Smoking cessation and thyroid issues

[Steni]

When I look back to the time of my diagnosis and the time before which I started to feel so unwell, I realise that this started as I stopped smoking. When smoking I honestly felt fine it was when I stopped that it all went wrong- I wonder did smoking mask the symptoms I must have been having or did they start up as the smoking stopped ? Has any got experience of the same thing happening ?

[RedApple Administrator]

Steni, I wonder did smoking mask the symptoms I must have been having or did they start up as the smoking stopped ?

This is a frequent observation on this forum. It's often discussed here but I don't think we've ever come up with a definite answer yet. I wish I could suggest doing a search to find the many other conversations that have happened on this forum over the years. Unfortunately the search facility is dire and doesn't help much

[Rapunzel]

thyroid-info.com/articles/s...

Mary Shomon has hashimoto's. My own thyroid condition presented whern I quit smoking. I doubt that warning of this will ever gain wider traction as the risks of continuing to smoke are perceived as greater. My own GP claimed to know nothing of this but as he is a clueless buffoon regarding all things thyroid that's neither here nor there I suppose...

[SlowDragon Administrator]

It's common for thyroid problems to become more obvious after stopping smoking

One theory is chemicals in smoking may suppressed thyroid antibodies

eje.bioscientifica.com/view...

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/895...

negosentro.com/why-quitting...

Thyroud levels should be retested more frequently in two years after quitting

[humanbean]

People appearing to become hypothyroid after quitting smoking is a common complaint.

One thing to be aware of is that nobody reports returning to their previous condition if they begin smoking again (at least that I've ever heard of).

I was actually classed as having a "borderline underactive thyroid" long before I stopped smoking. Once I stopped my thyroid function got noticeably worse.

[Tuesday28 in reply to humanbean]

when. I vape, my levothyroxine gets reduced, and when I stop again, it has to go back up! My gp always says choose one or the other. Nicotine works like levo for me, only better because it’s not in one morning hit, it’s over the course of the day 😞 vapes are so expensive

[greygoose]

Yes, I believe that smoking does mask the symptoms. I read once that nicotine increases the supply of T3 to the brain, which would mask symptoms, wouldn't it. Wish I could find that article again, but not amount of searching has come up with it.

[EMargaret]

Oh Gave up a year ago and I’ve been hypothyroid for 30 years but my levels went lower and I had no reason for that but I suppose stopping smoking could be a reason

[Kevz3016]

Same happened to me 3 years ago as I had to give up due to being diagnosed with emphysema, so yes I believe the symptoms are masked during smoking.

[LMor]

I smoked all my life (mum smoked 40 a day whilst pregnant) I gave up around 8 and a half years ago. Since then, I can honestly say I have never felt so ill. Like you, whilst smoking I never felt unwell....in perfect health. (Masked or not, I was normal, full of energy, never got sick) Now I struggle every day with various things.

[witchcat43 in reply to LMor]

LMor I’m exactly the same as you, had been healthy all my life, quit smoking 6years ago and felt so ill that I started smoking again a year later...then found out I was hypo. I’m seriously considering quitting again but worried about what else could go wrong.

[LMor in reply to witchcat43]

I have still held back from smoking....a little part of me wonders if I started again would I feel a little better, but it’s the hardest thing in the world to quit and after 8 years I don’t want to go through giving up again lol. (But trust me if I knew that starting again would make me feel human again, I would!!). Did u feel any better witchcat when you started again?

[witchcat43 in reply to LMor]

I started sleeping better when I started smoking again because my sleeping pattern went out the window when I quit but nothing else improved unfortunately 😢

[AnneEvo in reply to witchcat43]

Sleeping better is good though.

[AnneEvo in reply to witchcat43]

Did you feel any better once you started smoking again?

[witchcat43 in reply to AnneEvo]

Unfortunately no, not whilst taking Levo anyway...do feel better on NDT though.

[TSH110 in reply to LMor]

For me I began to ache like hell - nicotine is a powerful pain killer.

[Tuscansun]

From research it looks like it’s not smoking masks the thyroid symptoms but rather withdrawal from long term smoking reduces thyroid hormones.

[Zephyrbear in reply to Tuscansun]

Source?

[Tuscansun in reply to Zephyrbear]

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

[Timetraveler67 in reply to Tuscansun]

That would make sense except I went straight to vaping from cigarettes so had no withdrawals so I wonder if it was something else in the tobacco that brought on all my illnesses it’s good this has been brought up as I thought it was just me.

[Tuscansun in reply to Timetraveler67]

There are lots of staff in tobacco and majority is considered harmful.

However, if you were a long time smoker, your body adjusted to it and kind of “needed” it for functioning,

Also, I was surprised recently finding out that pure nicotine is a powerful nootropic and improves memory, brain functions etc. I found it in Dave Asprey book but there are information online - you can google it...

[Zephyrbear]

I can only speak from personal experience and that is that, while I was smoking some of the signs of hypothyroidism were there (increase in weight, unexplained brain fog, very heavy periods etc) but it wasn’t until I stopped (in one day!) that I really hit the wall and finally got a diagnosis and treatment with T4. (Another 7 years of that making very little difference to my wellbeing and I was finally tried on T3 and got my life back) So, although my TSH levels were rising prior to my stopping the dreaded weed, I didn’t actually ‘feel’ that unwell until I stopped. Whether that was because the smoking masked the symptoms or something in the cigarettes kept them at bay or, indeed as suggested above, the withdrawal caused a drastic reduction in the production of thyroid hormones, I am not scientifically qualified to comment on.

All I can say is that I felt a lot worse after I stopped...

