Question For Celiacs And Thyroid Sufferers

[CathyG]

Hi there,

I am having my thyroid tested due to a number of weird problems I'm experiencing. The scariest problem I have is a terrible irregular heartbeat that mostly happens when I go to bed at night. It quite often feels like I'm having a heart attack with terrible chest pain. I've been to see 2 cardiologists and several doctors who have all told me that everything is fine. I've had all the tests done, but nothing seems to show up.

I have recently read somewhere that people with thryroid problems can quite often experience heart palpitations, so I thought I'd ask if this is a symptom. Also, I thought I'd find out if it is a symptom, did you experience any relief by going gluten free?

[coffeetime]

  On 1/23/2011 at 10:51 PM, CathyG said:

Hi there,

I am having my thyroid tested due to a number of weird problems I'm experiencing. The scariest problem I have is a terrible irregular heartbeat that mostly happens when I go to bed at night. It quite often feels like I'm having a heart attack with terrible chest pain. I've been to see 2 cardiologists and several doctors who have all told me that everything is fine. I've had all the tests done, but nothing seems to show up.

I have recently read somewhere that people with thryroid problems can quite often experience heart palpitations, so I thought I'd ask if this is a symptom. Also, I thought I'd find out if it is a symptom, did you experience any relief by going gluten free?

I am having something similar, if you are like me the irregular beat is probably occuring all day you just are not aware of it. My doctor had me wear a halter monitor for 48 hrs and when I had over 3,000 "incidents" during that time. I was immediately sent on to a cardiologist where they ran stress test and ultrasounds and he said everything is fine even though my heart rate drops to around 47 beats a min several times an hour, I was told to go home not worry and take a baby aspirin daily. I knew from past experience and other symptoms that I had thyroid issues even though my TSH was "normal" at 3.6 my T4 was at the very bottom of normal. About 2 weeks ago my general doctor finally agreed to try thyroid meds again for achy joints, failure to lose weight, always cold, fatigue, etc. One of the things I've learned since then is T4 helps regulate the heart beat. She did not test for antibodies which from what I learned on here is really important when celiac is involved. Gluten free has not helped my heart rate but if you can get a full thyroid panel they recommend that T4 be in the upper half of the normal range. I hope you find out something, it is so frustrating when you feel like you have to become your own doctor to get better.

[cassP]

  On 1/23/2011 at 10:51 PM, CathyG said:

Hi there,

I am having my thyroid tested due to a number of weird problems I'm experiencing. The scariest problem I have is a terrible irregular heartbeat that mostly happens when I go to bed at night. It quite often feels like I'm having a heart attack with terrible chest pain. I've been to see 2 cardiologists and several doctors who have all told me that everything is fine. I've had all the tests done, but nothing seems to show up.

I have recently read somewhere that people with thryroid problems can quite often experience heart palpitations, so I thought I'd ask if this is a symptom. Also, I thought I'd find out if it is a symptom, did you experience any relief by going gluten free?

hey! ya, ive had heart palpitations on & off for at least 6 or 7 years... it did improve slightly going gluten free- but it wasnt till i was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Hypothyroid and put on meds- did i realize that palpitations is a symptom of Hypo OR Hyper- when they first put me on Synthroid- my palpitations got worse- now im on Synthroid (T4) & Cytomel (T3)- and its GREATLY reduced!!!!!!

ya- over the last 7 years- i was freaking out over it- and trying to figure it all out- i had EKG, and breathing tests... i even thought that i might have Orthostatic Hypotension... i was struggling to solve the puzzle and my doc couldnt figure it out either- turns out it's my Thyroid

good luck & keep us posted!

[CathyG]

Thanks so much for your replies.

The first doctor only did the tsh which came back normal - pretty much bang in the middle of the range. The interesting thing was that they also provided results for previous tests I'd had on my thyroid over the last couple of years and 2 years ago my tsh was right at the bottom of the range and no one told me. It looks like last year there was another test done which showed it had increased slightly and then the most recent test has it looking very normal as far as that test is concerned.

I've just seen another doctor and asked for a full thyroid profile including every test possible for my thyroid just in case something is being missed - my first doctor refused to do any further testing. I've only had that blood test done yesterday so I'll probably get the results on Tuesday.

I'm secretly hoping that it is a thyroid issue as I need to find an end to these heart problems and other weird symptoms I have.

Thanks again for the replies

ETA: sorry I forgot to mention - I find that if I take calcium tablets twice a day it makes a HUGE difference to the occurrence of these heart palpitations. I went from having something like 40 or 50 a day (that I was aware of anyway) down to maybe one or 2 a month. In the last few weeks though, this seems to be getting worse again (probably 5-10 a day which are increasing in strength) which also coincides with an increase in GI issues - I think I'm having some absorption issues.

It might be worth trying the calcium if you haven't already done so. I'm not sure if it will work for you, but it definitely helps me out alot.

Cathy