Fact and Fiction: Just a few questions. Is it... - Thyroid UK

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Fact and Fiction

ChemicalAngel profile image
11 Replies

Just a few questions.

Is it true that if you start taking thyroxine, you can never stop?

Do docs raise the amount of meds to help you to lose weight?

Is thrombosis common with taking thyroxine?

These are what my hypochondriac sis-in-law deems as true.

I think she is living in cloud cuckoo land.

Anyone else got any myths they need busting, feel free to add xx

Ann xx

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ChemicalAngel profile image
ChemicalAngel
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11 Replies
ChemicalAngel profile image
ChemicalAngel

Forgot to add, she was 'diagnosed' hypo 15 years ago, but is still on just 50mgs thyroxine and us the size 12 she has always been.

PinkNinja profile image
PinkNinja in reply toChemicalAngel

Obviously one of the lucky ones ;)

PinkNinja profile image
PinkNinja

Wow!

l suppose the first question is somewhat true in that once your thyroid stops working properly it is unlikely to start up again and therefore you need thyroxine for life. But this is in a similar vein to a diabetic taking insulin and needing to take it for life. It is not that the diabetic becomes dependent; they are already dependent because it is essential and their body is not producing it. The same goes for thyroid. Thyroid hormones are essential for life and our bodies are not producing enough, ergo we need to replace these hormones.

Getting a doctor to raise meds high enough to treat us properly and to get rid of symptoms is difficult enough, they are hardly going to do it just so that we can lose weight!

I have never heard of thrombosis as a result of taking thyroxine, although I do now feel the need to look it up! ;)

I suppose the only other myth I can think of is that thyroxine causes osteoporosis...

Oh and the one that all any hypothyroid patient needs to feel totally well is that little white pill ;)

Carolyn x

ChemicalAngel profile image
ChemicalAngel

She is hypochondriac. Whatever you have, within 24 hours she has it worse.

She didn't speak to me for months after I was diagnosed pcos as she couldnt fake the symptoms like the Elvis sideburns lol

PinkNinja profile image
PinkNinja in reply toChemicalAngel

She sounds very insecure :( Hopefully one day she will be able to turn it all around. Sometimes life events give a royal kick up the proverbial and change the way one looks at things. I have seen it happen :)

ChemicalAngel profile image
ChemicalAngel in reply toPinkNinja

I doubt it. She has been like this for the last 25 years, and is now 53 years old. She is never going to change. You can't have a conversation sigh get without her 'ailments' being brought into it. She will raise her voice over others conversations to be noticed. So sad really.

PinkNinja profile image
PinkNinja in reply toChemicalAngel

Oh dear :( I got the impression she was much younger and thought that she might get over her insecurities as she gets older. I didn't realise she was 53.

Mia1057 profile image
Mia1057

I suppose the answer to all 3 questions is a qualified yes.

Is it true that if you start taking thyroxine, you can never stop? Yes because as Caroline says this is like a diabetic taking insulin.

Do docs raise the amount of meds to help you to lose weight? I have never heard of a doctor doing it but one of the side effects of hyperthyroidism or having too high a dose of thyroid medication can be weightloss.

Is thrombosis common with taking thyroxine? There is a link between thyroxine and thrombosis but it appears to be a link between free thyroxine and the disease. See this article

thepharmacyconnection.com/c...

I think also we have to remember that being hypothyroid can make you feel very unwell or at the very least never completely well. You may feel this and yet look to everyone else like you are ok. Many doctors never raise the amount of medication they put us on once our blood tests appear to be "normal" but many of us never feel well on this amount. Most GPs and endos dont seem to understand thyroid issues well or at all. Your sister in law may in fact just never feel well and the list of symptoms that being either hypo or hyper thyroid causes means that many of us are labelled as depressed or hypochondriacs or just not believed. Also hypochondria is itself a genuine illness and needs treatment.

webmd.com/anxiety-panic/fea...

ChemicalAngel profile image
ChemicalAngel in reply toMia1057

I know hypochondria is an illness, a very close friend suffers, and has anxiety, panic attacks, the whole nine yards. So upsetting to see.

But sis-in-law is different. Her sis was diagnosed with severe endometriosis and had a whole ruck of tests before diagnosis, and within 24 hours, yep she had it too, but was far worse... despite having had no testing and no womb for over 20years!!

She is also saying that she has CFS, as a friend put it on my facebook wall that it could be a possibility for what I was suffering from, and I know the wait I have had to endure to be seen by the triage team awaiting diagnosis - just hours after the post appeared, she is told all and sundry that she has a confirmed diagnosis for the condition, yet has not seen anyone about it.

She is now going round saying how she was beaten as a child, and suffered scarlet fever, nearly died from it.... ...... Her mum's childhood - not hers.

We all think she is so unhappy in her marriage that she is saying anything for attention. She wont divorce him, she loves the money too much.

SamBonjela profile image
SamBonjela

If your thyroid is never going to produce the necessary amount of hormone, then you will be dependent on it forever. However, I took thyroxine for 6 months and stopped as I was euthyroid and my hyperthyroidism was in remission.

A doctor would not increase the dose to help you lose weight as too much thyroxine will cause health problems.

I'm constantly warned about the risks associated with too much thyroid hormone, however thrombosis has never come up. This article suggests there might be a link, but they also suggest there could be a stack of other explanations for their findings: oncology-hematology.jwatch.... I think the bigger risk is atrial fibrillation.

Your sister sounds annoying, but no doubt she is to be pitied. I wouldn't like to be in her head!

SamBonjela profile image
SamBonjela in reply toSamBonjela

I am warned about stroke though - I never asked the mechanism for this, but I guess it could be down to a clot ???

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