Hello All,
I'm looking for a bit of reassurance or guidance around the clinical course of silent thyroiditis, guidance other than what you read on wikipedia etc.
I'll start off with a bit about my history and condition. I'm a 29 year old Male who has always been very fit and healthy, live in Australia, no previous medical conditions, never taken drugs etc etc.
On the 8th of January this year (2013) I got struck down with a bout of food poisoning, Campylobachter Jejuni. It was pretty severe, temperature above 40 degrees, diarrhoea, heart rate of 130 bpm, general malaise, impaired cognitive function etc. It lasted about 10 days with two trips to hospital for dehydration. Over the following two weeks it began to improve and I was almost back to 100%, just feeling run down/exhausted with a sore stomach. Then on the 26th (3 weeks after food poisoning) of January I started to feel a light soreness in my throat but nothing to distressing, I was also sweating heavily but thats not uncommon in the middle of an Australian Summer. The next morning when I woke up I knew something was seriously wrong, my heart was pounding out my chest, sweating profusely, I couldn't think, I had severe vertigo and basically felt as though I had a terrible virus of some sort. After seeing 2 different doctors who both said it was some sort of post food poisoning issue I got a 3rd opinion as I knew something else sinister was going on. Luckily he tested my Thyroid function and found my TSH was >0.05, T3 of around 13 and T4 of around 30. My cortisol was also high. He suspected possible Graves and I was sent in for a radio iodine uptake test which ended up showing an uptake of 0.01, it basically absorbed nothing. He looked at me with a puzzled face and referred me to an Endocrinologist, the Endo diagnosed me with painless/silent thyroiditis which apparently is similar to post-partum thyroiditis. I went through a hyper phase for over 3 months, from say January 27th to April 27th, it was pure hell. My TFT numbers were not off the charts but I seemed to be very sensitive to the condition. The Hyper phase subsided and my levels fell within normal ranges, T3 of 4.6 and T4 of 13.6. My TSH stayed suppressed until around the 21st of May at which point it registered at 1.82. a month later (now) its at 3.52 and my T3 and T4 are still within range and holding steady. My thyroid antibodies were negative so Hashi's and Graves are not suspected. All my other tests are completed normal, full blood count is excellent, proteins are all good, etc etc. But they did find one thing concerning, I had a positive ANA reading of 1:80 Speckled pattern although post follow up tests show no sign of Lupus etc etc.
My problem is that a couple of the symptoms have not subsided and i'm curious to know if this is due to the yoyo my TSH is doing, although I understand TSH is not symptomatic, I suspect the stimulating effect on your thyroid may cause some feeling. I'm worried I have some other immune or neuro condition that has not been diagnosed, like Parkinsons, MS, CFS, Fibromyalgia or something. My current symptoms are as follows.
- General Malaise
- Mild fatigue, although sometimes heavy fatigue
- Disequilibrium, this is my main and most concerning symptom. I feel like when i'm walking my legs dont want to move when my brain tells them, although it has never resulted in any type of paralysis. Dizzy and lightheaded when I stand or sit upright, although I feel ok when laying down.
- Impaired cognitive function, I feel like there is pressure in my head (I had an MRI which showed all ok)
- Tinnitus in my left ear only
- I have slightly raised Cortisol levels still, above range. No other signs of Cushings however, no bloating, increased trunk size etc.
So in short, even though my TFT numbers are within range, could these symptoms still lag around for a period of time?
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks,
Nick