Re: Amy's pulse up; watery eyes

November 14, 2002

Hi, all,

I've been reading most of the posts but haven't had any questions lately as

Amy has been doing pretty well.

Lately, though, her pulse has begun to creep up. Yesterday it was 88, 96.

Today it was 104 when she got up. Also, she's had a watery eye for several

weeks now. I at first thought it was left over from a stubborn cold but it

has continued well after her cold subsided.

I had her on vitamin C for the cold and stopped it today, thinking it might

be contributing to the increased pulse rate. She's scheduled for her next

endo visit in the middle of December.

Any thoughts on this?

Amy's Pam

November 14, 2002

Hi Amy's Pam -

I'm sorry your daughter is experiencing these hyper symptoms.

Yes, the Vitamin C could be causing the faster heart rate

and watery eyes. Watery eyes are usually from overactive

" lacrimal glands " which are the tear glands. Those and

the salivary glands are closely affected by the thyroid levels. For

example, hypO will cause dry eyes and dry mouth due to decreased

activity of all glands involved.

If I take in more than 60 to 100 mg of Vitamin

C a day, I will definitely get a faster heart rate, and some

other hyper symptoms, even if my levels are good at the time.

Please see this link from iThyroid.com. It will explain

some of J's theories about Vit C and hyperthyroidism:

http://www.ithyroid.com/supplements.htm

Quote:

Vitamin C

Vitamin C is a very important vitamin but our society may be overly

concerned with getting enough of it. Many foods are supplemented with

vitamin C and many people take large amounts to ward off colds and

other perceived health threats. When I got hyperthyroidism, I was

taking 10 GRAMS of vitamin C a day. I now realize that this was

excessive and have cut the amount way down. I now believe that

excessive amounts of vitamin C may be a real problem for people with

thyroid disease, especially hypers.

Lately I've been seeing that deficiencies of antioxidants may be a

cause of thyroid disease. I recently ran across a study which showed

that cu,zn-superoxide dismutase (SOD) which is one of the main

antioxidants of the body, is decreased by vitamin C. This may occur

because vitamin C is also an antioxidant and may be taking up some of

the free radical scavenging jobs that SOD normally performs. However,

we have seen that hypers experience worse hyper symptoms with larger

amounts of vitamin C, and there are studies which indicate that high

amounts of vitamin C interfere with copper absorption.

These facts lead me to think that high amounts of vitamin C may be a

contributory cause of lower levels of SOD and thereby contributing to

hyperthyroidism. Also, vitamin C interferes with calcium absorption

which is another problem that hypers have. I recommend taking a very

low amount of vitamin C, if any, especially for hypers. Whether hypos

need more is something I'm going to look into.

HYPERS: Take no more than 500 mg per day. You might want to

experiment with taking none or 100-200 mg to see what happens.

HYPOS: Unknown, but limit intake to 1000 mg until more is known.

End Quote.

Best Wishes to you both,

Chris

---------------

> Hi, all,

>

> I've been reading most of the posts but haven't had any questions

lately as

> Amy has been doing pretty well.

>

> Lately, though, her pulse has begun to creep up. Yesterday it was

88, 96.

> Today it was 104 when she got up. Also, she's had a watery eye for

several

> weeks now. I at first thought it was left over from a stubborn

cold but it

> has continued well after her cold subsided.

>

> I had her on vitamin C for the cold and stopped it today, thinking

it might

> be contributing to the increased pulse rate. She's scheduled for

her next

> endo visit in the middle of December.

>

> Any thoughts on this?

>

> Amy's Pam

November 14, 2002