The connection between Lyme Disease and thyroid illness

[janeb15]

As many of you know it is beyond dispute that Lyme Disease and other chronic infections can cause thyroid illness, although doctors in the UK have not yet admitted the connection. There is a new petition that you may be interested in signing: change.org/p/secretary-of-s...

[dogtired]

Bit of serendipity just happened! 5 mins ago I was thinking how to word a question & I pressed the home key....the heading came up 'Whats on your mind?' your question was directly under it which is exactly what I wanted.......coincidence or what!!

[Hidden]

Thanks janeb15 I came across this yesterday and signed. I have zero confidence that the wishy washy and inadequate NICE guidelines will do anything to improve the situation. Thankfully the Lyme disease charities are not mincing their words when criticising these draft guidelines.

[janeb15 in reply to Hidden]

The representative of one of the Lyme charities is a very good friend of ours. She spent hours and hours writing an evidence based and thoroughly erudite and referenced response to the draft guidelines. NICE chose to not listen but rather to UK leave patients ill and dying. How can they live with themselves?

[JGBH in reply to janeb15]

They can live with themselves easily, they have no conscience! Could not care health... But what to do....?

[Hidden in reply to janeb15]

janeb15 I take my hat off to those from Lyme charities who've been involved in these draft guidelines, knowing from the outset there would be plenty of closed minds. I certainly feel that I've been left to die and homelessness in the future is a real probability. Patients should not be having to fund their own healthcare especially when public money is thrown down the drain on a multitude of pharmaceuticals that do little to prolong life for patients that have the "right" kind of health condition. It's truly a scandal.

I guess that had we been staying in the EU then this could have been collectively over- ruled/put pressure on by other member countries?

[Trixie64]

Signed.

[posthinking01]

and................in my opinion - it also has a link with Sepsis too - as the body undergoes serious illness the thyroid runs down to conserve energy to allow the rest of the body to fight the infection etc. - then as I have discovered if they then give the antibiotic Ciprofloxacin which depletes T3 - as they tried to give to me when I had Sepsis in April last year. If I hadn't heard the Dr talking about what they were going to give me I wouldn't be here now and I told them no way can you give me that and they listened.................thank goodness.

[janeb15 in reply to posthinking01]

So glad you managed to pull through that episode, and I agree about the sepsis. Lyme Disease and other chronic infections produce a raft of symptoms for which UK doctors are happy to prescribe sticking plaster remedies without looking into the real causes of illness. They are comfortable hiding behind NICE guidelines to cover themselves but give little thought to the suffering patient except to hand out antidepressants - because they cure everything!*?!

[posthinking01 in reply to janeb15]

I actually contacted the Lyme Disease people and they took on board the thyroid issues I spotted - this was about 3 years ago ...............so good on them for that ..............and just sent an e mail to an eminent Professor who has been involved with Sepsis regarding the use of Ciproxfloxacin with patients who may be low on thyroid hormones- every picture I seem to see where people have not made it look like sub clinical thyroid patients to me............it is a cytokine storm - and Vitamin C can help with that - which suggests to me that the adrenals are involved - i.e. a "thyroidy" patient would have some low adrenal issue to keep the thyroid going and it would then drag Vitamin C out of the body - hence the cytokine storm. I have adrenal insufficiency type II diagnosed - and actually got scurvy - an operation scar started to get wider and would have separated and my teeth were loose - thank goodness I realised what was happening - so I can definitely say that C is dragged into the adrenals to keep you alive .............indeed the body will drag every vitamin mineral and hormone to the emergency when you are ill. It is a fantastic machine and really fights to keep one alive - pity some of the medical profession don't do the same.

