How Many Beats Is Ur Pulse?

[SweetLoren]

Those That Have THyroid COnditions Should Take There Pulse, My Doctor Says It Shows If The Medication Is Working, And If Your Body Is Working at The Usual Pase.....70 and below :thdown: above that like 75 to 81 or 84 :thup: I Think Is In The Normal Range....He Has Me Take Enough Medication 2 where My Pulse In In The Normal Range, so I Guess This Means My Body Is Working Like IT Was b4? :rolleyes: I Was Just Curious How U Were Feeling? And By Coparing The Beats I Guess It Has A Lot 2 Do....At One Poing I Was Taking 2 Much, Where My HEart Was Beating Fast, and I Figured It Would Help Me Loose Faster But I Dont Know....Im Gonna Stick to The Program By eating As Many Cals I Could...And Working Out....Then Maybe Ill Take 2 grains more....2 give it a lil jumb start.....I Think I Heard Taking More Thyroid Then Ur Suppost 2 Can Be Dangerous.....Does Anyone Know Where Dorren Is?? lol I Havnt Seen Her Post In A While.....well GOod Luck 2 You all....In This Battle , LOw Carbing Makes It So Easy That It Doesnt Even Feel Like A Diet, :eek: So Thats When I Wanna cut Back the Cals way back , Cuz Ive always Been used 2 diets Being hard...and I know thats not good but Oh Well , Im Young And Very Self COncience....Take Care And tell me What U Think

[khala]

Hi,

Wow, have you ever made good progress! Keep up the good work.

My resting pulse in the morning is 45. My blood pressure is 115/75.

I have read that what determines the rate of your metabolism is your body temperature in the morning. Before I was diagnosed and even until recently when I started paying more attention to nutritional supplements, and since I have returned to the Atkins program it is now just under 97 in the morning. Today after my workout I checked my temp and it is 98.6.

Cheers,

[blueyez]

Wow, resting pulse of 45 is great! Mine was getting kinda high (85-90), primarily because of my MVP (mitral valve prolapse).

Taking 3 grains of Armour didn't change it much either way, but when I switched to T3 only -- worried it might go UP, it actually went DOWN to a more normal average of around 70! Amazing!

My temp is also quite low still, average about 97.5 during the daytime (up from 97.0 before taking T3 only). I'm hoping the T3 will bring it (and, thus, my metabolism, up some more). I have managed to lose 5 lbs taking the T3 for a couple of weeks, where I didn't lose any after 6 months on Armour.

Good thread -- I'm hoping others will post their resting heart rate and average temp :-)

sandi

[nawchem]

Hi Sandi,
I hope you're still active here. I was doing a search on mitral valve and I'm also hypothyroid. I did Atkins for a long time no weight loss or ketosis. I started taking armour I got ketosis, weight loss and really bad palpitations. Dr. said it could be the thyroid is too high although my tests were all in the normal range. So I cut way back for a month and feel lousy and still have the palpitations but only when I lowcarb and workout hard. I read in protein power that the diuretic effect of ketosis is hard on people with heart problems like mitral valve. Have you notice anything like that?
Nancy

[blueyez]

Hi Nancy,

I'm here, just haven't done much posting :-)

I'm trying to recall that diuretic reference in Protein Power -- but it apparently contradicts what Atkins, a cardiologist, says in his Health Revolution book. He says that the diuretic effect is GOOD for heart problems. In fact, he says that most drugs given for heart problems, in effect, are diuretics, and that's why they are prescribed -- to drop blood pressure and lessen the fluid load on the heart.

He mentions mitral valve prolapse as well and says that low carb should relieve, not cause, the symptoms you mention by keeping blood sugar and insulin steady.

I haven't personally noticed palps that I can relate to eating low carb, but despite the above, I'm sure it's possible in some people.

However, my first thought, like you, would be your thyroid meds. Armour has about 20% T3, the active thyroid hormone, and 80% T4. Even though you lowered your dose for a month, you may have still been getting too much T3 (causing the palps), but not enough T4, causing you to feel lousy.

I take Cytomel and Levoxyl (previously was on 3 grains of Armour, but the Armour kept losing effectiveness and I didn't want to go higher than the 3 grains).

