@MysticLord Regarding the hypothyroidism, did they determine a root cause? I'm going to guess it was Hasimoto's Thyroiditis? If so, do you have any other concurrent autoimmune issues, or this is the first one? With the new onset hypothyroidism, have you seen a significant amount of weight gain? If so, this is likely the trigger for your current upper GI issues. Weight gain is a common cause of upper GI issues, usually exacerbating what was previously a silent hiatal hernia, which commonly has the positonal presentation you mentioned you are seeing manifest. If you want to avoid what is likely to be a significant amount of radiation involved in imaging, an endoscopy and/or an abdominal ultrasound is just as likely to be diagnostic. If the endoscopy and ultrasound came out clean, then a CT would be warranted; I am just generally quite hesitant to suggest imaging involving non-trivial dosing of ionizing radiation if another modality can be used.
I remember reading a while back that you only absorb like 20% of Vitamin D taken through supplement so you should get 500% your daily recommended Vitamin D. Any truth to this?
That is only true for D2, not D3. This is why D2 is dosed at 50,000 IU. For D3, try to make your dosing twice a day if your D3 requirement is on the higher end as it is possible to saturate the D3 transporters in your gut if you are taking more than 5,000 IU in a single dose. Never take more than 10,000 IU per day unless you are absolutely 100% sure you need it. To establish that you would need two consecutive D3 levels below normal over 12 months time (so, 6 months after you start 10,000 IU, and again 6 months after that) with one test being done in March/April and the next one in August/September (since those represent the nadir and peak respectively for D3 levels in a given year).
For anyone taking 10,000 IU (or more) consider a Vitamin K1 (
not K2) supplement as well (phylloquinone, not phytonadione, which is crap), since it is the other important vitamin that is part of the calcium balance system. Absolutely
do not start taking Vitamin K if you have any type of clotting disorder, take other medications that impact your clotting (such as asprin) , or you have a known cerebrovascular or cardiovascular condition.
So since last summer I've noticed that Claritin makes my heart rate spike, usually at night. It wasn't anything too bad, usually it just jumps to 110 for a half hour or so and goes away. Tried switching to Allegra, did the same thing. A few days ago I tried just a regular Benadryl before bed and I woke up two hours later sweating with my heart rate at 145. This lasted for 3 hours and I almost went to the emergency room. Since then I haven't taken anything and feel fine, haven't had anymore episodes. I've been on allergy meds my whole life and have never had this happen and I'm kinda paranoid this might be a sign I have something going on with my heart since I know antihistamines can cause this in people with underlying heart conditions. I just saw my ENT and my blood pressure is fine, but should I bug my GP for a stress test or something? Does this mean I can never do meth again?
It's not your heart, you're experiencing an acute anticholinergic syndrome. However, something like Claritin, Allegra, or a single Benadryl should never trigger this. The only reason this would happen is if you are taking other medication that have anticholinergic properties, or you are extremely sensitive to anticholinergic medications. This type of reaction is very unusual. Has this happened in the past or just recently? Besides tachycardia, do you have any other symptoms of acute anticholinergic syndrome (dilated pupils, dry mouth, unusual difficulty concentrating, etc...)? If this is just recent, and you don't take any other medications with anticholinergic properties it either speaks to a new onset idiotpathic anticholinergic hypersensitivity or some type of cholinergic imbalance.
