Underactive Thyroid and Asthma

Hi I am just wondering if anyone knows if there could be a link between Asthma and Underactive Thyroid? I am not confident that I am adequately medicated for the Thyroid problem but GP won't acknowledge this i.e. taking 75 mg Lethyroxine and TSH at 4.3 which I know is too high! I am also struggling to get my recently controlled Asthma under control now. I am also wondering if having a Thyroid problem could make us more sensitive to allergens! Are there many people here that have have both conditions. If so I would love to hear from you. Many thanks.

[shaws Administrator]

Your doctor is being negligent when our TSH should be around 1 or lower. Yours has your TSH more or less at the top of the range.

Asthma I think (I have read before) can be interconnected with hypo. I shall try to find the link. Change your doctor as he is making your more unwell.

More importantly he hasn't tested your FT4 and FT3 I assume.

It really is ridiculous we have to search for ourselves how best to improve our thyroid health. The whole of the medical profession need a thorough up-to-date Conference headed by Lyn Mynott and Advisers, plus all of our members? (wishful thinking).

[Hidden in reply to shaws]

Thank you for your reply. I am seeing a new doctor at the practice now with regard to the Asthma. I am definitely going to mention the high TSH reading. It really is a nightmare that they aren't all reading from the same hymn sheet! The state the NHS is in things will probably only get worse but that's another story isn't it!!! Thanks once againx

[Clutter]

JewelsP,

The goal of Levothyroxine is to restore the patient to euthyroid status. For most patients that will be when TSH is 1.0 or lower with FT4 in the upper range. FT4 needs to be in the upper range in order that sufficient T3 is converted. Read Treatment Options in thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/about_... Email [e-mail] if you would like a copy of the Pulse article to show your GP.

Being under medicated can certainly cause shortness of breath.

[Hidden in reply to Clutter]

Thank you for your reply Clutter . As my TSH reading is too high it wouldn't surprise me at all if there is a link! I will email Louise to obtain a copy of article.

[Marz]

Related Posts - a Heading to the right of your post if you are on a PC. If you are on a phone then scroll down and down until you see the heading. When I typed Thyroid and Asthma into the Search Box here - over a 1000 posts appeared . So yes there seems to be a connection.

Maybe your FT3 level is low - do you have any results you could share with us to include the FT4 as well as the FT3. Private Testing is available through the main website of thyroiduk.org

Ferritin - B12 - VitD - Folate also need to be OPTIMAL.

Allergic reactions can be an immune response - so do you have Hashimotos ?

[shaws Administrator]

An excerpt from another very respected Thyroid Doctor in Canada, whose licence was withdrawn because he was trained like Dr P and Dr S and only preferred to treat his patients and not the blood test- the days before levothyroxine and blood tests:

Derry Responds:

Dear Patient From your mother's problems you mentioned, it sounds like she is low thyroid. I have discussed hair and eyebrow loss in another answer on hair loss. Clinically you are low thyroid. What is interesting to me is your question about asthma. You said your physicians did some tests and thought it was asthma. I would like to discuss my thoughts on why your physicians might have been correct. In the mid 1980s I had a chronic asthma patient who developed an inflammation of his thyroid. After consultation with an endocrinologist he was put on Eltroxine (T4). One day when the patient came in later he mentioned that the thyroid treatment improved his asthma considerably. At the same time, my office receptionist had severe asthma since the age 12 requiring constant medications and multiple hospital visits. She knew about the results on this patient, she asked if she could try thyroid as well. I started her on 180 mg of desiccated thyroid and within a month raised her to 250 mg. This was in about 1986. She has been free of asthma symptoms since then. She still takes some medication occasionally but has not been in hospital for asthma since. Encouraged by these results, I proceeded to work my way through all of my chronic asthma patients. At the time there were 22 severe asthmatics who came into my office on a regular basis for asthma attacks. Some came into the office once a month (or more often when in trouble) and some twice a year. Over about a 2-3 year period I gradually put all of them on desiccated thyroid. All patients improved tremendously. I would not say all of them were completely cured but the improvement was striking. Two things followed from this. By 1990 all asthma patients were on thyroid and thus from 1990 to 2002, I did not see another acute asthma attack in my office and none of these 22 patients came in for their asthma. The other slightly embarrassing problem was for a few months my waiting room became quite slow because of the absence of these asthma patients. From there I went on to learn what other benefits thyroid medication might have. So it is my impression asthma is a low thyroid problem which can be better controlled and dealt with by thyroid treatment. Two patient who have been on these doses of thyroid for more than 15 years have had bone density tests show their bone density was completely normal. Prednisone (cortisone) used for acute severe asthma attacks has more serious potential for causing bone problems. Thyroid treatment, especially with supplementary iodine (Lugol's one drop daily) does not alter bone density short term or long term. The only literature I can find on asthma and thyroid hormone was from the early part of the last century when many physicians found thyroid improved asthma.

remedyspot.com/content/topi...

[Hidden in reply to shaws]

Thank you very much for this Information shaws . I am convinced that there is a link. I will definitely be discussing this with my GP on the 23 March. I do hope that this GP will increase my medication!

[shaws Administrator]

This is an article from respected Canadian doctor whose licence was withdrawn a year or so ago and was also hounded by the Authorities because he did what he was trained to do, i.e. make patients well. It appears he also prescribed NDT et. He suffered like many doctors such as Dr P and Dr S. However, I think you will find the following of interest:

Derry Responds:

Dear Patient

From your mother's problems you mentioned, it sounds like she is low thyroid. I have discussed hair and eyebrow loss in another answer on hair loss. Clinically you are low thyroid. What is interesting to me is your question about asthma. You said your physicians did some tests and thought it was asthma. I would like to discuss my thoughts on why your physicians might have been correct. In the mid 1980s I had a chronic asthma patient who developed an inflammation of his thyroid. After consultation with an endocrinologist he was put on Eltroxine (T4). One day when the patient came in later he mentioned that the thyroid treatment improved his asthma considerably. At the same time, my office receptionist had severe asthma since the age 12 requiring constant medications and multiple hospital visits. She knew about the results on this patient, she asked if she could try thyroid as well. I started her on 180 mg of desiccated thyroid and within a month raised her to 250 mg. This was in about 1986. She has been free of asthma symptoms since then. She still takes some medication occasionally but has not been in hospital for asthma since. Encouraged by these results, I proceeded to work my way through all of my chronic asthma patients. At the time there were 22 severe asthmatics who came into my office on a regular basis for asthma attacks. Some came into the office once a month (or more often when in trouble) and some twice a year. Over about a 2-3 year period I gradually put all of them on desiccated thyroid. All patients improved tremendously. I would not say all of them were completely cured but the improvement was striking. Two things followed from this. By 1990 all asthma patients were on thyroid and thus from 1990 to 2002, I did not see another acute asthma attack in my office and none of these 22 patients came in for their asthma. The other slightly embarrassing problem was for a few months my waiting room became quite slow because of the absence of these asthma patients. From there I went on to learn what other benefits thyroid medication might have. So it is my impression asthma is a low thyroid problem which can be better controlled and dealt with by thyroid treatment. Two patient who have been on these doses of thyroid for more than 15 years have had bone density tests show their bone density was completely normal. Prednisone (cortisone) used for acute severe asthma attacks has more serious potential for causing bone problems. Thyroid treatment, especially with supplementary iodine (Lugol's one drop daily) does not alter bone density short term or long term. The only literature I can find on asthma and thyroid hormone was from the early part of the last century when many physicians found thyroid improved asthma. One 1911 study in a large Paris asthma clinic found thyroid treatment effective treatment for asthma.

remedyspot.com/content/topi...