I'm in the process of adjusting doses -- too much T3 and I get the racing heart thing, too. I tried cutting way back on the T4, but, like you, felt lousy. Right now I'm at about 18mcg T3 and 100 T4 split into three equal doses throughout the day, and I'm feeling pretty OK :-)

How much Armour are you on, and do you divide the dose? Once I know that info, maybe something will jump out at me. And have you had your MVP assessed since low-carbing to make sure there's no change there?

Best, Sandi

[nawchem]

Hi Sandi,
It is so great to find someone that I can talk to about this. I'll have to get the Health book.

What I found is that lowcarbing totally helped my mitral valve. After I started taking thyroid 1 grain in the am, (I only have low t3) I couldn't stand all the fluid loss, so I ate miore carbs for a while. After 4 months on thyroid I felt awesome, ready to really lowcarb and exercise. After a few weeks of really bad fluid loss, drinking 4-5 liters of water a day and still always thirsty, I can feel my heart beating and sometimes I feel lightheaded.

The heart thing totally goes away in a week when I stop exercising and lowcarbing then comes back the day I restart Doesn't seem to matter how much thyroid I'm taking.

About the protein power, they don't say its bad they say you should slowly reduce your carbs because the fluid loss can bring on arrythmias.

My dr. checked my heart and said it was fine so thats why they thought the thyroid maybe too high for me.

It starts getting so complicated, when you're thyroid gets high how long does it take you to get rid of the symptoms and do you totally stop your medication to do it?

thanks!
Nancy

[blueyez]

Hi Nancy,

I'm glad your heart checks out OK :-)

When my heart rate goes up because of too much T3, I take a small amount of T4, within 45 minutes, my pulse returns to normal. Having the two pills separate allows me a lot of flexibility in figuring out the right doses.

You mention fluid loss, thirst and light headedness -- could you be experiencing hypoglycemia or possibly be diabetic? I was diagnosed with diabetes right around the same time I found out I was hypothyroid. The low carb diet has made a dramatic improvement in lowering my blood glucose numbers, but it hasn't done away with the thirst and water loss. I guess that's the diuretic effect in action.

Another thinking-out-loud idea is that maybe while you're low carbing, you actually need more thyroid, not less. I only mention that because drastically cutting carbs can slow certain thyroid functions, especially the conversion of T4 to T3. So, whatever function your thyroid has left may be reduced when you cut down on carbs.

The only factor that doesn't seem to jibe with that theory, though, is your increased heart rate on low carb -- I haven't seen any research linking the two. Yep, it's so very complicated!

Do you have the same doc treating your hypothyroidism and MVP? If so, maybe the doc will let you try a slightly higher Armour dose (to compensate for the slowing caused by low carbing) if he/she deems it safe for you.

Try not to get too frustrated, it just takes time, trial and error, and more time :-)

Great talking with you about all this stuff!
Sandi

[furmom]

Hi there!

I also take Levoxyl .100 (was recently lowered from .125) and Cytomel 7.5 divided into 3 doses. I feel wonderful.

I was getting heart palps (a very scary feeling, I must say) when I was on Levoxyl .125. My endo thinks that I was being overmedicated for my body weight. Anytime you lose more than 10% of your body weight, you need to have your bloodwork done and see if your meds need adjusting.

I was on Armour for about 1 year, and it just *sucked* for me. I am so much happier and healthier with the Levoxyl.

I do know that if I am not getting enough potassium, I get light headed. You might want to make sure you are getting enough.

Good luck!

Donna

[nawchem]

Hi Sandi and Donna,
thanks for your input, I just gave up a few days and pigged out, like that accomplishes anything!

I decided the only way I could rule out the thyroid medication is to stop taking it. So I've cut way back a few days and quit today. I've been so tired since I cut back and had to turn on the heater.

I'm still doing lowcarb but upped my carbs to 40 and my calories to 1400.

I did a lot of reading on mvp and NIH is doing a study if you are interested in participating, here is the info.

The purpose of the study is to develop a profile of health
concerns, symptoms and treatments, and to examine the
relationships of symptoms to role status, and use of health
care services for patients diagnosed with mitral valve
prolapse syndrome, the most common valvular heart disease.

Please send your address - we will be mailing a
questionnaire within about a month.
Nalda Blair [nalda.blair~wright.edu]