The Relationship between Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Related Thyroid Diseases

[ling]

How many here with thyroid conditions, have diabetes?

How many start off with a thyroid condition, and then develop diabetes?

Informative piece.

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

[Judithdalston]

Yes, an obvious connection for me. Only on investigation for pain, did I end up being diagnosed type 2 diabetic, then within two years ( and TSH raised to 10 plus) got hypo. diagnosis. Chicken and egg situation!

[Treepie]

12 months after hypo diagnosed I was diagnosed Type 2 diabetes.

[bookish]

Hi ling, thanks for the link, really interesting. I'm still undiagnosed but hypo, probably Hashi's, and from old test results I know now that I was functionally pre-diabetic 2 years ago and only dropped again because of going gluten (all grain) free for other reasons. I was reporting all of the early warning signs of diabetes to my GP but was in range so nothing said. From reading it seems that there are links between cortisol issues and high insulin and that high insulin affects T4-T3 conversion. Datis Kharrazian says that constant blood sugar swings stress the adrenal glands which drags down pituitary function, affecting thyroid health. Have a look at Tom Brimeyer too forefronthealth.com/hypothy... Cheers.

[ling in reply to bookish]

Hi bookish.

How are u doing : )

Definitely a connection between cortisol and insulin levels and diabetes!

What were your early warning signs of diabetes?

Thank you for the recommendation.

Best wishes.

[bookish in reply to ling]

Hi ling, thanks for asking, I'm hanging in there - good days and bad! Hope you are doing better!!

The list I found of early signs is:

frequent urination, excessive thirst, increased hunger, dry mouth, unexplained weight gain (due to increased consumption of sugary foods) or loss (insulin can't get glucose into cells, body starts using protein from muscle), fatigue, vision problems (blurry, distorted, flashes of light), headaches, poor healing, yeast infections, numbness and tingling in hands and feet, skin changes/itching, sexual dysfunction incl. vaginal dryness. I had or have the lot...

This is such a great site and such kind people - we all keep each other going. My best wishes to you.

[ling in reply to bookish]

Dear Julie! Sounds like u had the works?!

Sorry just one more question if it's ok?

What sort of skin changes?

Thank you : )

[bookish in reply to ling]

Hi ling - the list I found came from healthyandnaturalworld.com/... and the skin changes bit says "Velvety dark skin, known as achantosis nigricans, can appear on the neck, groin and armpit. You can also observe other unusual skin changes and itchiness, especially around the vaginal or groin area". Cheers.

[Judithdalston]

Re. Your profile...in the U.K. it is the diabetes that triggers some care and annual blood tests in Gp’s surgery...HbA1C (long term blood sugar), some tests on liver/ kidneys to make sure diabetic drugs aren't harming them. Get these results sent to you to ponder on, before seeing the nurse ( not the doctor). But although TSH is done routinely with diabetic check even with the hypothyroid diagnosis you don’t get any other tests, and this result is not reported back, unless it is ‘wrong’. So took a number of years to find my TSH had crept up from good 0.75 to bad for me nearly, 4, and I had been complaining of hypo. symptoms. My Gp did nothing with cortisol result way over range! Sorry no experience of Graves.

[ling in reply to Judithdalston]

No worries Judithdalston, I appreciate your time and reply nonetheless : )

Ya, the graves could be turning me T1D.

I've also read through your profile. You are a WARRIOR!

God bless you.

[bookish in reply to Judithdalston]

Hi, interesting info, thanks. My TSH was 0.70 when I felt relatively well (prior to partial thyroidectomy) and without all the symptoms that I put down to thyroid, and is going up gently although nothing like as high as yours yet. My HbA1c was just under top of GP normal range which functional medicine people say is much too high. Re your profile - ridiculous to ignore cortisol and thyroid but interesting that they mentioned sleep apnea - I have read before about cortisol imbalances being a possible sign of sleep apnea and that resolving the sleep issue can reduce high insulin. The poor breathing stops you getting enough oxygen to tissues and causes pain (like fibro). Maybe have a look around the rightsleep website - vitamin D/ B's etc,- might be useful (I am trying it at the moment!) drgominak.com/sleep/vitamin.... Best wishes

[Judithdalston in reply to bookish]

Thanks for link...but B12 and vit D are always high , if not over range, well above problem levels , and I do take B Complex to get other b vits up. May be coincidence but one thing noticed about T3 only is that I am sleeping more soundly and not getting up 4 times a night to wee ( a fibromyalgia symptom) more like twice, but still wake up aching, but hands/ fingers moving more smoothly on waking.

[bookish in reply to Judithdalston]

No problem. She does say Vit D can be too high, that is a problem too, and you only need the extra Bs for a while once in the right range of D. I started to get more joint pain and am taking a bit more B5 as I was supplementing D without enough B complex. The whole article seemed interesting.

I am glad the T3 is helping. Ling's link article mentioned T2 and I see Dr Peatfield also mentions that T2 encourages production of T3, importantly T2 is effective in increasing liver metabolism (also heart, muscle tissue and brown adipose tissue) and can enhance breakdown of body fat without also breaking down muscle tissue. He suggests this may be why NDT works better for some.

[Judithdalston in reply to bookish]

.... but it’s the only plus I have had with T3 only dose....maybe NDT next!

[bookish in reply to Judithdalston]

Only just noticed you said the frequent weeing was fibro - I used to be to and fro to the loo all night but I've noticed it has decreased to quite normal since going gluten free etc. I was thinking it was more likely the blood sugar imbalance but am also diagnosed fibro - always another angle to ponder in this multitude of overlapping symptoms and conditions!

[Judithdalston in reply to bookish]

It is fibro feeling you need to go, mixed nerve messages that bladder is full (when it’s almost empty); my blood sugar control was fine when it was at its worst. Tho ironically now treating with high dose T3 I have been struggling with keeping blood sugar levels down, only to discover that high FT3 affects this, upwards. That is one reason why I am not upping the T3 from 75 mcg daily, and going down now - 62.5 mcg daily for a week. Keep discovering ailments over lifetime that are hypo. related...IBS this week.

[Bonnie64]

Hi, I had a total hysterectomy in 2007. Summer 2008 my thyroid withered away and gave up working properly, and I was put on Levothyroxine. Diagnosed with Diabetes type II in 2015, one blood test in March showed no diabetes then another test in late summer showed me to be fully diabetic and I was then put on Metformin. It must all be linked but now when I go to the doctors or hospital they stop looking for anything and just say "Oh, you're diabetic" Our bodies are fine tuned and can go wrong quite easily but I'm still alive and kicking. Hurrah!