Ebola detected again in Scottish nurse Pauline Cafferkey

[helvella]

What has Ebola got to do with thyroid? Hmmm. Sadly for her, but interestingly for the many who say that their thyroid issues seemed to start after some infection, the following quote from this story:

Ms Cafferkey spoke to BBC News about the difficulties she had encountered in her recovery.

She had experienced thyroid problems and her hair had fallen out.

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-...

I wonder if any of the survivors in Africa are now suffering thyroid issues? Wouldn't be surprised if we never hear - it is no longer a major news story.

[Treepie]

Sad situation,she was also treated with a new drug which presumably had not been around long enough to know side effects.

I suspect my hypothyroidism, if not caused by infection ,became debilitating as he symptoms increased after a gum infection.

[Treepie]

Hi, Londinium,I have edited my post replacing " tooth" with " gum" although it was so painful and around one tooth! The dentist prescribed antibiotics which worked. I was on holiday at the time and the problem had started before I left home.

Driving 230 miles I had difficulty keeping awake driving home was a bit better but from then on I was dropping off even two hours after I had got up.

I had been snoring loudly before this but it became much worse which is why i suspect the infection was a trigger speeding up what was already developing .

I have decided to live with my Mercury fillings as taking them out needs a high level of skill to avoid some Mercury being let loose in you.

The dentist I have had for over twenty years believes in doing as little as possible .

[Fruitandnutcase]

Have to say it was a bit of a shock to read that today and she now seems to be very, very ill.

I very much doubt if we will hear if any of the other survivors develop thyroid problems because I'm not sure most doctors see the link between third and other conditions - high cholesterol and low thyroid for example, my GP knows but isn't tempted to lower my cholesterol by reducing my TSH and I know we should take TSH results with a pinch of salt. OK I can see why he might not want to with me having been hyper in the past but it would be worth trying to get It down a bit, I always felt better below 1.00 and the cholesterol was lower.

So I don't think we will hear because I think a lot of doctors don't see or aren't bothered about the link between the thyroid and other conditions. Or that's I see it.

[helvella Administrator]

The Guardian's story is a little more comprehensive:

theguardian.com/world/2015/...

Wishing her well.

[Neeta-K in reply to helvella]

It doesn't surprise me as theres evidence to show autoimmune diseases are caused by infections.

I have been reading about Lyme lately. So many people with Lyme get thyroid disease.

I wonder if we never feel fully better, even when taking NDT, because we still have an infection that's not being treated.

[Fruitandnutcase]

Thanks Rod, much more information. After reading about the US doctor's eye I kind of wish I hadn't read it. Those poor people, I can't imagine anything worse than thinking you had survived and been cured only to discover that you weren't.

[Glynisrose]

Tottally convinced that any shock to the system, (such as gettig through a life - threatening disease) is all thats needed to put a thyroid out of whack. I admit that when I listened to the symptoms I thought under active thyroid!

[Muffy]

Post Polio syndrome comes to mind. If any of you have read Diana Holmes's book, 'Tears behind closed Doors', you will see that she had polio as a child (Chapter four) and never had the same stamina again until in later life, her thyroid was treated.

As you say, you wonder if any of those Ebola sufferers in Africa are now also suffering from thyroid issues.