Did any of you ever have Glandular Fever?

[Jamboree]

I am interested to find out if there's any link between Thyroid disease and Glandular Fever.

I have Graves Disease and had Glandular fever 2-3 years before full blown thyorid going overactive.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

This might be of some interest:

Thyroid. 2005 Oct;15(10):1189-91.

Atypical subacute thyroiditis caused by Epstein-Barr virus infection in a three-year-old girl.

Volta C, Carano N, Street ME, Bernasconi S.

Source

Department of Paediatrics, University of Parma, Italy. [e-mail]

Abstract

Subacute thyroiditis is a rare disease in childhood and is considered postviral in origin. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) involvement has been suspected, but just once demonstrated in an adult female. We report a case of subacute thyroiditis during infectious mononucleosis in a 3-year-old girl. The diagnosis of infectious mononucleosis was supported, in addition to the typical clinical symptoms, by presence of EBV DNA both in plasma and leukocytes. Subacute thyroiditis was diagnosed based on elevated thyroid hormone levels with thyrotropin (TSH) suppression, high inflammation markers and almost absent (99)TC uptake by thyroid. Moreover after 3 months from diagnosis thyroid function went back to normal as well as the (99)TC uptake.

PMID:

16279854

[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/162...

And go here and click on the link to the free, full-text PDF:

jstage.jst.go.jp/article/in...

The possibility of connections has often been suggested and discussed. Lack of strong evidence seems to be a problem rather than unwillingness to believe.

Rod

[Jamboree in reply to helvella]

Thanks for that info I'll be interested to read that!

I've mentioned the link often to both my GP and my specialist and as usual, they deny any possible link.

This is why i've asked the question here, just to see if anyone else has had a bout of GF. They are both auto-immune diseases after all.....

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to Jamboree]

Hope it helps.

I have never thought of GF being autoimmune... though it can clearly be associated with some autoimmune issues.

[shaws Administrator in reply to Jamboree]

Dr Skinner in his book 'The diagnosis and management of hypothyroidism' does mention glandular fever as one possible cause.

[Hidden]

You might also find this article interesting. The HHV6 virus usually manifests itself as Roseola in young children, then hangs around to possibly cause damage later in life.

plospathogens.org/article/i...

Jane x

[Jamboree]

Thanks guys. I've just skimmed the linked article helvella posted and it makes for very interesting reading. The EBV virus can manifest itself throughout your entire life.

Thanks Jane, I'm going to your link now!

You know what? I've been a member here for ages and not bothered to join in convos - I think I need to as even though I'm on meds now for a bout of overactive thyroid, I still feel so bad some days....

[jaxnbreeze]

I had glandular fever ten before hypo.symptoms. I think Dr.P.mentions in his book that gh. virus stays in thyroid for years before it manifests itself. I have recently had anti-body test which was normal so I am sure gf caused my problems. Fortunately my Dr. was aware of this from the start and so I had low dose levo. as soon as symptoms appeared.

[Jamboree]

Hi Jaxnbreeze, you're lucky that your doctor was well-informed.

Whenever I've mentioned the link to my endo specialist, they just poo-poo my questions.

I think British Dr's have very little time to discuss anything anyway. I was on a Graves disease forum and the Americans had much better doctors and were far better informed than the British!

[elayneg]

Hi

I have Graves and Glandular fever in 1990 never thought there could be a connection

There is no point mentioning it to my endo she will just say it is rubbish

[ChemicalAngel]

I had a severe case of glandular fever in early '94. The doc gave me an antibiotic capsule and said that if I could swallow it, he would leave me at home (I had a 9 month old and a toddler) I got that bloomin thing down, how? I have no clue, but I wasnt going to leave my babies at home!! lol

Ann xx

[Hidden]

Had glandular fever with complications when I was 18 (a long time ago )

Was told there was a link with this and hashis a while ago, can honestly say Ive never been right since then. Shame it took them nearly 30 years to find out why!!

[Hidden]

I had glandular fever and then was diagnosed hypothyroid about three years later. I had symptoms of hypothyroidism for two years before I was actually diagnosed , so this means that the symptoms appeared a year after the gf.

[Hypopotamus]

Yes.

[jaxnbreeze]

Yes,found it - Dr. P writes about it in his book 'Your thyroid and how to keep it healthy'. Apparently in a number of cases the virus 'holes up' in the thyroid tissue and progressively damages it but in time (months/years later) symptoms may appear. That's definitely what happened in my case and I was lucky to have a good doctor who spotted things weren't right early on. Although my TSH was 8 (subclinical) with hardly any signs apart from tiredness it has took me about a year to get to where I was before. Both gf and hypo. manifested itself after a period of emotional stress. It is so important to get help at the outset before any long-term damage is done and I just don't understand what doctors find so difficult about this concept. I was 25 levo. at the outset which probably wouldn't have much effect on a healthy thyroid but it was just enough at the time for me.

[Angel54]

I had Glandular Fever when i was a teenager. 56 now Dr P said it can be linked to one of the causes of later on developing hashimotos. Ive felt awful for a very long time.

[DawnyM]

I too had glandular fever when I was 19, and was always very healthy as an adult until I turned about 40. I saw an immunologist recently who said glandular fever was very significant and would have been the start of autoimmune problems. I'm very interested to read that the virus stays in the thyroid. So it was waiting all this time strike!

