I currently have a heavy cold alongside my Hypothyroidism and related symptoms.
I've noticed many of my usual symptoms hsve disappeared whilst I have this cold and my energy levels and mobility is greatly improved.
I'm wondering if there is some link? If the body's reaction that usually targets something it doesn't need to (thyroid) is redirected to somewhere that's needs it (ie antibodies etc working on the cold and virus) does this relieve symptoms of thyroid issue. .?
Has anyone else felt similar when unwell with a cold or virus?
Written by
K8TE
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Yes, I've come across this being reported before in people who are hypothyroid.
The only thing that comes to mind as a possible explanation (and I really am just plucking this out of thin air) is that people's body temperature rises when they are ill. Since hypothyroidism lowers body temperature perhaps having a temperature nearer normal has effects that make people feel better.
I have read that some enzyme reactions in the body work optimally at or very near normal body temperature. So perhaps your body is, in some way, actually working better than normal because your body temperature has risen.
That's an interesting suggestion. I may log my temperature from now on to see if I can link it.
I wondered if it was the redirection of antibodies. Whether the antibodies acting upon the healthy thyroid on addition to the destruction of the thyroid is causing symptoms. Some symptoms may be linked to that reaction rather than the lack of thyroid function.
I'm clutching at straws, but it's a significant change in me. Also, it's the first time since being ill (thyroid ill) that I've even caught a cold or virus. So again, that is a change.
I finally managed to lose a few pounds then too. I thought it was all the fruit and extra high vit C food I was taking/eating to try to shake off cold quickly one week before Xmas. I wondered if vit c helps but doesn't seem to have been the same/worked since, and yes I still carried on eating with that cold.
I'm still shaking off a wretched cold/cough after 3 weeks. The first 4 days I was ill, I felt as though I'd had too much TH, & couldn't sleep for 4 nights. I thought this was odd, & perhaps I'd changed to a batch of T3 that wasn't as weak as usual.
That's interesting Leverette, I had a similar experience just last week. A friend had visited with a nasty flu-y thing. I've recently upped my dose. And most of last week I was feeling very strange, I didn't know whether it was the dose being too high, or catching that flu. My period started late in the week, too, so hormones from that might have been part of it.
I'm glad to hear others can feel overdosed when ill. I've got my fingers crossed I can manage this dose and maybe another increase.
That seems sensible, but would indicate a usual insuficient dose as K8te felt better.
I stayed on the same dose for 4 days, then took half a T3 less for the next four days so I could sleep. I was worried I'd go hypo again, as I'm just getting my skin back to normal after messing up my TH intake in December.
Cracked lips & cracked heels - so much they'd sometimes bleed, & overly sensitive skin. Pretibial myxoedema or asteatotic eczema most winters, though that's associated with hyperthroidism. I'm not sure if perioral & periorbital dermatitis is also related to TH issues, but started in 1979, the same year I'm my pituitary tumour became more active, though I remember being cold for a few years before this, & had dry cracked lips from a young age. I'm 53, & still have very oily skin with only dry lips, shins & feet.
I'd used every commercial heel crack cream & balm on the market, as friends would buy me things to mend my heels, but nothing worked. The endocrinologist denied any of my skin issues were TH or pituitary related, & said I should see a dermatologist. About a year after self-medicating, I realised I hadn't had to put anything on my feet all summer, & my skin hadn't cracked when wearing sandals. I'd also needed to use lip balm twice a day instead of several times a day.
Within two days of forgetting a dose, & going straight back on to NDT instead of the T3 I'd been taking, I had to apply lip balm hourly which didn't sink in. My hands went as dry as my feet had been before I took THs, & were just as painful despite using the skin repair cream I save for perioral & periorbital dermatitis. I'm currently wearing an old silk top in bed as my bed linen still feels too prickly. I was using magnesium oil, to which my skin reacted as though I'd sprayed myself with bleach. It's been about 10 weeks since my **** up, & my skin is just getting back to being ok enough to try NDT again. This time I took Clutter's advice from a link she sent, & I'm introducing NDT slowly.
Oddly, the 4 days at the start of my cold that I felt overdosed, my lips were terribly dry, & again, lip balm did not help. It seemed to stay on the surface, not sink in, more so than before I started THs.
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I'd also needed to use lip balm twice a day instead of several times a day.
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