and I'm hoping you all can share some of your wisdom with me. I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism 15 months ago with the following symptoms:

Surge sensation throughout body
Insomnia/sleep disturbances
ANXIETY
Loss of appetite
Indigestion
Tingling in extremeties
Brain fog
Periods of hypertension
Heart palps
Dizziness/lightheadedness
Ear pressure
Vision issues (problems with focus)
Pain in lower right abdomen
Pain in upper back
Night sweats
Joint pain

I really thought I was dying at the time and after seeing a few different doctors and after taking meds for several months I did get my thyroid optimized and mostly back to normal. (NOT easy - the thyroid is a complex thing!) My doc also told me I had adrenal fatigue and gave me natural supplements to help improve my adrenal function. Last October, I was diagnosed with an ovarian cyst and my gyno decided to change my BCP to try to shrink it. Evidently the change in BCP caused my thyroid to go out of whack again and I had to increase in thyroid meds and wait a few months to get optimized again.

FYI - I will be 40 next month so I am assuming some of my issues could be peri-related. My doctors and I have decided to go off the BCP completely. I'm still having blood pressures spikes so we are hoping this will help, and I would like to try to get my hormones stabilized. I've also skipped a couple periods and though this could be thyroid related, peri-related or related to the BCP, my iron tends to run a bit high so its best if I don't skip my period. I will be seeing my gyno again in 6 months (cyst did shrink but now I have fibroids they want to monitor) and I will be asking her to test all my hormones at that time. She does use bioidentical hormone replacement therapy so I am excited about that.

OK, here is my issue, and this will be VERY hard to explain. I often feel not really dizzy, but maybe lightheaded or spacey. I've had vertigo and dizziness with my thyroid and this is way different. I don't necessarily feel like I'm going to pass out but the fogginess makes me VERY uncomfortable and I find myself trying to move around or do something to get my mind off the fact that I just don't feel right. I feel it most often when we go out to eat and I am sitting still waiting for my food. (And I wonder if this is because I am sitting still doing nothing and I can notice it more.) I wonder if it could still be thyroid symptoms. My last blood test showed my numbers are right where they need to be but I know after getting my numbers optimized last year I still had some symptoms for a month or two. I've wondered if it is hypoglycemia. I think I've had some hypoglycemia episodes but I did feel more like I was going to pass out then. But maybe this is low blood sugar but not quite as low as the episodes I am remembering. (I do know hypoglycemia is connected to adrenal issues and hypothyroidism.) I sometimes fear I have a blocked artery or something like that causing these issues. I have not seen a cardiologist but have had at least 2 EKGs run in the past 15 months that came back fine. One when I first went to the doctor before I was diagnosed hypothyroid...My BP was high so they ran an EKG then. The second when I thought I was having a heart attack and went to the ER. (Turned out to be acid reflux with what I also think was a panic attack.) I don't think this issue is realated to blood pressure but I am on 100mcg of Toprol XL so it could be a side effect of the BP med.

And last but not least...could this issue stem from fluctuating hormones in my body or be a sign of perimenopause.

Hi, seems to me that you are having your perimenopause, it can trigger all your system. Let me tell you first of all that I am also 40 years old and I started having a bunch of symtoms that I sure I was going to die, First I started having the palpitations and it made anxious and because of that my blood pressure went high. once I had it 160/110 and I was feeling so scared I went to the hospital. EKG and everything came out ok, so doctors told me I was having a panic attack. I always felt I was a positive and sure person until then. I analyzed myself wondering why I was having those panic attacks. After I found this site I learned hormones can trigger your whole body to the point that panics attacks are somehow part of the hormones fluctuations. I will mention my symptoms so you know you are not alone.

Palps
Dizziness
Costochondritis, which is a bad bad tenderness in the breastbone, and you swear you are having a heart attack, (aleve helps)
nauseas
feeling of balance
panic attacks
dry skin
weird symptoms in the head, like a raindrop coming down
headaches in the back of the head
muscle pain in the legs
High blood pressure if I become anxious
Burning sensation in some spots, like in the legs and arms and neck and face
Mood swings, this is because I feel so sick I get crancky
No tolerance to caffeine or red meat
Intestine discomfort
Shortness of breath


These are some that comes to my mind but I keep adjusting my life with every symptom

I drink soymilk instead of regular milk
Take a multivitamin everyday, and also I take folic acid for my heart and Calcium with vitamin D
Magnesium helps with the palps
I use progesterone cream, the natural one and take estrovan, which is also natural

Another thing is that I still have my period and my hormones haven't show yet the imbalance

Hope this info helps you and remember to get as much info as possible here in this site.