In 23 years not one thing has changed within endocrinology to show that they have come up to speed - I wonder what the other consultants in the fields of heart disease - etc. etc. would say when they eventually find out that most if not all of disease states originates from the thyroid gland/adrenals/hormones..........my late Mother had an enlarged heart for years - they were unable to give her thyroxine even though at 50 years of age they saw she needed it - she had an aneurysm on her spleen and I agree with them that it would have been very dodgy to speed up her metabolism. But.............I saw for 30 years her breathless - hardly able to walk - unable to turn over in bed without assistance because of the pains in her spine etc. - you name she had it - at 80 she moved house to another county where they didn't look at her notes properly and gave her 25 mg of T4 - to say it changed her life was an understatement - - they could have killed her of course but they didn't - no more depression - no more pain - etc. etc. - on going to see the heart specialist she asked how her enlarged heart was doing - they said what enlarged heart it has gone back to normal.............I rest my case................and she lived until she was 94........

[janeb15 in reply to posthinking01]

Sadly doctors in the UK have their own little niches and "specialisations" and fail to see the bigger picture. All patients with Lyme Disease and associated chronic infections have their own unique set of symptoms many of which (like Electromagnetic Frequency and Chemical Sensitivities) are not recognised or taken seriously. The interconnections between MCAS, endocrine issues, mycotoxin and other fungal problems, sinus and gut issues and countless other conditions are ignored but need to be regarded as clues to the possibility of serious inflammatory infections including Lyme Disease. It is very sad that these patients are forced to seek help abroad. Jane x

[posthinking01 in reply to janeb15]

as my hubby says they work in silos........................how many times have you been to see a consultant and he puts you through the same tests x rays etc as the previous guy but because it is a different field they want to do their own...............

[Clarrisa in reply to posthinking01]

Isn't Cipro what they give seriously ill patients who develop C. Diff (clostridium difficile)? Wow ...

[posthinking01 in reply to Clarrisa]

Yes I believe so....................and the other one they give for that is Metronidazole - which is another evil one...............but these are sometimes end of the line drugs so probably no choice in some instances.

Quote

If you are hypothyroid and taking a prescription thyroid hormone replacement drug like levothyroxine (i.e., Synthroid, Levoxyl, Tirosint) and you are prescribed an antibiotic, you will want to make sure that you know about how thyroid drugs and antibiotics can interact, affecting the absorption of your thyroid medication.

A study from the journal Thyroid found that the antibiotic ciprofloxacin – known more commonly by brand names Cipro, Proquin, Ciproxin, Ciprobay, Cirpoxine, and Ciflox — significantly decreased the absorption of the thyroid medication. [Keep in mind that some experts feel that the warning about ciprofloxacin applies also to similar quinolone antibiotics such as levofloxacin (Levaquin), lomefloxacin (Maxaquin), monifloxacin (Avelox), norfloxacin (Norox-In), and ofloxacin (Floxin).]

This means that if you are taking thyroid drugs and an antibiotic from the quinolone family, it could interfere with absorption, and cause you to become substantially more hypothyroid.

Unquote

source: thyroidnation.com/when-anti...

drugs.com/sfx/ciprofloxacin...

But...............I cannot responsibility for anyone refusing to take any of the above when they are ill - this is just to make you aware - they may make you feel worse and why. A bacteriologist came onto the ward for me and went through all the data sheets to enable them to give me IV antibiotics at high doses that would not affect the thyroid - they listened AND more importantly they learned from my case...............but I can't guarantee any one else would be so lucky.

[Clarrisa in reply to posthinking01]

The petition is only for those who live in the U.K. I assume.

[janeb15 in reply to Clarrisa]

That's the case I think.

[Clarrisa in reply to posthinking01]

Thank you for posting this. One has to wonder if the triple antibiotic protocols depress even normal thyroid function too.

[JGBH]

Janeb - thanks for your post. have signed the petition. Keeping fingers crossed. x

[nightingale-56]

Signed and shared.

[janeb15]

Yes, I see what you mean. That's very odd. Maybe leave it a day and have another go. Some people seem to have signed it in the last hour - not sure how. Jane x

[lucylocks]

Signed.