TGab). Positive antibody tests would indicate Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, which is an autoimmune disease, in which the body sees the thyroid as foreign and produces antibodies to destroy it.
You need to get thyroid tests done. You should get, at the very least, get TSH, Free T3 and Free T4 tested. Make sure you get the Free T3 and Free T4, because those are the actual thyroid hormones and you need to know their levels. Many doctors insist on only testing TSH, which doesn't reflect actual thyroid hormone levels.
It would also be good to get thyroid antibodies tested. The tests you should get are Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies (TPOab) and Thyroglobulin Antibodies (TGab). Positive antibody tests would indicate Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, which is an autoimmune disease, in which the body sees the thyroid as foreign and produces antibodies to destroy it.
Have you ever had your thyroid tested. if so please post the results along with the reference ranges.
if not you may want to get thyroid tested. To get a full thyroid panel you would need more than just TSH. You will need to add at a minimum Free T4 and Free T3 hormone levels. NOT "total" but "free" hormones. Free means that the hormone is not attached to a protein molecule. Once attached the hormone is biologically inactive and useless. Total counts both the free and attached hormone. Since only the free hormones are available for your body to use it is most important to get both of the "free" hormones tested.
You may have to be insistent with your Dr to have these two hormones tested. Do not take no for an answer. If your Dr insists that all you need is TSH, you may very well want to find another Dr. TSH only is totally inadequate to really treat thyroid issues. Unfortunately many if not most DR's only want to use TSH.
Also understand that it is not uncommon for people who are diagnosed with Fibro to get significant relief when they take thyroid medication. This is because too many Dr's rule out low thyroid because they only use TSH. TSH combined with several other things provides false "normal" readings. But the person can be actually hypo at the cellular level. The result is that the person is just hypo and since the Dr "ruled out" thyroid as an issue and can not otherwise explain the symptoms a patient has they diagnose it as fibro.
MANY of the symptoms of Fibro are identical to fibro. In fact Fibro only seems to have been a "disease" that has occurred since the invention and widespread use of TSH. Prior to TSH test, Dr's used to diagnose low thyroid on symptoms and be treated with thyroid hormone. But now that Dr's rely 100% on TSH and virtually ignore symptoms, they rule out thyroid with a faulty TSH result and then have "unexplained" symptoms.
In addition many people have found that in order to feel well they need to have their thyroid levels well up into the reference range. Simply being "somewhere" within the so called "normal" or reference range is NOT good enough.
Many people have found that they need to have BOTH of the following to be true:
1) Their Free T4 (FT4) at the MIDDLE of the range if not even higher
AND (that means in addition to)
2) Their Free T3 (FT3) to be in the UPPER 1/3 or the range
Being somewhere towards the bottom half of either range is very suspect of being hypo if you have symptoms. Finding a Dr who will test for these is the first step. The next battle is to get a Dr who will provide medicine in the symptomatic patient when you are at the bottom of the ranges.
if not you may want to get thyroid tested. To get a full thyroid panel you would need more than just TSH. You will need to add at a minimum Free T4 and Free T3 hormone levels. NOT "total" but "free" hormones. Free means that the hormone is not attached to a protein molecule. Once attached the hormone is biologically inactive and useless. Total counts both the free and attached hormone. Since only the free hormones are available for your body to use it is most important to get both of the "free" hormones tested.
You may have to be insistent with your Dr to have these two hormones tested. Do not take no for an answer. If your Dr insists that all you need is TSH, you may very well want to find another Dr. TSH only is totally inadequate to really treat thyroid issues. Unfortunately many if not most DR's only want to use TSH.
Also understand that it is not uncommon for people who are diagnosed with Fibro to get significant relief when they take thyroid medication. This is because too many Dr's rule out low thyroid because they only use TSH. TSH combined with several other things provides false "normal" readings. But the person can be actually hypo at the cellular level. The result is that the person is just hypo and since the Dr "ruled out" thyroid as an issue and can not otherwise explain the symptoms a patient has they diagnose it as fibro.
MANY of the symptoms of Fibro are identical to fibro. In fact Fibro only seems to have been a "disease" that has occurred since the invention and widespread use of TSH. Prior to TSH test, Dr's used to diagnose low thyroid on symptoms and be treated with thyroid hormone. But now that Dr's rely 100% on TSH and virtually ignore symptoms, they rule out thyroid with a faulty TSH result and then have "unexplained" symptoms.
In addition many people have found that in order to feel well they need to have their thyroid levels well up into the reference range. Simply being "somewhere" within the so called "normal" or reference range is NOT good enough.
Many people have found that they need to have BOTH of the following to be true:
1) Their Free T4 (FT4) at the MIDDLE of the range if not even higher
AND (that means in addition to)
2) Their Free T3 (FT3) to be in the UPPER 1/3 or the range
Being somewhere towards the bottom half of either range is very suspect of being hypo if you have symptoms. Finding a Dr who will test for these is the first step. The next battle is to get a Dr who will provide medicine in the symptomatic patient when you are at the bottom of the ranges.
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