[tulula59]

GF at 19 - v poorly for around 6mths. Seemed to recover but never felt the same. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome at 37 for around 5 years just getting back to 'normal' and diagnosed with sudden onset Fibromyalgia -ongoing but the muscle weakness this time put down to a connective tissue problem.

Strangely though although my symptoms were hypo for three years then hyper for two years I have just had my FT3 result which shows off the scale high so thoughts are its Graves!

Anti-bodies are nil (well 9) so not considered Hashis. Waiitng for advice from endo via GP.

As the thyroid is a gland and GF attacks the glands (I recall not being able to breathe almost as all the glands in my neck were so huge) it really wouldn't be too much stretch of the imagination to believe that GF could do irrepairable damage to the thyroid surely? I'm now 54!

[penny]

Same as Angel54. However, I was told at the time that I might have GF but that it was not possible to diagnose. Wandered around like a zombie for a week and then became my usual physically-invincible self. (Very strong, very active and amazingly skinny.)

But...I can chart my decline from around that time; my early twenties. I would get breathless, go dizzy and lose my colour vision. Also could not concentrate or retain facts. It took two decades for things to become really noticeable - 20hrs sleep, massive weight-gain, bad temper. (Who said that?)

[Christabel in reply to penny]

I had glandular fever in 1980. I've been told that there is a link with fibromyalgia, but didn't know there was a link with thyroid. I think that that was when things started to go wrong, though.

[Jamboree]

So interesting to read all these stories and so sad, for all of us, that we had no knowledge that GF could, and would, turn so nasty!

I have mentioned to my endo Dr about this link and she says there is no 'scientific proof' - well perhaps I can direct her to this thread and let her read for herself.

After my GF went (or died down) and I felt better, I was tired and poorly for two years. Lost two babies at 12 weeks pregnant, and only when I was so hot (even in the deepest January and a snowfall I was able to wear a T-shirt lol) did I go to the Doctors - was diagnosed Overactive thryroid (though I had suddenly gained weight) and from then diagnosed with Graves Disease.

This disease sucks. Because even when I'm in remission, on no drugs and TSH, free T£ & T4 levels are ok, I never feel entirely well.

In fact, I've never felt well or 'myself' since the GF.

[Totoro]

Dr Skinner asked me when did I last feel "normal", I said 19 years ago. Then he asked if I'd had glandular fever... I said yes.... 19 years ago...

He said it can "hide" inside the thyroid gland and slowly eat away at it. I also have a friend who had CFS and more and only got ill after catching Lyme's Disease.

[Jamboree]

It's amazing to me, how some doctors are recognising the link between the two, whilst others, including mine, are not even worried about trying to answer it!!

[tulula59 in reply to Jamboree]

I think it is a case that some believe it and others don't and in the absence fo any real evidence we're stuck.

Perhaps someone should do a simple study of all the hypo/hyper thyroid patients in this country and simply ask them to indicate whether they had GF at any point in time.

I have never felt properly well since then- 35 yrs ago! Lurching from that to CFS to fibro to whatever it is this time - my damn thyroid I think with a ft4 figure dropping of the bottom end of the range for over 10 years!

What gets me is that they don't seem to think we want to be well - the last thing I want to do is keep going up and down the GP's etc, paying out for expensive tests, spending my time searching for the answer.

I'm missing my life just like so many of us on here and it's simply not good enough!

That said, whether it was caused by GF or not if we've got thyroid probs now then the question is really what can we do about it? Even if we knew it was caused by GF would it make any difference to the final outcome?

Probably not but if it's auto immune in some way or another then how best to support the immune system and keep it at bay?

There is a guy in USA who is taking that road - trying to deal with the autoimmune side of things but I can't seem to find his 'recommendations' anywhere.

Are Dr Skinner and Peatfield the only two GP's in this country who add this element into their diagnostic assessment?

[Nicolet89]

Really interning read.

I contracted GF in February 2009 and was very ill for a long period of time where I also got jaundice. I've recently been diagnosed with hypothyroidism (Augurst 2016) which was caused by hashimotos. The symptoms I've got and the way I feel do remind me of the fatigue I had with GF.

[jaimed]

I am hyper and had a severe case of glandular fever in my teens, was so bad that I couldn't leave the house for six weeks and my mum had to do everything for me, I would fall asleep all the time and lost my appetite, in turn losing alot of weight. I have only just this year been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism after a sudden onset of symptoms that occur around 2 months after having a hysterectomy for adenomyosis...the doctors say there is no connection to the hysterectomy though? I have no idea if it does..but I am really intrigued by the amount of people who have had glandular fever and now have thyroid issues...seems a bit weird that so many of us have had it.

[Dreamer12]

Hi Jamboree

I had Glandular Fever aged 17 years and hypothyroidism recently diagnosed aged 50.

[Hidden]

I was diagnosed with infectious mononucleosis (Epstein-Barr, EBV, virus) in 1995, and with autoimmune hypothyroidism (Hashimoto's disease) five years later.

[linesandlines]

I had a weird thing at 17 where I woke up one day and all my joints were on fire, couldn't even move. Lasted weeks. The Dr thought it might be GF, but atypical. I definitely did have GF at 37, and it went in to my liver, causing hepatitis. Don't know if that's linked to thyroid issues, but I'd say my tiredness started around age 17 and rapidly went downhill aged around 37...... (I still feel like a charlatan saying I have thyroid issues when the medical profession insist I don't!)