[Steni]

Great insights - thank you. Would vaping administer the ‘benefits’ of real smoking I wonder 🤷‍♀️

[StitchFairy in reply to Steni]

If you mean in relation to thyroid, I don't think so. But I know nothing about vaping really. Just that having given up smoking myself many years ago, I wouldn't want to take up anything that I can get hooked on again

[TSH110 in reply to StitchFairy]

I don’t think anyone knows the true consequences of vaping - one reason to give it a very wide berth!

[Timetraveler67 in reply to Steni]

I switched from roll ups to vaping 2 years ago and got really ill almost straight away. Every day I think I may go back to tobacco as it may help me feel well. It can’t be the nicotine as someone said, as I’m on 6mg vape liquid and still hypo and still unwell.

[vocalEK in reply to Timetraveler67]

6 mg vape liquid is a very low dose of nicotine. Cigarettes gave you .5 to 1 mg of nicotine per cigarette. I had to increase my nic level to 24 mg / day to be able to get along with only vaping. It was only when I tried a pleasant vape flavor (English toffee, from the British company Totally Wicked) that I finally found the taste of tobacco smoke to be so nasty that I didn't want to ever inhale it again. That was in 2009.

I felt so terribly unwell whenever I quit smoking that I began to do lots of research on what was causing my problems. This was before the days of the internet. I used to drive 30 miles to go into the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda to look things up on their (primitive) computer system. Then I would find a copy of the articles in medical journals and photocopy. I have a vast collection of scientific articles about smoking and nicotine published before 2000.

I learned that, except for the deadly delivery mechanism of smoke, nicotine is a wonder drug. It increases energy, alertness, concentration, and metabolism, and reduces depression and anxiety.

So is it any wonder that when people stop smoking their hypothyroid symptoms emerge?

[posthinking01]

Hi there - I was a 40 a day girl once - but took supplements to counter act the affects of smoking such an amount and my skin is OK and not wrinkled like some heavy smokers. But........when I stopped smoking thyroid symptoms surfaced big time - have worked this out that smoking is a stimulant as we know but it also stimulated the thyroid and adrenals to keep working at optimum. So you are right -smoking and thyroid are related. In fact I found some research to back this up and prove the connection.

[StitchFairy in reply to posthinking01]

Can you give us a link to this research please.

And what supplements did you take to counteract the effect of smoking?

[posthinking01 in reply to StitchFairy]

Hi might take a while to search my files but I will find it somewhere - Vitamin C - every cigarette you smoke you lose 25mg of Vitamin C.

[posthinking01 in reply to StitchFairy]

Here is just one of them

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

[StitchFairy in reply to posthinking01]

Oh yes, that's the same one someone else posted here too. If only we'd all known about this years and years ago. The only thing I remember hearing about was that smoking caused lung cancer.

[posthinking01 in reply to StitchFairy]

Lung cancer can be attributed to low Vitamin C too and for information Sepsis is being 'cured' in the US by IV Vitamin C but will the NHS take this on board despite me writing to every Sepsis type organisation - NO - they would rather let people die - most Sepsis cases could be saved - the cytokine storm comes from the adrenal glands and so does Type II.

[Babette]

My thyroid symptoms started after I stopped smoking but really hit when I took up running.

[posthinking01 in reply to Babette]

Hi there - you really need to supplement when running as the adrenal glands will be under pressure - Vitamin C and Magnesium in particular. I think there are 'runners' supplements that can be bought.

[Rufusjill]

I was in great health, decided to give up smoking, immediately started feeling unwell had to be treated for ,h pylori. Then Gallstones-removal and under active thyroid , stopped smoking in October and all three issues surfaced by March

I had never really been to the doctors for years , now I

never seem to be away.

I’m convinced the smoking as something to do with it

[thyroidnodules in reply to Rufusjill]

oh my, i have a date set for stopping smoking (tomorrow) - patches at the ready etc but am now feeling apprehensive after ready all the comments and taking years to get my thyroid meds working for me but i reckon its still better to stop

[vocalEK in reply to thyroidnodules]

The patch did not provide sufficient nicotine for me -- especially after I followed doctors orders and tapered down to the smallest patch, and then off. I had to use 24 mg. vape liquid, to get off smoking, but then needed nicotine gum to ward off the mental fog. At least nicotine gum finally became available OTC.

[Timetraveler67 in reply to vocalEK]

Are you still vaping now? I’m impressed by all the research you did please can you pm me what vape liquid you found is the best thanks in advance x

[Timetraveler67 in reply to Rufusjill]

That happened to me as well, also I aged almost overnight with heavy wrinkles and teeth went rotten too. Also got virginal atrophy which happened overnight.

[Localstore689]

Most definitely Steni since I gave up a few months later bang under active thyroid I definitely think the two are connected

[vocalEK in reply to Localstore689]

It's the nicotine. Keeps some hypo symptoms under control.

[Steni]

Thanks for all the great replies!

I do wonder if the desire / need to smoke in so many of us was sub conscious/ physical medication of a condition we were then unaware of. In future when I’m frowned at for having been a smoker I’ll say it was medicinal 🤣

[TSH110]

Smoking does have a protective role but I have no idea why it protects against hypothyroidism

More very interesting info here

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/2...

Full text here it really is a fascinating read who’d have thought the humble fag could do all this:

journals.viamedica.pl/endok...

I’m an ex 60 a day woman 😳

[Pearlteapot]

very interesting antique thread. I’m another person who was diagnosed hypothyroid after stopping smoking. About a year later I started smoking again and a year after that (2 months ago) stopped again. I’ve gone bradycardic again and put on tons of weight, despite being fully replaced. It’s as if my dose while smoking now needs to be ramped up. However my thyroid blood levels are quite high. I’m on 35m g lio and 125 levo with t3 around 5.8 and t4 at 16 from memory. So I’m guessing that stopping smoking affects cellular take up.