under active thyroid

[fruitsalad]

why can this not be cured, why do you have to take tablets for the rest of your life with this condition?

[Sachs]

Never understood it fruit. I've had this condition since the late 70s. It's an auto immune disease, hereditory. My gran had a goitre, my mum had thyroid & so it passed down the gene.

[sqad617]

It can't be cured, because the thyoid gland has stopped producing the hormone thyroxine.

At the moment there is no medication which can stimulate the thyroid gland to produce thyroxine again.

Luckily thyroxine has been isolated and can be synthesized in the laboratory and can be given to patients. Before the synthesis of this hormone, thyroid deficient patients went into coma and died.

[fruitsalad]

my dad was diagnosed with it but not until he was in his late 70's and now its my turn, i have been taking tablets for about 7 weeks now and my blood test said i was on the right strengh tablets but i dont feet much better yet.

[sqad617]

fruit...it will take months before you feel the benefit. It was slow and insidious coming on and it will take it's time get your body's metabolism back to normal.

[Graham-W]

My wife has Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. This is where the body thinks the thyroid gland is an invader and antibodies are formed to attack it. The gland gradually reduces the amount of thyroxine it produces until it stops completely.
As sqad617 rightly says, there is no way to reverse this and hence Thyroxine needs to be taken for the rest of her life.

[fruitsalad]

can you tell me if theres one particular thing that brings it on or is it like Sachs says its passed down the gene?

[paraffin]

I have the opposite - an over active thyroid. I don't know if they can be directly compared, but I've had mine for 23 years. It wasn't operated on, I was on carbimazole tablets for about a couple of years, it eventually settled down and I was taken off tablets, but it reared its ugly head again a few years ago and, although I was only briefly back on tablets, it's been a bit like a yo yo and has to be monitored from time to time.

Just thought you may be interested in a slightly different perspective of the same problem. None of my family has had this condition. When I was first afflicted with it, and before the medics diagnosed it, I too felt washed out, easily tired, had some palpitations of the heart, and had the shakes as if I was an alcoholic.

It seems like once you have it, you're stuck with it for the rest of your days. Good luck.

[sqad617]

Graham...quite interesting....Hashimoto, a Japanese physician described the disease around 1912, but thyroxine was not synthesised for another 12 yrs after that and in the meantine, patients just went into coma and died.

[Naomicorlett]

My OH's thyroid stopped working in 2001 and I can honestly say it took a couple of years for him to feel right. The doctor said that it would take as long to recover as it took to get to the stage of diagnosis.Even now if he is stressed then he tends to "dip" . Look on the bright side at least he gets free prescriptions!

[Sachs]

In your opinion sqad, are there superior & not so superior 'thyroxine' marketed? Also, isn't there a purer derivative available that I've heard of, animal based?

[sqad617]

Fruit....Hashimoto's Disease is genetically linked, but the other cause of hypothyrodism is unknown....? stress related.

[sqad617]

sachs...as far as I am aware ALL thyroxine is chemically synthesized, there are no "superior" types of thyroxine on the market.

[fruitsalad]

also is there any other medication you should'nt take with thyroxine, i also take a daily allergy tablet and wondered if it could do any harm.

[sqad617]

Thyroxine can be taken with any drug.

[MWB]

I had some thyroid prob about 10 years ago - can't remember over or under active.

I went to the nuclear medicine part of the hospital where I was given a drink & told to keep away from pregnant women for a day or 2.

After that it seems fine as all checks have been fine.

[sqad617]

MWB....it would be ov er-active and the drink would have been radio-active Iodine.

[MWB]

That's it, sqad!

I remember now. :)

[DEN53]

I had an overactive thyroid from the age of 10 years old - settled down when I was 15 - then went overactive again when I reached the age of 39 - was on carbimazole but after 5 years the tabs did'nt work - I had the radioactive xray and they said I had nodules on both glands - I was offered the radioactive drink to knock it out, but refused.

Had the whole gland removed 4 years ago - its taken a wee while to get the thyroxine tabs correct - I now take 100mcg and 75mcg on alternate days.

The best thing I ever did was to have the gland removed, after years of ill health.

[dot.haukes]

I was diagnosed with an underactive thyroid in 1997, i have been on thyroxin ever since, if i don;t take the tablets regularly i start to ache in my joints and back and my weight can fluctuate.
I know that being allergic to penicillin is all part of the same hereditary thing, i am also allergic to sea food, elastoplast, strawberries and insect bites. my mum was the same, ny sister has Lupus and I have had discoid lupus as did my mum. they are all part of the immune system problem.
I think i lead a normal enough life, my sister had to give up water skiing and I gave up horse riding because of the problems caused by injuries healing.

[Sachs]

Loads of support groups out there fruit.
http://thyroid-disease.org.uk/index.php?option =com_content&task=category§ionid=11&id=54& Itemid=82 xx