Hashi's with peripheral neuropathies

[ellesan]

Without repeating my whole story again, I have been going through an actue Hashi's attack from iodine. At the same time I was having the MANY hypo/hashi symptoms, I also started having (intermittently) tingling on scalp, numbness and tingling in arms/hands/feet and sometimes legs, and most annoyingly strong burning sensations at the veins in my arms (elbow, where they usually draw blood), radiating to other areas of my arms as well. It does not matter if I'm sitting, standing, lying down, etc. There is no tenderness, redness, swelling or anything else, just the sensations. Also a few times I've felt like an electric current or buzzing and then it goes away quickly.

My doctors do not think this is related to thyroid and I am scheduled for a brain MRI tomorrow to rule out MS. I am trying not to freak out and hoping that it's still a toxic effect from the iodine and will go away. Jeez!!!! I am scheduled for a TT in three weeks due to compressive goiter from the iodine and I don't know if I can deal with more.

Anyone else with Hashi's have these peripherial neuropathies?

Sandra

[ellesan]

Hi Vic and Leigh,
Thanks for your responses. :)

Sorry, I should have included in my post that my B12 is above normal at 964 (I have been taking multi B supplements) and my family doc did a very complete work up of any other autoimmune disease, total rheumatologic work up, etc and everything is negative (Sjogren's, Addison's, Lupus, scleraderma, rheumatoid arthritis, etc). He walked me through all of the labs yesterday at my appointment and even said he sent some "overkill" labs just to make sure. All negative.

I have had Reynaud's as well since I was a teenager but this is nothing like that at all, and my Reynaud's has not reared it's ugly head for some time now (excluding the first week of this problem after the iodine exposure--it was really bad then x 4-5 days or so and hasn't come back since). I've had knee joint pain as well, which is why they did the arthritis work up.

I also have some mildly swollen lymph nodes in my groin and then yesterday in my neck as well. What the heck is going on??!! Three months ago I was healthy and starting my personal trainer business after losing a ton of weight and changing my life. I was working out 5-6 days a week, no problems!! I am REALLY trying not to let this get me down and totally depressed. I have a family that needs me. I go from crying to pretending it's all ok, to being so angry. I'm sure I'm not the only one that feels like this, right? I'm so tired of it all but I know I need to keep fighting.

I guess I'll find out tomorrow at the MRI.

Vic, hope you get feeling better. Thanks again. :)

Sandra

[Leigh1234]

Thank you for pointing out that the ranges are a little wacky in this country. Very true, along with many other ranges (like Vit. D, and of course, TSH!!) There is also no magical number that indicates at what point any given person might become symptomatic. I personally felt totally weird at 300, which was technically well within range at the time.

Hypothyroid frequently causes iron-deficiency anemia, which (as I understand it) can take time to treat because it's actually the body's stores of Fe that are low.

Hope both of you feel better soon. Thyroids are so sneaky...

[Vic2009]

Hi,

Yes, B-12 is the main thing that you'd want to rule out whenever there is numbness or tingling in extremities -- just a simple blood test.  The trick with B-12 is that the US reference ranges are too low.  In other countries they are higher, so make sure you see the levels yourself.

I've had a B-12 deficiency (apparently having hypothyroid can predispose you to nutritional deficiencies because the whole digestive system is slowed down) and the parathesias in my hands and feet were different in character than the kind of issues I've gotten in hands and feet from being hyperthyroid, just recently.  

But I'm still trying to sort out what's going on with my thyroid -- more complicated than B-12!

Keep us posted.

-- Vic

[Leigh1234]

Hi,

Really sorry to hear this is happening to you. I hope the TT goes smoothly and that you are provided with answers soon.

What about things like B12 levels or a rheumatology work-up? My mom and I both have Hashi's and have experienced parasthesias on several occassions - that's not to say they happened because of the thyroid, though. Mine seem to have improved with B12 supplementation and steroid replacement for concurrent Addison's Disease. Hers are persistent and she has Raynaud's phenomenon. It has been suggested to me that both of us be assessed for Sjogren's Syndrome (rheumatologic), which is also autoimmune and causes many seemingly unrelated symptoms.

Just some thoughts. There are so many knowledgeable people on this forum, and I'm sure they will offer some very wise and insightful tidbits. Wishing you strength in the coming weeks...