Kidney function and thyroid: My kidney function... - Thyroid UK

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Kidney function and thyroid

Nanaedake profile image
6 Replies

My kidney function though still reasonable has plunged since I had my thyroid mostly removed. Does anyone know if there is an association between thyroid dysfunction and kidneys? Is there anything that can improve it? I don't drink or smoke so as far as I'm aware I'm not doing anything that would reduce function.

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Nanaedake profile image
Nanaedake
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shaws profile image
shawsAdministrator

Yes, there is a connection and these are a couple of links:-

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

wellnessresources.com/healt...

If you look at the right-hand side you will see Related Posts re kidney functon.

Nanaedake profile image
Nanaedake in reply to shaws

Ok, thanks, the more I read the more surprised I am. I'm especially surprised at how the NHS treats thyroid dysfunction in such a cavalier way when it has such an enormous impact on health. Now I'm wondering if we just have to accept these changes to our health or are there things we can do to ameliorate the affects on kidneys?

Dreamer12 profile image
Dreamer12 in reply to Nanaedake

Nanaedake

My Nephrologist advised me to drink lots of water 😀

crimple profile image
crimple

Since you have little thyroid left what medication are you on to replace your thyroid hormones. Have you any thyroid bloodtest results. If your thyroid (lack of) is not treated or under treated then your kidney function will on ly improve when thyroid hormones are optimal. The reason so many people come to this site is because NHS is mostly useless at treating thyroid. They will tell you that you only need to take one tablet a day and you will be fine! Utter c.....! As for ensuring that vitamin levels are optimal you might as well be speaking another language! If you have any thyroid results post them on here also any results for ferritin, folate, B12 and Vit D.

Nanaedake profile image
Nanaedake

Thank you for your response Crimple. My thyroid results are good in as much as the NHS will test them (no FT3 done here). I keep TSH at 0.5 and T4 is high in range. I have optimised all vitamin levels. D was a little low in range but because it's now summer I'm making sure I get sunshine everyday. All the B's are fine after supplementing. I've been reading all the good advice about vitamins here. There is some possible caution needed with vitamins if kidneys aren't working well so I'm trying to find out more. I've started reading about the role of T3 in kidney linked with thyroid but it's complicated and the research is limited. I didn't know there was a link until now. Some of the scientific papers say there seems to be a low T3 syndrome but it's not necessarily corrected by exogenous T3. I'm not sure if that is only for people with severe kidney dysfunction though? There's so much to learn.

Dreamer12 profile image
Dreamer12

Hi Nanaedake

There are many research papers about hypothyroidism and the kidneys. I have both conditions and since I had treatment for my thyroid - T4/T3 .. my kidney function doubled in 8 months and my creatine levels halved. Xx

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