I had a subtotal thyroidectomy in 1985 at the age of 35 to remove a multinodular goitre. The specialist thought that my previously functioningThyroid would work properly afterwards. Four months later I was totally exhausted to the point where even making a cup of tea required huge effort and I was unable to return to my job as a teacher. I also had two young children. I had put on two and a half stone within weeks and felt like Michelin man. I went to my GP and cried as I felt desperate. He decided that I couldn't go on like that waiting for my thyroid to 'cut back in again' so prescribed Levothyroxine. He rang the specialist while I was in his office to inform him that he was doing that (no emails then) and they had a row on the phone with the specialist saying that my Thyroid would never restart now if taking Levo'. I took the Levothyroxine and have obviously done so ever since. I quickly felt a lot better and returned to work. I lost some of the excess weight. My concern now is about my son who is 42. He has always been fit, slim and healthy, swimming several times a week. He does have stomach problems and follows a Fodmap diet. He has a stressful job but over the last year or so he has become really tired so sleeps for a large part of every weekend. If he deviates in any way from his diet he cannot keep awake. He is suffering from brain fog, is quite irritable and has recently developed pains in his knees. He has also lost weight. I think he should get a blood test to check if he has thyroid issues. My question is: can thyroid problems be hereditary? I need to persuade him to check this out. He is reluctant to do so and thinks he can 'sort it out himself' with careful diet ,exercise and somehow (in these difficult economic times) getting a less stressful job. We are in the UK.
Are thyroid problems hereditary?: I had a... - Thyroid UK
Are thyroid problems hereditary?
I'm so sorry to hear what heppened to you. What a heartless specialist!! Thank heavens your GP took control..
Re your son has he had any tests done? My son had terrible problems with his food. For him it turned out to be depression. I was skeptical but actually it all has resolved. My only concern was he wasn't checked for thyroid antibodies.
First actions would obviously be a full thyroid panel test including antibodies, b12, folate, ferritin and vit D. He should also be checked for coeliacs... You can develop this at any age. I know he does fodmap and clearly it helped him.
I have hypothyroidism but no one else in my family have it. Though it can run in families that's not necessarily the case. For example my hypothyroidism is probably due to Vitiligo another autoimmune condition that is heriditary in my family. Recently was told I also have the coeliacs gene and can't tolerate gluten at all. No one else has bern diagnosed with coeliacs.
So I wouldn't jump to the conclusion he's inherited a thyroid condition but it does need checking out.okus the tests to find the cause.
Thank you Waveylines, that's really helpful. I will show my son your reply.
There are clearly hereditary aspects to thyroid issues.
But it is very much NOT like peas (green/yellow, wrinkled/smooth) or blue/brown eyes. Which are very simple and predictable.
Within one family you might see some who become hypothyroid, others hyperthyroid, yet most not have any thyroid issues. And no obvious pattern.
The one thing that does stand out is many who have a thyroid issue can identify relations who also have thyroid issues - whether at a higher, lower, or the same generation.
Interesting Helvella.... But no connection anywhere in my family close or distance reli or going back generations. Im pretty sure though it IS autoimmune related as there's plenty of autoimmune conditions on my mums side.... And I believe Vitiligo research showed strong links to a variety of autoimmune conditions including Hypothyroidism, PA & coeliacs: for my sins I now have all three... Lol. I think there's far, far more for them to find out re autoimmune and it's links/ causes. So much unknown..
That is one of the ways that hereditable links can exist but not be obvious!
Where the links show up as apparently sporadic other issues!
As you say, if there is a connection to autoimmune issues then it isn't at all clear why individuals get the particular disorders they exhibit - and not others. After all, there is a long list of autoimmune donations and no-one gets ALL of them.
Indeed Helvella. Now that's getting way above my extremely limited knowledge but if you look up Vitiligo and it's research they have grouped the other autoimmune conditions... I believe there are some genes connections but it's all too technical for me & I may have misunderstood. Vitilgo in my case is hereditary: me, my brother, cousin & grandma (mums side... Sorry mum) all have it. But my Aunt that side had Sjorgen (also linked) & another cousin rheumatoid arthritis, plus my sisters son has a well known autoimmune skin disorder (sorry foggy brain name eludes). The latter three don't have vitiligo.... I do wonder how much is the impact of the environment triggering conditions....so much is man made and our food has so much interference these days.
Goodness, it's all very complicated but interesting.
Yes and I should know I was adopted at 6 months old back in 1946. My older sister found me back in the 1990's. None of my adopted family had problems. But yes my birth family had various things wrong. Both of my sisters had thyroid problems, one niece had hers removed. All of us had our gallbladders out.
I never had any symptoms until my sixties but all three of us had the same mother but different fathers.
I had to add something about my birth family I have three nieces, one has asthma she has three girls and one boy it is only the boy that has asthma. My other niece has Chrons disease and has no thyroid either, so. yes. My children are so far free from anything lets hope that your sons can get sorted out soon.
Thank you Brightness14. I will definitely show him all these helpful responses.
Just did a very quick search and there's a number of papers which might be worth a look:
europepmc.org/search?query=...
Obviously such papers tend to be heavy going, but you might get something useful and, by being able to refer to such sources, your GP might be less able to dismiss them.
it's no exactly 'heritiary' not as such ..... but the tendency for thyroid to go wrong in one direction or another (usually due to autoimmune disease) certainly does 'run in families'
my grannie had some sort of post partum psychosis after the birth of a 2nd child which i suspect may have had a thyroid element to it , but no proof (as a result of this episode she was committed to an asylum for 5 yrs in 1933 )
of her 2 daughters:
one (my auntie) got Graves Hyperthyroidism after a pregnancy in her early 20's .
(and her daughter has no thyroid problem yet despite having a few kids , and she must be over 60 now)
the other one (my mum) had no thyroid problem as far as anyone knew.
but I got autoimmune hypo after the birth if my 2nd child (aged 32)
My daughter is 25 and fine so far ,,but i must admit , i will worry if she gets pregnant .
i'm less worried about my son as it's much less common for thyroid to go wrong in males ~ probably because their immune system doesn't have to accommodate 'aliens' (babies) in my opinion.
That's a really interesting family history Tattybogle. Thank you for taking the time to write such detail.
Hi Billy61
It certainly seems to run in families. My mother had all the hypo symptoms, strong possibility her mother, my father in hindsight was hyperthyroid, and one sister is being treated for thyroid, one sister with what looks like slight TED along with some symptoms, other sister possibly. Besides rhumatoid through the female line.
Your son may be able to improve his health slightly with good diet and less stress and sleeping his weekend away but if he has a thyroid condition, he needs to get it checked out.
Wish you the best with your son, Billy61.
Thank you Dioryth for the helpful information and your best wishes for my son.
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