thyroid

[GingerB]

I am just into my 2nd week of tx (yesterday was my 2nd shot of pegasys).    When I asked my doctor if he tested for the thyroid, he told me no.  When I asked why,  he said he would only test it if I 'needed to' (and didn't go any future).    My question is - if I was to wait as per my doctor until I 'needed to' - would it be too late at that point to reverse a thyroid condition?  I was wondering if once a thyroid condition starts do you have that condition for life?  Or can it be reversed if caught right away - especially if the condition was triggered by my tx medication.    I am trying to figure out if I did have the tests for the thyroid - and in the event, the blood work showed  the thyroid was being affected by the medication - if I wanted to - could I then stop the tx so that the thyroid could get better?  Thanks.  

[GingerB]

My thyroid tests (before tx) were just barely within the range for normal.  If you can, please keep me informed of what you decide to do.  Thanks. GingerB

[cruelworld]

i am guessing but i would imagine that you might be able to get away with 2 to 3 months of interferon/riba exposure that is actively
causing your thyroid to malfunction (hypo). if the exposure stops at 2 to 3 months my guess is that it would have a good chance to recover.
this is based on a tsh number of about 10. (not extreme) i am currently thinking about ending treatment earlier than planned because  my tsh is 8.5 and i still hypothetically have 4 months to go. maybe this exposure is not damaging for the long term. maybe it is. i know nygirl had about 1 year of exposure. it seems like its hard to really sort out because everyone is different
and it only happens to a few people. im surprised more people havent responded to this post with their experiences. anyone who has been through this and finished treatment please tell us your story of thyroid recovery or permanent failure.

[GingerB]

Thanks nygirl.  I will strongly ask my doctor to include the thyroid test.  Ginger.

[nygirl7]

Well they SAY most times it reverses but in just about every case I"ve seen on here (Including myself) nope...this condition is for life. First I went hyperthyroid at about week 30 it was diagnosed (my doc ALWAYS puts that test in there) so I made an appt. for a nuclear imaging scan and had to wait three weeks. WheN I went for the scan they said nope you are extremely HYPO now. It switched that fast.

The thyroid can get better but most times it just is too late. It is an autoimmune disease that causes the problem......your body for some reason thinks that the thyroid is bad too and so it tries to kill it off.

The docs say it usually goes back to normal but I've not seen that be the case.

In any event it's easily managed by taking Synthroid or Levowhateveritis once a day.

I don't know why your doc doesn't add that test to the mix - most doctors test the thyroid RELIGIOUSLY because chemotherapy is a well known source of the problem and that IS what we are on.

Hope that helps.

(I don't know how he would determine that you needed to be tested later on, unfortunately most of the symptoms of both hyper and hypo thyroid are EXACTLY the same as the side effects we suffer on treatment so it's impossible to distinguis between the two).

If you are curious about that just google it.
You'll see
hair loss
weight gain or loss
lethargy ... all the same exact stuff.

I think he's being sort of stupid not to do it and I would really insist on it.

Good luck with treatment Ginger!