anyone have any problems with low thyroid levels or not taking thyroid pills before?
.. my girlfriend has went at least a month or two without taking her levithyroxin for her hypothyroiditis more than a few times in the past year, will this have a lasting effect on her if she doesnt take it regurally and anyone have experiences with thyroid problems or autoimmunehypothyroiditis before???
2 days ago
also, anyone know if low thyroid levels can impair the mind’s thinking abillities or cause someone to be moody???
Answering the second question first – Yes, absolutely. Low thyroid levels, especially if over a long period, can severely impair mental function. I felt like I was going brain dead as even the VERY basic things eg grade school sums, I struggled with (and I have 4 degrees including 3 at post-grad level!!). Also my brain was just verrrrry slooooow at processing things. It was very scary. I thought I was going bonkers and was so relieved when my doc said they was a perfectly logical reason for all my symptoms.
Low thyroid levels can also affect mood and can make one moody either as a primary or secondary symptom (2ndry due to frustration at the brain fogginess). One has to be careful because mood can also deteriorate into clinical depression, which could become quite severe.
Regarding taking levothyroxine. It is ESSENTIAL to keep the regime prescribed by your doctor. Some people are reluctant to take it because they feel they are taking something alien. But it is important to remember that you are just REPLACING a hormone that your body isn’t making any more. It is just putting it back to the level it should be. And it is a VERY IMPORTANT hormone.
Stops and starts are very bad for you because it mucks up your system and it (your physiology) never gets a chance to stabilise. It is like an assault on the system and can do more long-term damage. After a month or two of not taking the replacement hormone, the body would have become completely devoid of the topping up amount, sending you back to your baseline clinical hypothyroid level. And it would have been a gradual decline in function in ALL areas in that time – quite ‘traumatic’ and confusing on a cellular level. A simple analogy is the long-term permanent damage one causes by Yo-Yo dieting.
She MUST, MUST, MUST keep taking her levothyroixine because the longer the damage caused by the low thyroid function lasts, the greater likelihood that the side effects (damage) become permanent!!
Autoimmune Hypothyroidism (autoimmune thyroiditis) is a form of under-active thyroid function which essentially indicates that the body produces antibodies that attack the thyroid gland, thus impairing normal thyroid function. The symptoms are generally the same for all types of hypothyroidism but the presence of a goitre (bulging /puffy protrusion at the front of the neck) is more prevalent in autoimmune thyroiditis.
It is a miracle cure having my thyroid hormones coming back to normal. My brain is working again – HoOrAy! I’ve lost the extra weight I gained even though I was being hyper vigilant about what I ate (low thyroid hormones = lower metabolism = weight gain despite consuming the same amount of calories). My hair stopped falling out and my skin stopped looking like a parched desert! I’m also back to my jolly ole self!!
Have a look at the following links for more info:
http://www.endocrineweb.com/hypo1.html
http://www.medicinenet.com/hypothyroidism/article.htm
http://endocrine.niddk.nih.gov/pubs/Hypothyroidism/