Carbon Monoxide Poisoning and Hypothyroidism

[chel 81]

Hi I haven't posted on here in forever. I have a question regarding hypothyroidism and it's relationship to carbon monoxide poisoning and wonder if anyone has any past experience with it?

I've been hypo since 2001 after getting mono (the virus EBV that causes mono screwed me up really bad and hypo is one of the long term effects I got from it). I was officially diagnosed hypoT in 2004. It took about 9 months of working with my meds to regulate my thyroid and from 2005 forward my thyroid numbers stayed consistent as did my dose (other than a few hiccups due to relapse in mono that we THOUGHT were just thyroid symptoms and messed around with my meds until we learned otherwise). Anyway basically 9 years of consistent meds and dosage.

Last year we found out too late that we had been in a living situation that caused me to be exposed to low level carbon monoxide poisoning almost 24 hours a day for 2 1/2 months straight. For a long time I just thought my mono was coming back (since it had done so in the past) but when the headaches stayed for that long and the heart trouble got so bad I finally started researching all my symptoms and called the gas company who confirmed our suspicions.

Long story short we quickly moved out but my symptoms continued to linger. It's been about 9 months since the exposure and most of my symptoms are better if not gone but recently had my thyroid checked and my numbers are way off from MY normal- TSH is about 10x's my norm, Free T's are lower than normal etc. I've definitely been having hypoT symptoms this past year (among all the other symptoms) but just starting to put two and two together and thinking that perhaps it was the CO poisoning that caused further damage to my thyroid. Considering that I've not once had my numbers do this or really changed my dosage in 9 years, I couldn't possibly understand why the numbers would be thrown like this out of nowhere unless they were connected. Just curious if anyone else has lived through CO poisoning and had any short term or long term effects that came from it and if so if their thyroid was effected?

By the way I am on Armour 1.25 grains (switch back and forth between Armour and Erfa based on availability). I'm allergic to synthetic thyroid meds like Synthroid etc (causes me to not be able to breath- super scary experiences).

Thanks for any insight.

[Red_Star]

Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning can damage the brain, endocrine system, nervous system, heart, and organs. The thyroid is part of the endocrine system.  CO poisoning can cause short and long term symptoms. The long term effects are caused by cellular damage. 50% of survivors with serious carbon monoxide poisoning will experience ongoing long term symptoms. From your symptoms and lab results, it looks likely that you suffered cellular damage to your thyroid gland.

[Sarlou30]

Hi there, do you have any research to back this up? I had a similar situation and am interested in seeing your sources. Thank so much!

[serenite]

I've had mild CO poisoning (acute but in fresh air environment) and found the following article helpful in terms of information. CO doesn't only starve the body of oxygen there and then with knock-on effects on organs that rely on blood oxygen supply, it also causes damage to the cells when oxygen starts to come back. The article is full of scientific terms but one can get the idea and find similarities with unaccounted for health symptoms. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2707118/ Good luck.

[chel 81]

Thank you Red_Star! That's what I was afraid of. Thinking it's time to up my thyroid meds and hoping that will help since nothing else seems to.

[DLTapped]

I had Co poisoning over a 2 year period, so did my 2 Stepdaughters &.   Husband.  It killed my dog.

I've had all sorts of health issues since, so have the 2 girls.  I have Fibromyalgia, Underactive Thyroid & poor immune system.  The oldest girl has MS, the youngest has Erythema Nodosum-both have borderline U/A Thyroid too.  

Thanks for the info on the damage Red Star.  I'm taking part in a study at Manchester University, but it will be years before I know any outcome.  

[chel 81]

I'm so sorry that it affected your entire family and that you lost your dog. Our cat was really sick and started getting these open sores all over his face which was one of the major things I noticed in addition to my own symptoms. My husband would feel better at work and then feel worse after the weekend when he had been home for two days. I work from home so was unfortunately exposed to it almost 24 hours a day.

They also wanted to diagnose me with Fibro but I felt it was more a symptom of the immune disorder (chronic Epstein Barr aka chronic mono) and untreated hypothyroidism and didn't want to just treat a symptom instead of the root of the problem. I've noticed in the past when my thyroid and immune disorder are bad is when I've had symptoms of the Fibro so it seems at least in my case they are connected.

It hope that you can get answers sooner rather than later and hope you find a doctor that can help. While I'm not happy to hear that other people are suffering it helps to know I'm not alone in the after effects of this terrible poisoning.

[DLTapped]

Thanks for replying.  I was told I'd have no long term problems, that Co leaves the body after 4 hrs.  What they don't tell you about is the incomplete combustion of gas has many other chemicals that stay inside your body, attacking/poisoning your system.

I managed very well for years, but I started getting all sorts of bizarre health issues.  Now I know why.

I'm no longer looking for a Doc to help.  I don't think anyone can/will help.  In order to be able to help, the NHS/Government/Gas Company would have to admit their is a problem, the floodgates would open & people would try to sue.  This so called natural gas was pumped into our homes & the incomplete combustion of it was never studied/tested.  It was known it was safe in the unburnt form--unlike coal gas.

Chelation might help, but the last neurologist I saw said it might cause more problems than it would solve.  I paid for a blood test & I have massive amounts of heavy metals & organic compounds in my blood--I could only have got these levels from working in some sort of industry, which I haven't & I've almost always lived in a rural setting--never in a city--so pollution can't be blamed.

I shudder when I hear of people with gas cookers who don't have vented cooker hoods, but have double glazing.  They're getting poisoned too, yet the law allows this, but not a gas fire/boiler without air vents.

[chel 81]

From everything I've read the problem with CO is that it replaces oxygen in your body so your body becomes starved from oxygen. Since all those cells in your body depend on oxygen for life it's no wonder the effects are long lasting.

I've been fortunate to have two great doctors help me through with all my difficult health troubles. My pcp works in a practice that embraces both eastern and western medicine so is very open minded and doesn't just look at things from a narrow one sided point of view as many traditional family doctors do. The other doc I see is an alternative doctor so isn't covered by medical insurance but between the two I've learned a lot and have had some success with overcoming my health troubles. Unfortunately this whole CO poisoning is new to the mix so am still trying to find all the right questions to ask and what I should even be discussing with my doctors. Perhaps you just haven't found the right doctor yet- I hope you don't give up and continue to fight for answers. It took me 25 doctors over a 5 year period of constant appointments to find these two who were finally willing to listen when other doctors couldn't figure out my immune disorder. I believe there are other good ones out there too- just sometimes are very difficult to find them.

We were poisoned from a gas stove that was leaking and a furnace that the previous homeowner had cut off one of the air intakes so the furnace wasn't burning efficiently. It was while living with a friend and he had just purchased the house so had no idea (the pipes and furnace were in our room so all the gas was leaking into our living area only). When we went to buy another house I wouldn't even consider a gas stove and made sure our furnace had zero gas emitted. Still freaks me out to think if we had stayed there much longer what could have happened. People talk about high acute exposure but fail to understand those detectors don't go off unless the levels are immediately life threatening- not when it can cause a slow death.

[Sarlou30]

Hi, I’m so sorry you went through this : ( at the end of your post you mentioned synthroid made you unable to breath. Was this a feeling of air hunger or literally you weren’t getting enough oxygen? The reason I ask is that I’m on synthroid and have had this awful, terrifying feeling of suffocating (air hunger) despite having normal heart and lung function and my thyroid results are normal. I’m wondering if it’s some kind of allergic response to the synthroid. I do have low iron, so that’s my only other theory at this point. What medication do you take now instead? I hope you’re feeling better and recovering.
-Sarah