Subclinical Hypothyroidism

[Suni-One]

Hi: I had blood work done last week and the Dr. I see for my RA sent me an e-mail telling me I have subclinical hypothyroidism. I also have elevated kidney enzymes so another blood test in 2-weeks. If my kidney enzymes are not lower then he says I need to switch from fluconazole to ?? – forget the name but it is less harmful to the kidneys. I was taking the fluconazole daily but now 100 mg. every third day.

But what I want to know is if anybody else has low thyroid and when they began taking thyroid replacement, did it improve their arthritis (I have RA). I have been reading and reading but there seems to be a lot of different opinions and options – did the low thyroid contribute to the RA or did the RA cause the low arthritis? Some info I read said it runs in families, and in my case, that makes sense as both my sister and mother were on thyroid replacement.

If anybody could please give me some information or thoughts or insights if thyroid replacement helped their RA, I would sure appreciate it. I am just hoping once I begin thyroid replacement I won’t be so dog-gone tired all the time!

Thank you – Jan

[richie]

Doctors love to use long winded terms –I always say to a doctor –“talk to me in my terms” –Firstly subclinical hypothryoidism isnt even a thyroid condition rather its a precursor to the illness –many doctors just monitor with blood tests for awhile –if no changes they dont even treat –if TSH levels start to rise then they treat —that is my pet peeve -I dont think a rheumy or AP doctor should be treating these other other problems –rather you should see a thyroid specialist who has best knowledge in how to proceed –I think you are running way ahead of yourself in talking about thyroid replacement —
richie

[Lynne G.SD]

Richie is dead on right.If you are really worried you can do something as simple as putting one drop of iodine in your morning coffee if you suspect you are on the low side.Health food store have several brands and they cost very little.
My testing seemed to just wobble over or under so my doc suggested it.

[Suni-One]

HI Again: Thank you for your reply, input and advice. I suspected low thyroid for “ages” so last year I ordered Dr. Brownstein’s book about thyroid and iodine. I am originally from the goiter belt. I put myself on Iodoral – the pill form. I was taking the 12.5 mg. daily (c/w a list of other supplements that “go” with it – listed in the book). But then I read how the body itself uses ?? mgs. so if you don’t take enough iodine supplement you still come out short. So then I began taking 1 tablet, 2 times a day – 25 mgs.

For a while I think I noticed a difference but now I feel as tired as before. After a great nights sleep I will wake up feeling tired and by 2 pm (thank goodness we’re retired) I NEEEEEEEED to have a rest/lay down. I ache and I’m tired – dead tired. And I have a very healthy diet – cut out gluten, refined sugar and I juice (organic when I can find them) veggies & fruit; we have a water filtering system in the house so I am only drinking filtered water.

So I am taking supplemental iodine already – I was hoping maybe beginning “armour” (the natural replacement) might do the trick. What do you think?

[Maz]

@Suni-One wrote:

HI Again: Thank you for your reply, input and advice. I suspected low thyroid for “ages” so last year I ordered Dr. Brownstein’s book about thyroid and iodine. I am originally from the goiter belt. I put myself on Iodoral – the pill form. I was taking the 12.5 mg. daily (c/w a list of other supplements that “go” with it – listed in the book). But then I read how the body itself uses ?? mgs. so if you don’t take enough iodine supplement you still come out short. So then I began taking 1 tablet, 2 times a day – 25 mgs.

For a while I think I noticed a difference but now I feel as tired as before. After a great nights sleep I will wake up feeling tired and by 2 pm (thank goodness we’re retired) I NEEEEEEEED to have a rest/lay down. I ache and I’m tired – dead tired. And I have a very healthy diet – cut out gluten, refined sugar and I juice (organic when I can find them) veggies & fruit; we have a water filtering system in the house so I am only drinking filtered water.

So I am taking supplemental iodine already – I was hoping maybe beginning “armour” (the natural replacement) might do the trick. What do you think?

Hi Suni,

Opinion is varied about treating sub-clinical hypothyroidism and many doctors believe they should treat a patient’s symptoms and not standardized labs, which may not always provide a true picture of what is going on. The endocrine system functions like a finely tuned orchestra and a doc who really understands this will test all your hormones – ovarian, adrenals and thyroid (and HPA axis). Finding such a doc who will monitor you properly over time is also critical. Adrenal fatigue can also look like sub-clinical hypo-thyroidism and rheumatic patients often suffer from stressed adrenals, either due to stress or the rheumatic disease itself or to overuse of steroids. I have swung between high and low levels of cortisol and correcting this can can also help to provide a better picture of what is happening to the thyroid. See how symptoms of low cortisol can look like so many others things here:

http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/adrenal-info/symptoms-low-cortisol/

To provide an example, I went to see a holistic doc who did saliva testing for me. It was all good and it showed I was estrogen-dominant, going through peri-menopause. My thyroid looked fine at that point. However, when I started supplementing, at his recommendation on progesterone (for hot flashes and night sweats that may have been Lyme-related rather than hormone-driven), and then later he added estrogen though my levels actually were high(!!!). This led to my thyroid getting seriously knocked out! I also started gaining a lot of water weight in spite of my thyroid going more towards the hyper side. When I reported this, he shrugged it off and didn’t offer to re-test. I had to ask the receptionist for a testing kit and got it done, myself. Results showed I was 4 or 5 times way over the level of estrogen for my age! This had such a deleterious effect on my thyroid that I showed up with what appeared to be sub-clinical hyper-thyroidism, hot and cold thyroid nodules and thyroid antibodies (TPO). I then had to go through all kinds of testing for thyroid nodules (RAI, ultrasound and biopsy). This all occurred within a period of less than 6 months. When I mentioned this fiasco to my new doc, he said women must be monitored every 6 months with saliva testing when on bio-identical hormones (BHRT) as balance needs to be continuously fine-tuned. Looking back, I do believe that the first doc’s poor management of my BHRT was a contributing factor in the perfect storm that set off my RA (chronic Lyme, my mother dying and the crash of hormones from stopping the BHRT). I have remained clinically hyper-thyroid since that time, though my other thyroid levels remain consistently normal, thyroid auto-antibodies reverted to normal with abx therapy and my thyroid nodules have not changed and may even be a little smaller now.

So, just offering a cautionary tale, but also to say that finding a doc who really does understand how all the endocrines are intimately connected and will monitor them all very carefully at regular intervals is very important. Also, a doc who is wise enough to be able to distinguish the difference between fatigue, the aches and pains of rheumatic disease, and sub-clinical hypothyroidism may be your lucky ticket. The symptoms of rheumatic disease can overlap with those of rheumatic disease, so figuring this out can go a long way to feeling better over time.

Wishing you much luck in figuring this out, Suni. It is confusing, because more allopathic docs rely solely on blood labs and the docs who are more integrative and knowledgeable about BHRT tend to treat symptoms – not labs. The following is an excellent patient-friendly website to learn more about thyroid and endocrine balance:

http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/

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