You dont need treatmeant for life..Hypo/Hashi?

[dawnangela]

My doctor told me i was on meds for life with Hypo/Hashi, but i just read this is not always true........ ( Quote ) Many patients believe that once there on thyroid hormone replacement, they'll take it for life..For many ppl, this is true. Any treatment that removes or destroys much of the thyroid ( such as surgery or radioactive iodine) does require treatment for life with T4 hormone. However in certain situations, Hypothyroidism is temporary, you may need thyroxine for a time, but can later stop taking it. Sometimes, the fact that you no longer need the medication is obvious. but other times you and your doctor may decide to attempt a trial period off thyroid hormones for four to six weeks to see if you still need it. IE: Subacute thyroiditis, Silent and Postpartum thyroiditis And Acute thyroiditis....The major diagnoses that means you may or may not need to take thyroid hormone pills for life is chronic thyroiditis, ( also known as Hashimoto's or autoimmune thyroiditis ) This condition is the result of antibodies that block TSH from sufficiently stimulating the thyroid to produce enough thyroid hormone. Occasionally levels of blocking antibodies fall. The only way to know if this fall happens is to measure antibody levels or to stop treatment and test thyroid function in four to six weeks. If your thyroid function remains normal, you may not need to take meds any longer. Depending on your diagnosis you can sometimes stop taking treatment at some point, its worth looking into if you are under 40 years of age.......................Ok this is just from a book im looking at, I am over 40 lol so now not sure if it applies to me, But my doctor did say when i was first dx i would be on meds for life as the antibodies have killed off the gland, it wont work again..Anyone understand any of this? Dawn xx

[dawnangela]

Oh and i can definitely understand your point of not wanting to go off meds to find out as well:) No i dont get the 40 bit either , but gee i did go down hill when i hit it:) As you say the older we get can be harder to recover, with most things..Dawn

[dawnangela]

Thanks Stella, so if im getting this right, if i was treated 25 yrs ago when they knew i had antibodies and not left me ( partly my fault for not pushing and being ignorant to it all ) to become serverley hypo, we would have a better chance of going into remission and being able to stop meds,  if we are treated earlier and not left to get to the point of severe hypo? Maybe by this time to much damage is done, this could be why my doc said my gland wont function again, but yes i am going to query him on this nxt time on there..Dawn x

[stella5349]

I do ... somewhat.  What is being missed to some degree is when some take a thyroid stimulation drug like T4 or mostly a combo T3/T4 med, What can happen for some is the thyroid's natural function is weakened too. It's used to getting the "stimulated" drug - so it becomes lazy and won't function for itself - even if prior to getting on meds it was only in a temporary funk.

Will function return after taking medication? That's a question even a thyroid noble prize winner may not be able to answer. :)  It's a hard thought to think to find out for sure you have Hashimoto killing the gland ( or has already done that to stop hormones getting in )  to stop all meds for 4 to 6 weeks, and for some go through the worst thing of their lives.

Not too many people that had ablation think they will not need medication, so they are out of the theory of trying to live wihout it almost 100% of the time.

Its the ones who have had no ablations with or without antibodies that never know for sure if meds are really helping them or harming them - thyroid wise...

Then at times, when we go to the doctor - feeling bad - they run the labs for tests and find a high antibody count. What about if this is only a temporary situation? Most of the time it is a mill-ran test and if you are high in counts and abnormal thyroid labs the decifering of silent thyroiditis or chronic thyroiditis is not present and meds are given to the person.

Antibodies do not necessarily block the TSH receptors of producing thyroid hormone. More often than not Hashimoto disease is present with "normal" labs and the antibody test is ignored and the patient is not medicated and sent home with other thoughts and medications ( IE beta blockers, antidepressants, cholestrol meds, weight loss suggestions or a script to determine if you need to see a therapist)

One thing I discuss with my doctor and pharmacist friend is suppression of antibodies. If we can achieve suppression first before labs determine the cause - then medications may be more accurately prescribed then what they are now. This way - the chances of being on meds when you may be just in a thyroid funk could be determined better.

That is not protacol though with antibody diagnoises. I am not getting the age limits of 40 in this reading?

What I read is - as we age - metobolism changes are evident. We slow down in function, most of us. Is that antibodies rising? Could be I suppose. We do have a better chance prior to 40 - I suppose - to recover from a slow thyroid - but the older we get the harder that is.

Actually I read more like getting into your 60's is critical for thyroid function slowing - but who knows... we are all different.

I certainly do not want to debunk the book your reading. I just have some questions on the theories behind their thought.

Hardly anything available to read talks about suppression to see if true Hashimoto is the cause. Nor does it seem doctors go that route either much of the time.

Good post! I am glad you posted your ideas here.