Men and Hypothyroidism

[Boristhespider]

Is it terribly uncommon for a man to be hypo? I am a male who had a TSH of 16.96. I went and had more blood work done monday and still have not received a call from my doctor. I am just nervous and feel bad. I was just talking with guys at work and they never heard of men having thyroid problems, and then I check on line and it is rare. I was just wondering if anyone here knows of any men who have thyroid problems?
And if my 16.96 TSH is something to be concerned about.
THANKS!

[Xalena831]

I am not a male, but I come from a family with history of Hashimotos thyroiditis. I was googling males and low thyroids because I suspect because of some blood work of my 15yr old son that he might also have it. I am not sure its just his T4 Thyroxine that is low. All the rest came back as normal. my son also has aspergers. I wonder, see I suspect my thyroid started going out while I was pregnant with him. I wonder if that could have had an affect on his own thyroid developement. I would love to hear from any of you.
My son is pretty tall but a little over weight, he doesn't eat a whole lot but exercises very little. I became worried because he started getting stretch marks on him, quite a bit. However the just didn't seem like normal ones. He isn't really fat, maybe just grew fast. The doctors suspects maybe hormone problems. How many of you guys might have had problems as teenagers?

[Barb135]

Most of us are aware of desiccated meds and they aren't the "all" of meds either.

[mssngsmthng]

I am female and have Hashimoto. 2 books I recommend reading, Stop The Thyroid Madness and Living Well with Hypothyroidism by Mary Shomon. Synthroid is not the all of meds. Read about dessicrated thyroid meds.

[Barb135]

This is a very old thread and many of the previous posters are no longer active on the forum, so it's unlikely that zed72 will answer you.

I notice that you've posted your own thread, so hopefully, we can help out, there.

[Soccredude]

Hey man!  I am 42 male, doc just took blood tests last week and my tsh was 5.7 and he said I was hypo but going back in to get propermeds etc.  but yeah, as with you, I have only symptoms such as low libido, weight gain, high cholesterol, anxiousness, lethargy sleeping all the time. Yet I wrk out constantly 4-5 times a week lifting and Cardio. Wish me luck. Hopefully I can get the meds and loose these symptoms and loose some weight and get a good attitude in the process. I know you it's been a while since you wrote in this community forum but what's your prognosis. How are u? Update please?  Thanks!

[Introextrovert]

I personally do not believe that there is a ratio of women to men getting hypothyroidism of 10:1.

Genetically speaking hypothyroidism isn't passed down through gender specific genes, so we can rule out hypothyroidism being exclusively female or exclusively male.

I believe the reason why more women then men are diagnosed is 1) within the medical fraternity they believe very few men have the disorder and therefore do not run the proper tests; (2) men who do have hypothyroidism are being treated for other disorders such as ADHD, depression, high cholesterol problems, heart issues which could simply be symptoms of hypothyroidism; and (3) the fact is males are not as proactive as women with their health and are much less likely to go to the doctor and instead tough out the symptoms until these symptoms manifest as other disorders as stated above.

I believe there should be research done into this because the ratio simply doesn't make any sense. When a man sees a doctor due to high cholesterol, depression, ADHD and so forth, perhaps the first tests which should be run are thyroid function tests.