What happens if I go longer without thyroid meds?

[Diamond18]

Hey, I have Hashimoto's disease and I haven't taken my dosage of 175mg meds in about 2 months. I wake up with jitters and I'm sensitive to cold also always anxious. Wondering how long I could because I don't have medical insurance yet.

[Clutter]

Diamond18,

Can you get medical insurance for a pre-existing condition?

You can probably go for several years without meds but it will be impacting adversely on your health.

[shaws Administrator]

You need your dosage otherwise your body cannot function normally due to having hashi's. I am sorry you don't have medical insurance and it must put thousands tin a very serious situation if they cannot source medications.

I hope you get a prescription soon.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

Hypothyroidism is sometimes called myxoedema. In the extreme, untreated hypothyroidism can result in what is called myxoedema coma (also called myxoedema crisis). It is a life-threatening condition.

No-one can predict when someone will turn the corner from just being a bit low to suffering this. It could be a few weeks, a few months, twenty years, but whatever time it is a constant threat. It is probably also extremely unpleasant to live through.

Not taking a significant prescribed dose (and 175 micrograms is definitely a significant dose) is one of the classic reasons for reaching this crisis point.

This is a link to a paper that says a bit more about myxoedema coma:

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2...

Even if you never actually reach myxoedema coma, the damage that you can accumulate from untreated hypothyroidism can itself be very serious.

In case you find it easier to listen to and watch a video, here is one:

youtube.com/watch?v=0rbtZZ5...(Not working as expected?)

(I find it torture to watch videos a lot of the time - hope this one is OK but I have not watched it through.)