Hypothyroid on Levo. and been prescribed Humira for RA

[siskin]

Anyone on Levo and being treated for RA with Humira any advice and experiences please.

Thank you.

[Barrister]

Hi Siskin, me again, I'm hypothyroid too although don't have RA, I have Spondyloarthropathy. Seems like I'm collecting auto immune disorders every couple of months. I've just started taking NDT as I wasn't converting T4 to T3 very well but was on thyroxine for a year. Clemmie

[siskin in reply to Barrister]

Hi Clemmie had to look up Spondyloarthropathy, what drugs do you take to allow you to cope with that?

I have only been on levo since about Sept. am awaiting last blood test results but they wont be very accurate as had levo before blood test as wasn't expecting rheumay to do tests the day I saw her. Asked her to throw in T3 as I didn't want to go to docs next day for thyroid tests but she said lab may decline. So don't know yet.

Regards

[Barrister in reply to siskin]

I'm injecting Humira for my joints - I was taking NSAIDs but find that they make the colitis flare so really don't have any pain relief, which isn't too bad most of the time, just sometimes the pain gets bad. My GP is very good although it ok him nearly a year to actually test T3 but then he accepted that thyroxine didn't seem to be doing much for me. I'm not in the UK at the moment so my healthcare is private so at least I can get tests done. But you can't buy T3 here or NDT so I have to get it when I'm home. But my doctor is happy to continue with tests etc here. Clemmie

[faith63]

I would be looking into Dr. Mark Hymans info on healing auto immune disease naturally thru diet etc..Humara is not safe as it suppresses the immune system. Your body is attacking itself and you need to find out why.

[siskin in reply to faith63]

Thank you for our reply faith63. Have had a look at Mark Hymans web site and some interesting stuff there, and I agree with a lot of what he advocates.

I have been ill since 1994 and investigate anything new that I find and take up a lot of them. I know the down side of humira but can't stand anymore pain.

Regards siskin

[faith63 in reply to siskin]

Maybe if you feel better, for awhile, you can rest up and then start the journey with the food. I will be consulting with a Functional doctor again myself.

Good Luck

[helvella Administrator]

Found this (below) which most certainly looks to be of interest:

J Rheumatol. 2011 Feb;38(2):247-51. doi: 10.3899/jrheum.100488. Epub 2010 Nov 15.

Improvement of thyroid function in hypothyroid patients with rheumatoid arthritis after 6 months of adalimumab treatment: a pilot study.

Raterman HG1, Jamnitski A, Lems WF, Voskuyl AE, Dijkmans BA, Bos WH, Simsek S, Lips P, van de Stadt RJ, de Koning MH, Nurmohamed MT.

Author information

1Department of Rheumatology, VU University Medical Centre, PO Box 7057, 1007 MB, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is characterized by high levels of cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF). TNF appears to have an etiologic role in thyroid dysfunction, and thyroid dysfunction is a common comorbidity in RA. Anti-TNF treatment might limit thyroid dysfunction. Thus, changes in thyroid hormones were studied during TNF-blocking therapy in patients with RA.

METHODS:

At baseline and after 6 months' treatment with adalimumab, thyroid function [thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), free thyroxine (fT4), and antibodies against thyroid peroxidase (TPOabs)] were assessed in 138 consecutive adalimumab-treated patients with RA who were naive for TNF-blocking agents. Patients were categorized as hypothyroid, hyperthyroid, or euthyroid. In these groups, changes in thyroid function were determined.

RESULTS:

Prevalences of hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, and TPOabs were 13%, 5%, and 15%, respectively. After 6 months, TPOabs decreased from 267 to 201 IU/ml (p = 0.048). In hypothyroid patients without concomitant L-thyroxine, a trend for declining levels of TSH was observed. Subgroup analysis revealed that in patients who were hypothyroid and TPOabs-positive and L-thyroxine-naive, TSH levels decreased significantly, from 12.5 (interquartile range 6.7-18.4) to 7.1 (interquartile range 4.9-13.8) mU/l (p = 0.043).

CONCLUSION:

Anti-TNF treatment improves thyroid function in hypothyroid patients with RA (especially in those who are L-thyroxine-naive and TPOabs-positive), providing further evidence that inflammatory cytokines such as TNF have a pathogenic role in thyroid dysfunction.

PMID:

21078720

[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/210...

And official site:

humira.com/

[siskin]

Thanks for that Rob, has given me food for thought. Some recent thyroid tests indicated I may not be converting. So now have a decision to make do I try to get T3 prescribed or try the scary Humira.

Regards