Hashimotos and new onset kidney disease. Any links?

[CeiliGal65]

Hi, I have Hashimotos for over 10 years and PA for 4 managed by self injecting. In the last month due to quite sudden onset of fatigue, dizziness, and jitteriness with like an internal tremor (which was a key symptom before Low B12 was diagnosed) Saw Dr and got results yesterday and diagnosed as Stage 3 chronic kidney disease-shocking!! 😱 and scary. Seeing dr tomorrow to discuss what this all means. But wondering if anyone else had similar or any connections to kidney disease? I have 2 autoimmune gifts already, could this be a third? I have also been following a low carb way of eating and doing more weights for exercise, and though these aappear to be not recommended for kidney disease (higher protein and creatinine) they do not seem to be linked as a main cause, especially so quickly. I need to get heart checked as well as this is a family connection. Any thoughts or links really welcome,. Or any autoimmune things to point out/query. Gutted and have told no one yet until I know more but at 58 and starting to be fitter and healthier, I thought!, than ever, this is really upsetting. Fed up with my damn body throwing a third thing at me

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Low GFR and poor kidney function strongly linked to being hypothyroid

GP may not even be aware of this

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

First step get FULL thyroid and vitamin testing done

ALWAYS test thyroid early morning and lost dose levothyroxine 24 hours before test

what vitamin supplements are you taking apart from injecting B12

List of private testing options and money off codes

thyroiduk.org/getting-a-dia...

Medichecks Thyroid plus antibodies and vitamins

medichecks.com/products/adv...

Blue Horizon Thyroid Premium Gold includes antibodies, cortisol and vitamins

bluehorizonbloodtests.co.uk...

If you can get GP to test vitamins then cheapest option for just TSH, FT4 and FT3 and includes BOTH TPO and TG antibodies -£29 

randoxhealth.com/at-home/Th...

Monitor My Health also now offer thyroid and vitamin testing, plus cholesterol and HBA1C for £65 

(Doesn’t include thyroid antibodies) 

monitormyhealth.org.uk/full...

10% off code here 

thyroiduk.org/getting-a-dia...

NHS easy postal kit vitamin D test £31 via

vitamindtest.org.uk

Only do private testing early Monday or Tuesday morning. 

[CeiliGal65 in reply to SlowDragon]

thanks so much SlowDragon especially to that paper and thyroid. 👍 I have used medicheckks in the past for testing and will defo get more done now too so thanks for all those links. Dr did test thyroid but just the usual answer of ‘it is normal’ so I am waiting on the actual results so I can see. I have a good historical record of my thyroid results including t3 so can see if any change. You are so so knowledgeable.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to CeiliGal65]

If been very Low carb this can reduce conversion rate of Ft4 to Ft3

Or if been more active, perhaps you need higher dose levothyroxine

Conversion often gets worse the longer we are on levothyroxine, especially after menopause

Lower vitamin levels more common as we get older too. May need to improve vitamin levels

How often are you getting B12 injections

What other vitamins do you take, apart from B12

Remember to stop B complex 5-7 days before test as contains biotin.

Come back with new post once you get results

[CeiliGal in reply to SlowDragon]

More active and low carb so if there is no T3 in my results I will do separately to check conversion.

I was taking lots of vitamins - though not consistently - BComplex, Multi, Mg, Folate (for my B12), fish iols now and again.

B12 injections are prescribed 1/mth (big fight for that a few years back LOL) but now self inject - was every other day but had reduced and often forget! So had left it a while - a few months maybe. But when I started feeling bad I did 2 sets of loading doses which did help a bit. But still had tingling in legs etc.

And I think I knew about that Biotin test issue BUT had totally forgotten so thanks so much for reminding me.

Hopefully will have results in a day or 2.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to CeiliGal]

Multivitamins never recommended on here

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Test and see what results show

Then just supplement relevant ones to maintain GOOD vitamin levels

[arTistapple]

Even doctors do not like this test and its range of results. Too many people falling into this category who never develop Kidney failure. “Chronic kidney disease (CKD) third stage” is unnecessarily scary. I have been in this category for twenty plus years now (since about age 50). No worsening. No bettering! It’s certainly linked to hypothyroidism, although many doctors clearly do not know this, as usual. It’s one of hypothyroidism recognised Co-morbidities. It could/should help a GP think about hypothyroidism diagnosis - but it doesn’t. I have lots of muscle problems with my hypothyroidism and I think that’s what is showing up in my blood. Doctors entirely ignoring, that impaired muscle metabolism does this - as well as eating a high (beef) protein diet. Next time you go for a kidney function test, don’t eat red meat the day before. You will notice a slight change in your levels.

