Corona Virus and Hypothyroid

[celticlady]

Does anyone know anything about our vulnerability to Covid 19? As we have an auto immune disease do we have to be extra careful? My doctor fobbed me off as he didn't have a clue-just wondered if there was anyone out there who may have gathered insight into this. Many thanks.

[Lora7again]

I think anyone who is suffering with any kind of autoimmune disease needs to be careful to avoid covid. I don't have anything to back this up but I do think I might have had it back in January and I was sent to A & E because my GP thought I was going to have a thyroid storm. I was ill for about 8 weeks altogether and only recovered when I was given a course of steroids.

Here is a link to my thread about it

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

[celticlady in reply to Lora7again]

Good to hear you've recovered. I know a few people who contracted Covid in January-undiagnosed but with all the symptoms-coughing/fever/gastric issues and some have still got neurological issues (long covid possibly). I think we should all take extra care and keep away from close contact with people and all the recommended rules.

[Lora7again in reply to celticlady]

Yes I feel ok thank you. I have filled in a couple of forms about it asking if I can be tested to see if I have the antibodies but I have heard nothing yet. What I find strange is some people can have it and have no symptoms. An elderly relative of someone I know was tested to see if she had the antibodies and she did have them but had never had any symptoms of covid. I wish they would do mass testing to see who does have the antibodies because I bet there are loads of people who do have them.

[Angel_of_the_North in reply to Lora7again]

Most people don't make antibodies as the disease is dealt with by the innate immune system (T-cells), which most of the tests don't pick up - as the ones that do are expensive. It seems that most people who have antibodies are the ones who had worse symptoms (presumably because their T-cells didn't deal with it)

[diogenes Remembering]

This post from the British Thyroid Foundation will help you. It has lots of information. Type into Google "covid and T4 treatment" and the site appears at the top of the page:

FAQs about thyroid disease and Coronavirus (Covid-19)

[celticlady in reply to diogenes]

Thank you.

[RedApple Administrator in reply to celticlady]

celticlady, Here's the link to the BTF FAQ page that diogenes refers to. btf-thyroid.org/news/thyroi...

[Hidden]

Personally I am loathe to believe anybody's opinion of any problems between Covid and hypothyroidism ESPECIALLY that given by by the British Thyroid Foundation/Association.

I do believe there could be some problems and therefore take great care despite the fact that I do not have an auto immune illness (Hashimoto) but merely the lack of my thyroid gland.

Covid seems to affect mostly those with immunity problems and I strongly believe I developed kidney cancer due to a weakening of my immune system when taking levothyroxine.

[tattybogle]

Personally ,i'm torn between thinking that since my immune system is clearly capable of getting trigger happy and killing things, (including bits of my thyroid unfortunately)it's probably more than capable of killing covid....possibly more so than if i didn't have Autoimmune thyroid disease. It is in effect an overactive immune system not a supressed one.

And on the other hand thinking i'm not on great shape physically anymore so covid would hit me harder than others...

As for getting long covid..... i wouldn't be able to tell the difference to my current lack of function....

But seriously though , i haven't seen anything that indicates that Autoimmune thyroid patients are at any greater risk of either catching covid , or having a bad outcome from it than anyone else. And the studies i've seen on Thyroid Function Tests done on covid patients seem to only show the same pattern of NTI (non thyroidal illness) ie. temporarily deranged TFT's that you would expect from any other serious illness in people without thyroid disease

[Lora7again in reply to tattybogle]

Well I felt very ill when I think I had it back in January. I was eating paracetamol like sweets trying to keep my temperature down. I said to my husband at the time that I had never had a flu bug like this before and I am 60 so I have had flu a lot in the past. I would like to know if I had covid and I think they might be able to tell by looking at the x-ray I had in February which the doctor said showed I had inflamed lungs. As soon as I started taking the steroids I started to feel a lot better after over 6 weeks of feeling dreadful.

[tattybogle in reply to Lora7again]

I've decided to play safe, and try extremely hard not to catch it.

I bet x rays of the lungs are much better proof of it than all these testing swabs.

so glad you recovered ok , and hopefully your immune system is now primed to recognise it in future .

[Thenightowl in reply to tattybogle]

I read that it can be difficult to see it on an x-ray and can be missed. I was poorly for all of January and eventually had a lung x-ray which was fine. Most scary cough I've ever had, fever etc.

[celticlady in reply to Lora7again]

My friend (63) celebrated New Year in Keswick,staying in her elderly (80+) parents' caravan. She was out in the pub at midnight hugging and auld lang syneing and spent a further few days with them in the van. She returned home and started with 'the cough from hell' and like you felt dreadful for weeks. Over it now but the strange thing was that Mum and Dad were fighting fit!!! All that close proximity in the caravan and tactile stuff. Unbelievable. If all else fails hopefully we can get hold of the stuff they gave Donald!

Take Care

[Lora7again in reply to celticlady]

I still don't know where I got my "flu" from. My son had been suffering from a cold for about a week and recovered and then both myself and my husband got this horrible cough. He had the same as me but didn't need any treatment so just soldiered on for about 10 weeks of coughing. He did go to the GP but was informed his chest was clear even though he could not stop coughing all the time.

[MichelleHarris in reply to Lora7again]

I remember you being really poorly. If you didnt have covid I’ll eat my hat 😄

[RedApple Administrator in reply to tattybogle]

According to the BTF info that diogenes refers to above, the part of the immune system that's killing off our thyroid isn't the same part as the immune system that kills viruses

'The part of the immune system that’s responsible for autoimmune thyroid conditions is separate to the immune system that’s responsible for fighting off viral infections, such as Covid-19.' btf-thyroid.org/news/thyroi...

[tattybogle in reply to RedApple]

Oh bugger :), bang goes my mental security blanket.

[RedApple Administrator in reply to tattybogle]

Mine too!

[celticlady in reply to tattybogle]

Same here!!

[Angel_of_the_North]

No one really knows, but the greatest correlation with disease severity is vit D levels (and possibly obesity). So if your vit D level is good (say 95-125) and your weight and hba1c are good, you have no more risk than anyone else in your age group as far as anyone knows.

[celticlady in reply to Angel_of_the_North]

Thanks for your input. I have great difficulty tolerating synthetic Vitamin D. I've tried them all-including the spray on tongue one. Makes me feel awful. I am hyper sensitive to synthetics/fillers etc. Can't go overseas either at the moment!

[Angel_of_the_North in reply to celticlady]

The one I take contains only sesame oil as a filler. Is it legal to get a sunbed at the moment? Don't know if they work, but sounds possible.

[Cooper27]

I once asked a gastroenterologist at a coeliac event, whether having any other autoimmune disorders at all, made people more susceptible to catching viruses (specifically flu). He said that you're more likely, simply because your immune system is a bit compromised. It doesn't necessarily mean you'll be affected any worse, it just means you'll have less resistance if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time.

This was pre-covid, but I think the advice still applies: we're probably slightly more likely to catch it compared to someone without an autoimmune condition, but not at significantly greater risk of death from it. I suspect we'd be more at risk of long-covid however (personal opinion).