Levothyroxine And Heart Problems

hi can anyone help please, im worried sick about my partner, he underwent chemo and radio therapy for throat cancer in 2011 , found out last year that his thyroid had been damaged by the radiotherapy , so the doctor put him on 50mcg of levothyroxine for one week then dose was raised from 50mcg to 100mcg within the first week of treatment then increased again after about a month to 125mcg, all was okay until the dose of 125mcg was taken within weeks he was really ill and it was everyday vomiting , dehydration, red face , and talking at an extreme rate, forgetfulness after another trip to the doctors i managed to convince the doctor that symptoms only got worse when he started taking the 125 dose,because the doctor said levothyroxide did not cause side effects, [so why do the leaflets inside the box say they do ?] anyway this had been an ongoing problem with every blood test stating dose increase so his been swinging back and forth between doses, he decided that he would start to take the meds at night incase any other medication he was taking was reacting with it, so from august this year 2013, he started taking the 100mcg dose at night,all was okay for a while he felt so much better from changing from am to pm , then when we had that really hot weather this year i noticed a change in his voice, and a dry cough, the best way to describe his voice was it sounded like he was talking from just his mouth with nothing coming up from the throat, i thought he was maybe dehydrated so i kept urging him to drink water, this became worse very quickly , he was coughing up clear phlegm of his chest and it was constant day and night, he had also lost his voice completely by september ,, after a check up in the middle of september for his origanal cancer his consultant could not check deep enough in his throat because of phlegm in the chest area, but did see a suspicious area in his throat of a white mass, a ct scan was done in the middle of september and we heard nothing back from it until around the start of october, when he had to go in for a pre-op for the consultant to put him under for biopsies and tracheotomy , whilst at the pre- op we was told there was a small shadow on his right lung in which they did not no what it was, anyway to cut a long story short his vitals was done and his heart rate was 168 bpm , everything else was fine , he had to go into resuscitation where xrays was done and blood tests , the x ray showed the shadow and blood tests showed elevated white blood cells , the doctors said it was a lower respiratory track bacterial infection which is causing atrial fibrillation was prescribed some strong antibiotics had iv fluids and was sent home, the antibotics did work it cleared the phlem and he got his voice back, after the 5 day course of antibotics he was okay for about 1 week and after a doctors check up was sent straight back to hospital again with racing heart beat , an x ray and blood tests was performed again , the x ray showed that the shadow on his lung had increased in size, and again elevated white blood count , he was prescribed more antibotics and again sent home, about 1 week ago we went back to the MAU for check up and again racing heart , the doctor said he had pulmonary congestion from lower respiratory track infection and asked if he was still taking his thyroid medication as his previous results from before he swapped from am to pm was all over the place , he said yes in which he does , but i happened to glance over at the computer and seen part of the blood test results i seen his TSH levels on the monitor in big red letters but T4 was in range , i did a bit of research on the T4 and T3 levels, but i didn't really understand it, is TSH T3 ? i think i looked to much into the thyroid and respiratory infections and scared myself so much i keep waking up at night worried that he will not be able to breathe so i keep checking his pulse rate, and researching over and over again if its something im giving him via his peg feeding tube that has elevated the problem, everything you read on the internet all has the same symptoms so every infection you think could be the course , whilst i bypass the other answers that have either cancer in the title or death , im just to frightened to read those ones, does anyone think it could be possible that prehapes the thyorid is causing this and now with the stable T4 levels could it just be the body getting use to it now, i checked his heart rate throughout the night again last night because he was making some snoring sounds , and i read some where that snoring is a sign of heart failure,again his heart rate was 130 to 140 and was like that all day on and off until around 6pm when he took his vepramil and dropped down between 50 and 80 bpm after his levothyoxide at 8 pm, , could it be all connected some how since the change in time , and if so how long will this go on for im so worried that his heart wont cope any advice would be much appreciated .thank you

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Hi chrystal,

I'm so sorry to hear about what you and your partner have been going through!

Based on my research, patients who are prescribed too high a dose of levothyroxine may experience effects that mimic hyperthyroidism. Overdose can result in heart palpitations, abdominal pain, nausea, anxiousness, confusion, agitation, insomnia, weight loss, and increased appetite.

It's odd that the doctor would say that there aren't side effects, because even if side effects aren't common that doesn't mean no one will experience any.

I can't say for sure when the problems will subside, but it does sound as if his body may be having a reaction to the higher dose of Levothyroxine he was given.

If I can recommend anything, it would be to try and keep his and your stress levels normal (through supplementation, deep breathing etc..). I know that sounds like a large order right now, but stress can wreak serious havoc on the body and especially the heart. Also, eating a clean diet full of fruits and veggies (green smoothes may be a better option) can help the body heal itself from the inside out. Just be sure to let your doctor know before making any changes to his diet.

You can learn more about this drug on the page for Levothyroxine Details

I wish you and your partner the best of luck! Please post back if you have any more questions.

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