Can you diagnose me aged 43, poor concentration, pulse of 44.

[fivecupsoftea]

Hi,

I have a terrible memory and concentration, is it just the way I am or is there something going on? I notice that my pulse is very low, 44 at times. I have felt better this winter since I started taking vitamin D, less light headed which is how I usually feel in the winter. My GP ran tests, but all came back normal, except my ECG, I had a heartscan but all was ok. I've been wondering about going back to the GP, but do feel like a hyperchondriac. I also have reynaulds disease (not badly), feel cold all the time, my hearing is not good, my eyes are deteriorating, not drastically, but a bit. I burp a lot, explosive burps. My arms often go dead in the night. I have low blood presssure first thing in the morning. I exercise a couple of times every week. I really worry about my memory. I notice that hyperthyroidism and hyperparathyroidism are both associated wth poor memory, could I have one of these, or something else at a sub clinical level? I wonder if I have something, which, if left untreated will give me dementia in later life?

[samuelwhiskers]

I would go back to the GP and ask for blood tests, don't feel you are a hypochondriac. Your pulse is unusually slow although you said that you had this investigated. I am not a doctor, but I can't see how you would get dementia by not having these symptoms treated. Your age of 43 is too young to have all these symptoms so make an appointment and go back and see your GP. Don't worry too much in the meantime :)

[RockinD]

Go get your thyroid checked out. These are all classic symptoms.

[noddyholder]

b12 deficiency? I had all those and now have injections every 8 weeks

[digerd]

I had a pulse rate of 45 while coming round after a GA- mine is normally 90 which is too high.

Your ECG was abnormal, but the scan showed nothing wrong?

That happened to me, but a year later, I had another Echocardiogram with a new Doppler type, and it showed a leaking heart valve.

I read up on it, and a GP should have been able to hear my heart murmer very clearly if he had listened to it, which he never did.

A pulse of 44 is much too low to get the correct amount of blood to your brain.

[Orianne]

Agree with Noddy. Ask for an Active B12 est if possible

[maillotjaune]

Definitely go back to your GP. Explain all your symptoms and your concerns - I have a couple of friends around your age who didn't want to bother their GPs about similar concerns and both eventually found they had very treatable conditions which they had put up with for far to long!

Don't worry about being a hypochondriac at all.

[digerd]

It is actually HYPOthyroidism , underactive, that slows everything down and makes you sluggish. Hyper is the exact opposite.

Thyroid is not automatically included in a full blood test .
Agree you should go back to the GP for further tests.

[fivecupsoftea]

Thanks for your messages, a nurse friend said to me that she thinks a low pulse rate can be normal, some people just have a slow heart beat, I don't know what to think, it doesn't seem right to me. My GP has already run the standard thyroid tests which came back ok. Digerd I did intend to write hyper - thyroidism, when I look at the symptoms of hyper and hypo thyroidism I seem to have some of each of them, I don't feel particularly tired, that's not really my problem, if anything I have slightly more energy, also an increase in libido, almost to the level of feeling uncomfortable with it.

[mercibucket]

thyroid, maybe keep re testing, but not in spring if you think it might be sub clinical. also check the results yourself. tsh well under 2.

[digerd]

OP
I had an overactive Thyroid - hyper, and when treated to slow it down was overdosed and was hardly working at all, so went very hypo.

My symptoms were all text book and very extreme.
It was a very long time ago, and never asked for details of my blood tests. But remember all my symptoms of hyper and hypo.

I hope they can find out what is causing your problems and be able to help you.

The increase in your libido could be a hormonal cause - oestragen/progesteron.
Good luck

[fivecupsoftea]

why shouldn't I have the thyroid tests re-done in spring?

[mercibucket]

tsh is naturally lowest in spring, so if you think you might be borderline, and need a high tsh for treatment, it might not be the best time to get re-tested, thats all

[fivecupsoftea]

thanks Merci bucket, I wonder if that is related to low levels of vitamin D then?

[ivykaty44]

a low pulse rate can be normal, my dad has a pulse rate of 42 when sitting and his resting heart rate is around 36. It was looked at last year when he was in A&E and they tested his heart and concluded it was his normal heart rate which is what he had told them to start with (but I was glad they ran all the tests anyway as it put all our minds at rest)

Op vit d by our government is not recognised as being related to thyroid but the canadian government do think there is a connection. There is a theroy that the further away from the equator you go the more auto immune problems that occur and this includes thyroid as it is often upset by auto immune disease ( the immune system attacks the thyroid and upsets the hormone balance being produced from the thyroid - which in turn upsets how you feel as hormones keep us running smoothly and when there balance is adjusted all sorts of things can happen)

[fivecupsoftea]

I have just noticed that I have virtually lost the outer third of one of my eyebrows, I know that i a symptom of hyperthyroidism, so I've decided I will definitely go back to my gp.

[ivykaty44]

but if you had hyperthyroidism then you would have a fast pulse, feel hot to the point of walking around with little clothing on and not ever feeling cold, very light periods, here is a list of possible symptoms - but you have poor memory and feel cold and numb


never heard of lost eyebrows, heard of thinning hair on the head, but the hair for eyebrows is different? why would you lose the eyebrows?

[mercibucket]

Eyebrow thinning is a sign of hypo, but remember that with hashimotos you can swing from one extreme to another, hence misleading blood tests.

[GeorgianMumto5]

You sound like my mum, who has...wait for it...hypothyroidism. Her memory was awful before it was diagnosed and for years beforehand, her pulse was very low. Years of thyroxine treatment later and she has sparse eyebrows.

[digerd]

When I was hyper I lost loads of weight despite eating all the time. My pulse sitting still was 160. I was agitated and nervy with shaky hands, sweating profusely in very cold weather.

When hypo, I put on 2 stone in a few weeks, was very sluggish, slurred my words and hair fell out. The worst was the agonising cramps I got in muscles I didn't know I had.
Just a few of my symptoms mentioned here.

[sashh]

Unless you are a long distance runner that HR is far too low.

Tell your GP you want to see a cardiologist, a pacemaker might make a huge difference. But obviously you need a propper diagnosis.

[fivecupsoftea]

Hi, I had meant to write hypo not hyper, I am cold all the time, I wore thermal long johns every day to work this winter,my hands are always cold. I get agonising cramps at times (nobody who hasn't had them can know how painful they are). I agree with you SASHH, that heart rate seems to low, a few people have told me it could be normal for me, some people have it low, I think well maybe those some people have a problem too.

[mercibucket]

what was your tsh and t4 and didvthey check antibodies?

[fivecupsoftea]

I'm not sure what test my GP did before, one basic test I think, I don't know the result, but he said it was ok, this was in about October. I'm going back on Friday and am going to ask to be referred to a endocrinologist, any advice on what to say to my gp would be gratefully received.

[mercibucket]

ask the receptionist for your results first, thnn if your tsh is near 4, ask the gp for another test. if there is no t4, ask for that, also antibodies. i doubt they will agree to an endo unless private, but worth asking