Larry Page Has 'Hashimoto's Thyroiditis' Disease, And It May Have Impacted His Voice

[helvella]

Another "Famous Person" with a thyroid issue. This time, not a celeb in the conventional sense...

Lawrence "Larry" Page co-founded Google, along with Sergey Brin while they were computer science Ph.D. candidates at Stanford University. The two launched the site in 1998 and Page served as CEO through April 2001 before giving up leadership to Eric Schmidt. Along with Schmidt and Brin, Page remains involved in Google's daily operations and is the president of Google Products.

Read more: businessinsider.com/blackbo...

In the past year, Google CEO Larry Page's voice has grown softer.

Today on Google+, he opened up about the vocal condition that caused his voice to change.

His vocal cords now have paralyzed nerves, so they do not move properly.

He says that his doctors don't really understand what happened to his vocal cords.

So, he started to do some research on his own. The vocal cord nerves run through the thyroid, so he started looking there for answers.

In 2003, Page was diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis. He describes it as a "fairly common benign inflammatory condition of the thyroid which causes me no problems."

He really downplayed Hashimoto's role in his letter. But, he did include it, which suggests its something he's thinking about.

What is Hashimoto's thyroiditis?

According to Wikipedia, it's "an autoimmune disease in which the thyroid gland is attacked by a variety of cell and antibody-mediated immune processes."

The disease was first described in 1912 by Japanese specialist, Hakaru Hashimoto.

The symptoms are a little jarring (as come with any thyroid disease) and can include (also from Wikipedia):

Weight gain

Depression

Manias

Sensitivity to hot and cold

Chronic fatigue

Panic attacks

High cholesterol

Migraines

Muscle weakness

Memory loss

Vision problems, infertility and hair loss

But Page insists the disease hasn't caused him any issues. He says his co-founder, Sergey Brin, spins his faulty vocal cords as a positive.

"Sergey says I’m probably a better CEO because I choose my words more carefully," writes Page. "So surprisingly, overall I am feeling very lucky."

Read more: businessinsider.com/larry-p...

Link to Larry Page's Google+ posts:

plus.google.com/+LarryPage/...

Link to my PDF of Famous People with thyroid diseases:

dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u...

Rod

[Hidden]

Well, this guy is in the enviable position of being able to get the best advice and medication the world can offer. It's sad we all can't. X

[helvella Administrator in reply to Hidden]

Indeed he is. Just an outside hope that his head is turned in the direction of thyroid and his wallet opens.

But there is a history of money not achieving what it appears to promise in medicine. So even if he does do something, I don't hold out much hope. However, if he uses his undoubted brains (and Googles for information such as we post here!), then maybe, just maybe...

Rod

[Heloise]

This is odd. I'm watching a TV program with an English actor called

"Elementary" as I'm reading your comment.

So the actor opens a cupboard and pulls a prescription bottle stating the woman of the house had a bottle of levothyroxine for a serious condition called thyroiditis and she had been without them for a full week. Evidently tv show writers think it's serious

[helvella Administrator in reply to Heloise]

How very interesting!

Do you by any chance have the season and episode numbers? I would be interested to find out more.

The origin of Sherlock Holmes as a character was quite close to the earliest experimental use of sheep thyroid, etc. I am sure that Conan Doyle would have been aware.

Rod

[Heloise in reply to helvella]

Rod, Is it playing in the UK? (with Lucy Liu and Johnny Miller)

I didn't watch much of the show but it is listed as either The Heroine or The Woman on an episode listing. I thought it was a two-hour special but now I'm thinking it was may have been two reruns.

I haven't watched enough of the shows to know whether they are based on any original Sherlock Holmes' stories. It's probably too modern.