Can Bikram yoga cause the thyroid to enlarge during practice?

Hello all,

This is going to be kind of a weird question, and I wasn’t sure where to put it, but I hope someone can help me figure this out 🙂

I’ve been going to Bikram yoga classes since around January 10, on average four times/week (I don’t go during my period). I practiced Iyengar and vinyasa yoga for about eight months last year (2-4 times/week). So when I started doing Bikram there was a little bit of a learning curve as I acclimated to the heat and to a few poses which seem to be unique to Bikram (rabbit) but since then I’ve been mostly okay/feel strong in class.

Today, however, I began to feel a little bit light-headed/dizzy after Eagle pose. I started the class feeling fine. I sometimes feel this way, but it usually fades after a few poses and I can continue the class normally. Today, I was working in standing head-to-knee pose when I felt that the dizziness was getting to be overwhelming and when I started to have serious difficulty seeing. I kneeled on my mat and just focused on breathing for a while. Then I looked in the mirror and it seemed like the front/lower area of my throat was very enlarged, and it seemed puffy to the touch.

Now I got a little concerned here because about two years ago I was diagnosed with a “borderline” underactive thyroid. I didn’t have any symptoms aside from a “slightly enlarged” thyroid which my obgyn noticed during an annual well-woman exam. From my understanding the thyroid enlarges when it is trying to produce more TSH because T-3 and T-4 levels are lower than they should be given the amount of TSH already in the body, and so the thyroid has to work harder and make more of the TSH in order to achieve “normal” levels of T-3/T-4. After the obgyn said my thryoid was slightly enlarged, I saw an endocrinologist who basically told me that I had Hashimoto’s and put me on Synthroid, but after taking it for two days I realized that the medication was making me incredibly sick so I stopped taking it. Since then (about a year ago) I have started taking supplemental liquid iodine (12 drops/day of Lugol’s). I haven’t gone to an endocrinologist since or had bloodwork done, so I don’t know how this (and diet/exercise) has affected my TSH and T-4 levels. But I feel, overall, very healthy, and I rarely get sick. I also take organic milk thistle daily, am vegetarian, and take false unicorn when I have menstrual cramps. Today’s episode happened on day 5 of my cycle–this is the first day my period stopped.

After I freaked out, I made sure to do the intense flank stretch (standing separate head to knee I think it’s called in Bikram?) because this is supposed to compress the thyroid and promote its health. I also made sure that my throat was open in cobra, camel, etc. By the end of class I felt a lot better, and by tonight my throat seems to have gone back to normal.

This may or may not be relevant, but since starting Bikram I’ve also noticed that when I bend forward (while not in class) I often get a really hot tingling sensation across my back, as if I were going to break into a rash, but there is nothing visible. I asked my teacher about this and he suggested that it’s probably increased circulation and possibly new muscle growth.

I’m just wondering if anyone has heard of this thyroid thing happening before, or has any guesses about why it might be happening, and if there’s anything I should watch out for. I drank TONS of water throughout the day before class (4:15 in the afternoon) and I ate enough, early enough before class that I wasn’t having any hunger problems. I’ve been reading online that most dizziness/fainting is due to blood not circulating to the brain, so I’m not sure if this would have anything to do with the thyroid. I’m wondering if it’s something hormonal (being the first day off my period?) and/or if something was happening biochemically to my body and the thyroid thing was a result of that, or if my thyroid was trying to pump out some emergency hormones for some reason?

Anyway, I know this is very strange, but I would appreciate any input you have!

Thank you!
Alexandra