For Those With Hypothyrodism

[Tammy]

Time and time again, I wonder if my thyroid doesn't make my POTS symptoms worse, however, I know they are separate illness. I take Synthroid, but wonder if I should try a different option just to see but I'm a bit afraid to and not sure if my doctor would even recommend it. My tests always show it's within range. I'm curious, those of us who also have a thyroid disorder, which drug you take. Has anyone been on Armour?

[EarthMother]

My thyroid disease DEFINITELY wrecks havoc with the POTS. I have hashimoto -- autoimmune thyroid disease. So I can be hypo or hyper depending on the mood of the antibodies waging war on my intenral organs. My PCP is wonderful and allows me to tweak my thyroid replacement dose based on how I FEEL and not strictly by the TSH readings. Sometimes just tweaking it a bit higher or lower helps to rebalance my system ... for a while.

I use to take Synthroid, but switched to Levoxyl about two years ago (if memory serves.) Its still a synthetic, but the Synthroid at that time just didn't seem to be sitting well with my system, and overall I've done better in recent years on Levoxyl. I think at the time the company who makes Snythroid was having some issues with their 100 mcg dose consistency.

Periodically I think about Armore or one of the other "natural" replacements ... but for a variety of reasons I'm not too keen on the notion of using this little piggy went to market for my thyroid booster. But that's just me. I hear really good things from folks I knew that used it.

Anytime I go into a POTS crash, the first thing I check is my TSH and see if there is some wiggle room to tweak my hormone dose. Which reminds me ... I SOOOO need to call my PCP monday and get in there to see him!

Good luck finding things that work for you.

~EM

[jump]

My POTS symptoms are definitely worse when my hypothyroidism isn't well-controlled -- and though I believe they're separate illnesses, I think they influence each other a lot.

I found when I took synthroid my numbers came back fine but I had no relief from hypothyroid symptoms. Now I take levoxyl (have been taking it for almost nine years) and I find it works much better for me. I've also taken armor thyroid and unithyroid in the past, but the armor thyroid made me MORE sick and the unithyroid was the same as the synthroid. Most doctors don't recommend trying armor thyroid anymore because the pig hormone is actually not as close to the human hormone as the synthetic ones are now. Ten years ago this wasn't the case but now they say the synthetic is actually closer to the "real thing."

The thing with hypothyroid (and I know I've said this a million times here, so sorry to be repeating myself, but I think it's important!) is everyone has a normal-for-you range WITHIN the "normal range." Most people don't know what this is since most people don't have their TSH levels tested when they are healthy, just when they start feeling sick, so there's no baseline. But, say you are in the high end of normal and still feeling sick, or the low end of normal and not feeling quite right -- it could be that for YOU personally you need to adjust your medication a little. I personally feel my best when my TSH is on the higher end of the normal range (eg, I take a little less medication). Also, I have hashimoto's, and sometimes my TSH levels are normal but my body is still producing thyroid antibodies -- so now I get both tests (the TSH and the antibody test) done, and this makes it easier to get the medication right.

Good luck, and don't be afraid to pursue this with your doctor. A lot of PCP's think that thyroid is just a simple "take this pill" solution, and it's actually a fairly complicated condition to treat.

[Hummingbird]

Hello Tammy,

I definitely think the symptoms of POTS and hypothyroidism can overlap and even exacerbate one another. I currently take Armour Thyroid. I took Synthroid for YEARS, but still had hypothyroid symptoms while on it. A great website for hypothyroidism is Stop the Thyroid Madness. It has LOADS of great info!

Hang in there, and good luck!

[bkweavers]

Hi Tammy,

I'm finally back on this forum after a long time away. My soon-to-be 13 yr. old daughter has had POTS for 2 years now and was born with congenital hypothyroidism(No thyroid). She has always been on synthroid because we found out at age 3 that she has no thyroid gland. When we went to Dr. Grubb, he told us that many of his patients have thyroid problems. Isn't that interesting? He didn't tell us if they know why that is. I've asked my daughter's endocrinologist if he could explain any of this and he had no answers either.

One thing I'm wondering is if you get your free T4 and T3 checked along with your TSH levels. Many years ago, the doctor was only checking 1 or 2 of my daughter's levels and he started to do all of it to get a complete picture. Maybe that might be something to look into if you're not getting those other levels checked.

Take care,

Brenda