# Methimazole Symptom? chest pain?



## JasonJay

Hello everyone,

when i last posted here all of my labs were within normal range. I found myself getting a lot of hypo symptoms because of my high methimazole dosage, cold limbs, fogginess, lethargic, tired, aching legs, always feel like i needed more sleep, ringing in ears ect...

Anyway i cut down my doses little by little and feel pretty good most of the time with a balance of 10mg in the morning and 10mg at night.

One thing that concerns me is whenever im on higher doses of methimazole i get this left side chest/ribs pain that comes and goes depending if im stressed out or very fatigued and tired and also get muscle spasms all throughout my body. These symptoms usually appear when in my opinion my hormones get out of whack! it can be scary because the chest pain brings me lots of anxiety. A few months back i took a stress test an echo and wore a 24 hour monitor and everything was normal besides my high heart rate that was happening because of my graves(which is in check now most of the time).

I dont think its my heart that brings me these quick sharp pains that come and go but it feels like its spread out around my muscles/ribs on my left side. Usually appears when im under stress or very tired/sleep deprived.

i recently didnt take any methimazole for about 7 days and didnt have any symptoms at all and felt great but felt myself getting withdrawal symptoms of the graves coming back on and got back on the 10mg once in the morning and once at night and now find the chest pain and muscle spasms coming back on when im under stress again.

has anyone ever heard of such symptoms being caused by methimazole? could it be costochondritis? Im a 28 year old male, i dont drink or smoke and eat mostly healthy.

Any info regarding this left side chest/rib pain would be much appreciated.


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## Lovlkn

That's anxiety - I had it horrible while on Tapazole which is the same drug.

Did you stop your methimazole under doctors orders?

BTW, 10 mcg 2 X a day is a fairly high dosage. Please share more of your history.

I had muscle pains and anxiety the entire 4.5 years I was on Tapazole due to inability to stabilize and moving thyroid hormones.


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## Andros

It just so happens that w/Graves', I frequently had Costochondritis and pleurisy. You may be on to something there. After I had thyroid ablation, I never had either again.

This stuff is very very painful; indeed!

Take care of yourself and let us know how you are doing.


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## kathlav

Just before being diagnosed with graves I had pleurisy too, when the doc listened to my heart he noticed and irregularity in my heart rhythm, but nothing more was mentioned, funnily enough I am waiting results of a 24 HR ECG I did two days ago.

Although I am and have been within range (blood wise) for the last 6 months, I still get left side chest pain, and general rib ache I also still get palps, night sweats, dizziness headaches and breathlessness doing mild exercise like climbing a flight of steps. Have also been asked to do a 24 HR urine collection 5HIaa and Metanephrines(spelling)?

I am on a very low dose of carbimazole 5mg every other day (when I remember to take it), and am going to try for a remission in July. Like you just hoping it's down to stress.

The only time the chest pain seemed to diminish was when I was on propranolol.

Your right it is frightening, even walking the dog seems to be too much sometimes!

Sorry I can't offer more help but, maybe in July when I am off the carbimazole completely my chest pain might disappear if that happens I shall post on this thread.

Hope you get some relief soon, keep us posted.


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## creepingdeath

JasonJay said:


> One thing that concerns me is whenever im on higher doses of methimazole i get this left side chest/ribs pain that comes and goes depending if im stressed out or very fatigued and tired and also get muscle spasms all throughout my body.


Maybe it is because this medication is making you hypo....

I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's but don't think I have ever been in a hyper state.

If I did I did not know it.

At the moment I am very hypo and I get that rib cage pain all the time , both sides , even in my back.

It sometimes hurts to breath.

I was told I might have pleurisy but it turned out I did not.

Hypo or hyper, It has got to be thyroid related.


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## JasonJay

creepingdeath said:


> Maybe it is because this medication is making you hypo....
> 
> I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's but don't think I have ever been in a hyper state.
> 
> If I did I did not know it.
> 
> At the moment I am very hypo and I get that rib cage pain all the time , both sides , even in my back.
> 
> It sometimes hurts to breath.
> 
> I was told I might have pleurisy but it turned out I did not.
> 
> Hypo or hyper, It has got to be thyroid related.


this is what i suspect as well, whenever i get into this hypo state when on methimazole at a higher dose i get the skipped heart beats, anxiety, and this side chest pain thing. Im going to cut my dose down to 10 mg at night see if it gets better within a week, will post in here with the results.