See u around, casuja

Welcome heckofagal:

Its nice to meet you. Wow, when I read your post I thought I had written and forgotten. LOL I know that sounds alittle strange, but you sound exactly like me. I was dx'd with hypothyriodism back in 2001 and I had all the symptoms you mentioned. I like you thought for sure I was dead, I went to so many doc's trying to find the answers to all my symptoms, I had it all. Dry skin, cold all the time, hair falling out, dizzniness for straight months, anxiety and panic attacks, palps, fibromyalgia like pain, joint pain, neck pain, which I still have, unable to concentrate or focus, sleep problems, gosh the list goes on.

Once my meds for thyriod where optimal I began to feel so much better, all the symptoms stopped. Then about 4 months ago, boom got hit again with them all. First thing I did was go to my endo and get labs on the thyriod and they are great. I was having alot of leg and arm aches, almost like fibro but more like restless leg symdrome, he tested the ferratin level (iron your body stores) and it was so low, he put me on pre-natal vits and said now the leg/arm aches will stop and they did.

I can completely relate to your latest symp with the spacey feeling. I have the exact same thing. I don't really feel dizzy, but kinda like if I sat on a bar stool I might fall off. I feel when this happens like I have to make myself concentrate and focus, its almost feels like an anxiety attack without the full blown effect. It usually will last for 30 mins to an hour. I like you notice it when I'm sitting quietly in a chair. I'm having it now, but I keep concentrating on this. My neck also feels kinda stiff when this comes on, and I find myself rubbing it. It quite an odd feeling, not really dizziness but some vertigo. I think it must be the peri because my thyriod is fine. Its funny how the symptoms of thyriod and peri are almost identical. I have a remedie for this when it comes on bad, I take a quarter of my .25 xanax and it calms me and suddenly this stops. Thats mostly why I've contributed it to a small anxiety attack.

I'm sure your fine, but I know its alittle un-nerving. Try to stay calm and relax thru it. If you ever want to talk plz let me know. Hope you feel better very soon. AGain welcome to this fabulous board, the women are the best.

Hugs, Patty

Thanks Casuja and Patty for your responses! I do feel like my BP rises when i am anxious but I know it also rises when I am not. And I might have an abnormally high reading one day then completely fine for several days after that. The anxiety was the WORST when my thyroid levels were really off and I would have anxiety for no reason. Now I just tend to stress myself out occasionally. I would like to have Xanax or Ativan for occasional use, but I'm also trying to get off as much meds as possible. I recently quit taking the BCP and Aciphex for Acid Reflux (don't think it helped much) and hope to wean down from the BP meds, but I know I will be on thyroid meds for life.

I'm also starting a new diet next week, where I will be eating mostly protein and fruits/veggies and eliminating so much of the sugar and carbs. If I'm having hypoglycemia issues this should definitley help, and losing some weight will help with the BP as well. I've done weight watchers in the past with success but tried it last year and only lost like 4-5 pounds in 4 months. Heres hoping this time it works!

I can't drink soymilk as soy does not go well with hypothyroidism. But in addition to the supps I am taking for my adrenals I am also taking B12, Fish Oil, cinnamon, aspirin, Vitamin D, magnesium and melatonin. I also cannot tolerate the caffeine like I used to. I used to drink diet pepsi ALL day and could even drink it all the way up til bed time and not have any issues sleeping. (I've since then learned this is a sign that my adrenals were failing.) Now I just limit myself to ONE per day and if I try to push it and have more I can feel the difference.

I just want to be normal again!

Minus the hypothyroidism I have experienced all that you have mentioned. That Hypoglycemic feeling I have had often recently. It feels like I need to eat, but even when I do that doesn't take away that giddy/dizzy/just not right feeling. I have just been placed on the BCP to regulate all of this, so we are doing opposite things. You aren't alone!

Just wanted to say welcome and hope you find answers and relief.GODbless

Hi,

I also write because I want to welcome you to Power Surge. Come around often. You will find a wonderful community of women here as you begin this journey.

There is a great thread on the site called "Weird Head Feelings." I urge you to check it out.

So nice to meet you.

All the best,
Marcy

Wow Patty...... I can certainly relate to you as this is exactly what happened to me.... I've been hypo for 16 years and had all the symptoms you mentioned and then some.... Once my meds were finally optimized I felt so much better and that was the end of that..... About a year and a half ago all the same symptoms I had with my thryoid came back out of the blue and with a vengence.. At first, I didn't panic at all as I figured it was the thyroid and went and got tested..... Then, I panicked, lol...... When my thyroid levels came back the same as they've been for years I thought what the heck is this now and where do I even begin.... I honestly didn't think it could be peri at all cause I had just turned 40. I really didn't expect that to creep up till at least 45. Guess the joke was on me, lol...... Didn't take me long to figure it out because within two months of the horrid symptoms appearing I also started getting my period every 21 days and then I knew..... But... the symptoms are so much like the hypothyroidism... Although, seems to me that the anxiety part with the peri is a little different than it was with the thyroid as I pretty much had constant anxiety where I phsyically shook with the thyroid..... This anxiety I have now feels more like constant low level low blood sugar that can progress to full blown panic attacks which I never had with the thyroid.

Rox