THYROID/LOW IRON/MIGRAINE CONNECTION

I am the kind of person that needs to know why. This is why I have thought a lot about the cause of my migraines. Part of me wants to know so that I can stop them and part of me wants to know just because!

One of my theories is that initially my thyroid started to fail. Then as a result of that, my periods started to come every three weeks and were a bit heavier. That resulted in my body slowly being depleted of iron. The combination of my body being under stress from the thyroid failing as well as the low iron caused my brain to not function properly and also caused my migraines to increase dramatically.

Once I found out that my iron was low I researched what symptoms were caused by low iron . Some of the symptoms that I experienced were tiredness, being out of breath during slight physical exertion, feeling as if I couldn't get a deep enough breath even while sitting, very obvious vertical lines/ridges in my fingernails, night sweats, not sleeping well, lowered mental functioning and heart palpitations. I've learned that heart palpitations are NOT your heart beating irregularly but it IS a sense that you are feeling your heartbeat more strongly. The problems that I had with physical activity became pretty severe. I like to garden and I eventually started to do things while sitting in a lawn chair. Pretty humorous to shovel dirt while sitting! I've written before that going up one flight of stairs required me to spend a few minutes catching my breath. As indicated by the title of this blog, I also experienced headaches, migraines to be exact.

I've read many times that low iron can cause headaches. I've also read occasionally that low iron can cause migraines. I've also read that iron plays many roles in your body. This includes a role in making your brain function properly. Recently doctors have realized that during migraines the neurons in your brain fire out of control. Obviously a sign that your brain is certainly NOT functioning properly!

One of the interesting things is that my iron was not extremely low. Initially when I was diagnosed with low iron the only number that was out of range was my iron saturation. It was 12% and the acceptable range is 15%-50%. I was not considered anemic although those numbers were on the lower end of the range. The ferritin is the number that the doctor seems to watch. My ferritin was 17 and the acceptable range is 10-232. I've heard of many people with a much lower number. My doctor told me that he would like to see this number between 60 and 80. After starting to take iron, in two months my ferritin went up to 40. I was happy but felt that it would continue to rise. Its been six more months and my ferritin has not gone up, it still hovers around 40.

Although a lot of my symptoms have subsided to some degree I am not 100% back to where I was before all this started. Some of my symptoms are still totally with me like the ridges in my fingernails. I look at them all the time and wonder if they are getting just a bit better. Somehow, they seem to be the thing that I watch as my indication that my body still is not right. I feel that when they are gone I will be better. I would love to see my ferritin increase to at least 60. I think I would feel even better than I do now. Its hard to judge just how good I feel because I felt so poorly for so long that I appreciate these recent improvements immensely. I do not remember how normal felt.

My brain and migraines seem to be slowly getting under control with my medication. I worry about when the doctor will try to wean me off the medication. If my ferritin is still on the low side, will the migraines just come back? Since I am not sure how much my low iron played a role in my migraines, I am not sure what will happen.

NOTE: I purposely try not to sound like an expert, I am NOT an expert. I do not want someone to happen upon this and feel as if anything I've written is undisputable fact. I've researched a lot and I try hard to decide if what I've read is true. I also try to understand my own experience. Understanding is the key to getting well.