Alzheimer's Disease and hypothyroidism

[Eddie83]

It has been my experience that some knowledgeable docs already know there is a connection between thyroid and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). That is, they know treatment with thyroid hormones tends to improve a demented patient’s condition, and they know there is such a diagnosis as “hypothyroid dementia”. However, there has not been a thyroid-AD link formally established. Which brings us to this article about Levothyroxine (or synthetic T4, the thyroid storage hormone), which is the usual first step in treating hypothyroidism:

goodrx.com/blog/surprising-...

What the author (an MD) says about Levothyroxine and AD is this:

"This could be very exciting. A recent study on rats with Alzheimer’s Disease showed that injections of levothyroxine alleviated memory deficits and improved levels of Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), a protein that acts like fertilizer for the brain. While it’s way too early to get excited, these results demonstrated that low-dose levothyroxine improved deficits in learning and memory in those rats. Hmmm, is low dose levothyroxine a place researchers will look next for AD treatment?"

(The "recent study" to which the doc refers, is at this URL:

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/299... )

Further work in this area (to carry forward the results from rats to humans) could give inexperienced and/or timid docs, relief from the strictures imposed on them by “standard of care” and the terms of their malpractice insurance.

What is clear to me, is that it is NOT “way too early to get excited”! AD is causing a huge strain on the U.S. healthcare system, and this information should be used NOW to determine if the number of patients who will need expensive memory care, can be reduced. Experienced docs who have partial or wholly private-pay relationships with their patients, are free NOW to run a thyroid panel on any patient demonstrating dementia symptoms. If a patient has FT3 and/or FT4 which are below their normal ranges, correcting these can be expected to alleviate any of the 300+ hypothyroidism symptoms which the patient has. Those symptoms include memory loss, confusion, brain fog (frequently precursors to AD). AD is also specifically mentioned in this canonical list of hypothyroidism symptoms compiled by a progressive patient:

hypothyroidmom.com/300-hypo...

[Marymary7]

Very interesting. Could explain my brain fog!

The first link doesn't open in the UK. Reading the other I can't help but feel sorry for the rats.

300 symptoms is pretty astonishing and I have had or have plenty of them. It does make you wonder how many old people particularly are stuck in homes suffering when this thyroid problem could be contributing. The same can be said for lack of B12 or Pernicious Anemia I'm afraid.

[Eddie83 in reply to Marymary7]

goodrx.com only applies to drug prices in the US. Maybe admins at that site don't want the rest of the world to know just how bad drug prices are here, so they block non-US addrs!

Non-wealthy US seniors are mostly on Medicare, including many in low-priced "advantage" plans. It's not surprising that these seniors are getting crap care; the docs just want to get them out the door and get on to the next patient.

[Stumpy57]

It makes sense to me. My mother started to develop dementia at 90. By the time she died at 95, she had many physical symptoms which would be familiar to anyone with hypothyroidism. No thyroid investigations were done and I knew nothing about thyroids as mine was tickity boo at that time. It will be interesting to see whether this research is developed.

[Batty1 in reply to Stumpy57]

My mother is going on 80 and I had to force her doctor to just do a vitamin panel, she doesn't eat well and was stumbling as she walked and sever leg cramps.. the vitamin panel revealed very low vitamin D and severe Magnesium deficiency.

I think many doctors don't care/think about testing vitamins and minerals or thyroid in their elderly patients..it should be mandatory at least once a year.

[Eddie83 in reply to Batty1]

Seniors and people with disabilities in US Medicare & Medicaid systems, do not generally get high-quality care. I learned this first-hand while I was parent of a child with cerebral palsy.

[Batty1 in reply to Eddie83]

Sadly it's true.

[Hidden]

I haven't read the paper yet, (don't have enough spare brain power or time just now!) but just to clear up a misunderstanding. Alzheimer's disease is not synonymous with dementia. It is just one kind (the most common one) of many sorts of dementia.

In fact untreated hypothyroidism will eventually cause a different kind of dementia all by itself - presumably as brain cells gradually starve to death.

It is certainly interesting that the link has been made. Although a friend who is a retired nurse said that they always used to test the thyroid levels of patients with dementia.

But those poor rats!!!!

[Eddie83 in reply to Hidden]

I have a few acquaintances who acquired dementia via head trauma. What's bothering me here is that doctors issue a diagnosis of dementia (of any kind), but then don't automatically do comprehensive hormone & nutritional testing.

[Hidden]

forum.alzheimers.org.uk/thr...

[silverfox7]

I read this probably 6 months ago now that dementia patients tested were all low in T3 and I wondered if anyone was bothered enough to take it seriously. I told my kids to make sure I still took my NDT! But seriously though it crtsunly wants looking into. I appreciated that T3 is so expensive, well in the U.K., but so are nursing homes etc and the fact of exclusion from family.

[Eddie83 in reply to silverfox7]

A year of decent nursing home care in the US is orders of magnitude more expensive than generic T3 in the US. Same in the UK?

[jgelliss in reply to silverfox7]

It's way more cost effective to give T4/T3/NDT than having dementia people put into nursing homes . I sometimes wonder where are all the Brainiac's that haven't figured it out yet ??? Could it be that they would benefit too by some T3 /T4/ NDT ?????

[silverfox7 in reply to jgelliss]

I saw your reply on my newsfeed but only the top bit so I accessed to add in my comment but you got there before me! Seriously though these things should be looked at more carefully but everyone more worried about who will pick up the tab! Quality of life is often sadly lacking

[jgelliss]

Thank You Eddie for sharing . It sounds Very Promising and Hopeful . It would be very nice if more studies would be made so that any kind of dementia could be eradicated . Meanwhile it sounds to me that anyone over a certain age would benefit perhaps with a low dose T4 /T3/NDT. Perhaps some of us can be our own *Rat Lab* .

[Eddie83 in reply to jgelliss]

So many docs are clueless these days, that we all have to be lab rats if we want to get well!

[Hidden in reply to Eddie83]

I had to accept a reduction in Levo to prove it was an increase that was needed. Does that make me a lab rat?

[Eddie83 in reply to Hidden]

No, it makes your doctor a stupid person! I am still surprised at how many docs don't know that the pharmaceutical industry has estimated the "T4 full-replacement dose" in the range 1.5-1.7 mcg/kg body weight.