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## Lovlkn

> I am on a very low dose of carbimazole 5mg every other day (when I remember to take it), and am going to try for a remission in July.


Kathlav,

Have you had a recent TSI? Just wondering since you said you are going to stop your anti thyroid medication.

As I understand, if you still have TSI then stopping the carbimazole will not result in remission. Be careful and on the lookout for hyper symptoms if you stop.


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## JasonJay

Lovlkn said:


> Kathlav,
> 
> Have you had a recent TSI? Just wondering since you said you are going to stop your anti thyroid medication.
> 
> As I understand, if you still have TSI then stopping the carbimazole will not result in remission. Be careful and on the lookout for hyper symptoms if you stop.


Hey Lovkin,

no i havent had any recent TSI. Im not stopping the methimazole only cutting it down to 10 mg a dayt from 20mg a day. To see what the results are. So far ive been on the 10mg for about 3 days and i already feel better, the chest pain has subsided a bit and the skipped beats have stopped quite a bit. WIll update here once i take my labs within a week or two.


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## Lovlkn

JasonJay,

If you are under the care of a doctor you absolutely must have labs before making medication adjustments.

Be honest with your doctor - adjust by labs and symptoms.

How long had it been since your last labs?


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## JasonJay

Lovlkn said:


> JasonJay,
> 
> If you are under the care of a doctor you absolutely must have labs before making medication adjustments.
> 
> Be honest with your doctor - adjust by labs and symptoms.
> 
> How long had it been since your last labs?


its been a few months. Im going to get labs done monday so i should have an answer soon. I agree with you about getting labs done first but sometimes you have to listen to your body. Have an appointment with the endo on the 8th of July so ill fill you guys in on what went down, thanks.


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## JasonJay

just want to update everyone, never went to the appointment and still didnt get my labs done. WIll try to do my labs this coming week.

So ive been experimenting a bit with my meds for the past month or so. I feel as if im MUCH more sensitive to methimazole now than i ever was previously, ive been taking meds on and off for graves/hyper for over 5 years now. This year is the only time i have ever consistently been taking it for several months.

Seems like the 10mg twice a day (10mg in the morning and 10mg at night) was way too much for my body, after i take this dose i get pains in my joints and legs hurt i feel extremely sluggish and fatigued and slow with skipped heart beats and sharp chest pains.

i tried doing 10mg at night and 5mg in the morning and got similar results to those posted above.

seems like when i skip taking any meds at all is when i feel my best, i actually feel normal and happiest. But going off of the meds for several days seems to bring back the hand shaking/ faster heart beat and then i would start taking the meds again and it would totally screw up my system for about 3-4 days and then my body gets adjusted to the meds again and i feel sluggish again and hypo. also i feel when im hypo and eat gluten it really screws up my body with skipped heart beats and its a bit worrisome.

Im trying to find my maintenance dose for Methimazole, a dose where i can feel happy and alive. Perhaps a combination of 5mg every other day? or 5mg once a day?

today is day 1 of 5mg once a day, im going to try it for one week and then get my labs done the following week and see how i do.


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## Mojito

Whoa JasonJay you be playing with fire! If I may say so in my humble layperson opinion lol. It's important to take the same dose of methimazole every day at the same time and at a minimum of two weeks (according to my endo 2 wks is the absolute minimum) then get labs, then based on labs and symptoms adjust dosage, then repeat cycle until it comes out right.....okay if it ever comes out right, to be fair I can't claim to be a poster child for Graves happiness. You just can't get any reliable data not with symptoms or labs changing it on the fly like that.


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## Andros

Are you opposed to thyroid ablation? Have you had RAIU (radioactive uptake scan) or an ultra-sound?


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## JasonJay

hello Mojito and Andros, thanks for the response. Well i had quite the adventure to the Emergency room today. will post it in a new thread to clear things up.


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## JasonJay

Andros said:


> Are you opposed to thyroid ablation? Have you had RAIU (radioactive uptake scan) or an ultra-sound?


i had a bad case of thyroid eye disease a few years back, finally calmed down a bit and normalize my eyes are bigger then they once were when i had no thyroid problems but no where near as bad as they used to be when graves first hit me and i let it get out of control. So Radioactive iodine is out of the question.

As far as surgery, it is a last resort. Im giving it my all this time around to try and reach remission. If it doesnt work i will have to get the TT


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