Anxiety or thyroid or both?

[Worry-wart]

I found out about 5 weeks ago that my levothyroxine level was too high. GP dropped the dosage and again still too high. It now has been 2 weeks into my current dosage and I still have a pounding heartbeat, most noticeably at night. Although I am no longer being suddenly awaken with my heart jumping out of my chest, it seems to have reached a still uncomfortable but less scary level. Getting to sleep is a task (and I'm out of lorazapam ). I have pain in my chest that seems to come and go. Sometimes just under the left nipple, ribs under my arm, shoulder and shoulder blade, all on the left side. I also get spasms in my left arm and a pinching feeling, dull ache in my hands and upper arm.

My doctor told me I shouldn't still be having the palpitations so along with that I'm becoming more and more convinced I am suffering from GAD. I currently do not have any insurance and am unemployed, which doesn't help, I'm sure. Of course I've had a few health related panic attacks to boot, but internet research and this site have help calm be quite a bit.

I have started to excercise, which is long overdue. and trying to be more socially and mentally active. Seems to help my mood but symptems seem to linger.

Any advice would be helpful.

Thank you.

[j2]

I don't know much about thyroid issues but this totally sounds like anxiety to me. The general aches and twitches are hallmarks of anxiety. It is good you are doing research but be very careful with google, many of us here have caused more harm than good to ourselves by looking up symptoms. I would reccomend a book by Asmundson called "It's not all in your head". As money may be an issue, try a local library. If you can't get it there, send me a private message with a mailing address and i will send it to you so you can borrow it. I read and reread this book when my anxiety is through the roof, it helps.

[Worry-wart]

Well, I did do some more research and found something particularly nasty about the medication that I have been taking. Turns out that one has a tendency to build a tolerance to Lorazepam and you can actually start to withdraw from it while keeping a steady dosage.

This answers a lot for me, as I felt great for the first two weeks, then slowly started having the palpitations again and the added arm and chest pains. The last dose I took I had to add and extra .5mg just to get to sleep and still I woke up feeling restless after 6 hours.

Last night had no pills left as the pharmacy did not get get a response from my GP. My palps are through the roof and my mind is buzzing when I close my eyes to the point that I feel dizzy. It's 6:30 in the AM and I haven't slept a wink.

I think I just need to get off this nasty drug and see what happens. I have no idea how long withdrawals will last or if I should start back on it and taper off.

Thank you for the book suggestion. I will check it out.

Edit:

I just realized this answered a nagging question for me and kind of confirms it. I noticed that I would only start to get the chest and arm pains at night. My anxiety would increase during the day as I approached my next dose. This has to be dependency.