[Beads]

Thank you for the link to that paper  SlowDragon . I’ll add it to my arsenal for a T3/endo referral.

Ceili, I’ve been doing a fair amount of research recently regarding the link between low kidney function and thyroid, there is a whole lot of overlap. The low T3 syndrome quoted in Slowdragon’s link comes up fairly regularly, I’m going to use it to see if I can get a trial of T3. Beyond that, the higher levels of urea and creatinine in the blood with lower kidney function can further reduce the working of your thyroid gland, so if you weren’t taking levo then you could see your levels reduce.

I found a paper recently which also stated that the higher levels of electrolytes cause a higher risk of goitre, enlarged thyroid. Though I’m unsure whether that is a direct effect or whether it’s because the thyroid needs to work harder.

There is a CKD forum on HU, they’re not as friendly as here, it’s not as busy as here and it seems to mainly be American members, whereas here seems to be British. It’s worth a look as there’s plenty of information. A lot of people have CKD but don’t go on to develop kidney failure.

Regarding dietary advice, I was told to drink plenty (I’m recording it at the moment, had a glitch with only 3L of liquid yesterday, but usually drink about 4L per day), and reduce salt. The urologist/McMillan nurse said the worst things you could do for your kidney are high blood pressure and diabetes. This makes sense, both of these will put more pressure on your kidneys: blood pressure being literally more pressure, diabetes being that you’re bombarding your kidneys with high levels of sugar which is a big molecule and will force bigger holes in the ‘filters’.

Edit: something I forgot. I found one paper which said low kidney function could cause ‘deranged’ thyroid test results. I think it was referring to lower than stage 3 levels, but it’s a paper I’m going to keep and use if they ever try to reduce my levo dose based on just TSH. Each time they ask me for a thyroid test I’m going to point out that this is a possibility and see if they’ll do the whole lot.

[EMBoy]

Have you seen a nephrologist about your diagnosis of kidney disease?

I had a raised serum creatinine and reduced eGFR when I was first diagnosed with Hashi's, but they returned to normal with treatment.

Serum creatinine and urea levels are important indicators of renal disease, but they can also go up if you do a lot of exercise. A low carb diet may also increase serum creatinine slightly in the first few weeks of the diet.

eGFR is calculated from the serum creatinine level.

If I were you, I would ask for a referral to a nephrologist and cut down on the amount of exercise before your next blood test, but it is important to get your hypothyroidism under control first.

[Pearlteapot in reply to EMBoy]

this is really interesting. I am worried about my eGFR and was just about to test but I am in the first weeks of a low carb diet so had better wait, thanks

[CeiliGal]

Oh my, what a wonderful wonderful lot you all are. So much information here and reassuring too.

I know I need to wait for the repeat blood results and take it from there but I so need to know what possibilities are and like to be well-armed with papers, info etc so all above is a massive help. BUT I have been doing lots more exercise for the last year - cycling and weights and also very low carb too so it sounds like all of those can impact the results. Up to this I was feeling very well and energetic but I did suspect my thyroid was under medicated (10 yrs plus since stable) as I have a persistent shouylder injury which will not heal.

For B12 I have been self-injecting for a few years, but not as frequent now. Officially every month from the doc but I do more usually - via the PAS support and forum. But I had been slack and I thought this was the problem. Apparently, if kidneys not great, then too many injections can impact but I had not taken many.

The doc was puzzled, but it certainly sounds like it may be thyroid related so I will dig deep there. And push also for a nephrologist referral - all so interlinked.

I had checked into the CKD forum but agree with you Beads re focus on American and also worse CKD levelsa dn dialysis. I did not find anything useful there.

[Zazbag]

On levothyroxine only I had declining kidney function according to my serum creatinine and eGFR however both normalised to my pre-hypo levels once I added T3. I wouldn't be surprised if it's the same for you.

[CeiliGal65 in reply to Zazbag]

Really interesting Zazbag . Is this something you noticed or was it spotted by a consultant? I can get one consultant with a small health plan I have but not sure if I need an Endo or a Nephrologist!! There does appear to be more links to the thyroid function.

[Zazbag in reply to CeiliGal65]

I noticed it and pointed out it out to my GP and she was like "oh yes that's very unusual" and did further testing (urinalysis) and decided I didn't have kidney disease. I was the one who realised it might be connected to my hypothyroidism.

[Pearlteapot in reply to Zazbag]

this seems to be well established. T3 can reverse CKD in hypothyroidism. Im planning to test soon and fingers crossed frontiersin.org/articles/10...

There are many similar papers

edit: It just makes me so furious that neither the GP nor consultant even commented on my eGFR of 55 or thought about whether T3 might help. I only realised last week that my eGFR was concerning so did all the research myself.