Can underactive thyroid cause palpitations?

Palpitations can be frightening when they first start happening. It may feel like your heart is racing or skipping a beat, and you might even wonder if it’s going to stop altogether. One possible explanation for palpitations is an underactive thyroid gland, also known as hypothyroidism.

What Is An Underactive Thyroid?

The thyroid gland is a small, butterfly-shaped organ located in the neck area that produces hormones that regulate everything from your metabolism to your body temperature. When the thyroid doesn’t produce enough of these hormones, it’s referred to as hypothyroidism or an underactive thyroid.

Some common causes of this condition include autoimmune disorders such as Hashimoto’s disease, radiation treatments on the neck region, and certain medications used to treat hyperthyroidism.

Symptoms Of An Underactive Thyroid

If left untreated or undiagnosed for some time periods, an underactive thyroid can cause several symptoms beyond palpitations. Some of them are:

• Fatigue
• Weight gain
• Cold intolerance
• Constipation
• Dry skin and hair loss

However, not all people with hypothyroidism experience these symptoms. In fact, sometimes there aren’t any visible signs at all except for high levels of TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone).

Understanding Palpitations

Before we dive into whether an underactive thyroid could lead to palpitations or not let’s take a brief look at what exactly palpitations are?

Palpitation occurrences fluctuate in their frequency between individuals; regardless of reason underlying them forcefully beats while creating uncertainty about feelings over one heartbeat.

Some common reasons associated with palpitates are;

1.Stress
2.Exercise/Physical activity.
3.Fever/Disease
4.Intake caffeine/acohol/nicotine.
5.Medications

Does Hypothyroidism Cause Palpitations?

The good news for those experiencing palpitations due to hypothyroidism is that once the thyroid gland function is restored with medication, the palpitations will likely disappear along with it!

But how does an underactive thyroid cause heart palpitations in the first place? Possibly by a decrease in oxygen uptake from tissues and organs over-stimulating your nervous system known as Sympathetic Nervous Slow System(SNS). This stimulation culminates into creating sudden increases and decreases of heart rate during premature ventricular contraction volume (PVC) which generate pulsation.

Diagnosing Hypothyroidism

If you think you might be suffering from an underactive thyroid, seek advice from a medical professional before taking any precautions. They can test your hormone levels via simple blood tests like TSH. The doctor may also check if there are any external physical symptoms indicating inadequate secretion of Thyroids inside your body.

Treatment Methods For An Underactive Thyroid & Palpitations

The treatment course recommended depends on whether someone has moderate or severe hypothyroidism caused palpitating feelings or not at all according to varying degrees. Oral hormones like levothyroxine help correctly regulate hormonal imbalance without causing withdrawal effects most of the time; although sometimes patients experience mild insomnia, headache, constipation etcetera.

For people experiencing occasional palpitation episodes, doctors recommend reducing stress frequency exercise sessions intake nutritious meals and avoiding stimulants such as caffeine/nicotine/alcohol consumption.

Nevertheless, until proper evaluation done by Specialists restricting unwanted activities offer considerably less benefit toward overall relief than medicines prescribed by experts.

Other lifestyle changes recommended to support addressing this problem include practicing deep breathing exercises (yoga), getting enough sleep daily , maintaining healthy weights using healthy oils such as omega-3 fatty acids supplementing recently have shown they promote cardiac wellness too.

The Importance Of Monitoring Your Symptoms

It is essential to remain attentive over your symptom changes during/after the prescribed course of medication as some apparent anomalies like early morning vomiting or bone density loss (osteoporosis) may indicate either excessive hormone intake causing toxicity problems, which require immediate diagnosis corrective measures.

If you have completed treatment and still feeling ill contact a doctor immediately.

Conclusion

In conclusion, palpitations are an annoying issue that could be caused by different factors inside our bodies. Hypothyroidism is one of these significant concerns where restoration thyroid hormones can lead to reduced number occurrences .Ultimately it’s vital to seek prompt medical attention when experiencing palpitation symptoms.