Trauma Triggered Hypothyroidism

[gillingham_01]

hi to everyone here,

Has anyone experienced hypothyroidism that was triggered by very severe, continuous emotional trauma?  My story is long and profoundly painful, so much so that I am unable to write about it all in detail.. All I am able to say here is that the first of what were a succession of  very severe physical and emotional traumas happened to me starting in the Fall of 2011. Before this, I felt I was very healthy and my thyroid was functioning well.  In January 2012 my hair started falling out, and it has not stopped since.  There is also no regrowth.  In August 2014 I began to develop numerous symptoms of hypothyroidism, and is when my thyroid tests began to suggest my thyroid function was starting to decline.

Does anyone know if severe physical and emotional trauma of long duration permanently damages the thyroid, or is there a possibility it could recover on it's own without having to go on thyroid medication.  I am female and now 56 yrs old.

Thank you to everyone who reads my post,
hoping someone might have some experience/insight into what has happened to me.

[kovet]

I'm responding to gillingham_01 about trauma triggered hypothyroidism.  I was recently diagnosed hypothyroid.  Because I have a long trauma history, I googled trauma and hypothyroidism and your story came up.  I'm wondering if you are still around and how you are doing.

[goolarra]

There are some thyroid doctors who believe...we're talking theory now...that the FT3:RT3 ratio is the best measure we have of tissue thyroid levels, i.e. how well thyroid meds are getting into your cells.  Your ratio is 23.1, which is very good and indicates, according to their criteria, that thyroid hormone is getting into your cells.

The three big draws on blood usage are physical activity, keeping the body warm and digestion.  This is why we often feel cold after a meal.  The available blood supply is tied up in digestion.

"... but I am suffering with so very many hypo symptoms goolarra.  They can't all be being caused by severe anxiety and panic attacks."  I'm not saying they are, but I am telling you that, yes, they could be.  "Only a tiny, fleeting fragment of a thought connected to all of my trauma will set them off, and sometimes they happen without any conscious thought at all."  Obviously, they have tremendous power over you.

So, tough love here...here's what I see you saying:  I have tons of hypo symptoms, but I'm too afraid to try meds to see if they help.  I'm traumatized, but I will neither take meds to help myself through this, nor will I go into therapy.  I agree with you about Valium; it's way overprescribed, but we all need help sometime, and there are times when it's appropriate.  

Your FT3 and FT4 levels are good.  They do not explain your symptoms.  FT3:RT3 ratio is good, which also doesn't explain symptoms.  If your symptoms are thyroid related, it's not due to garden variety hypothyroidism.  For most of the more esoteric thyroid issues, there are no tests that will definitively show the problem.  The best "test" we have is often to go by symptoms, start meds and see if they help.  If you do have some kind of peripheral resistance, your serum thyroid hormone levels might have to be very high to relieve your symptoms.

You have to start somewhere, and I would once again strongly suggest you find someone to help you do it.  I guess I'm beginning to wonder what kind of a solution to these problems you are hoping to find.  I understand you are worried to start Armour, and you should be, but what's the alternative?          

  

[gillingham_01]

If the Australia website is a quiz the same as what is on the Canada website, I just took the Canada quiz.  My score was 91:

•70+          Hypothyroidism so bad that blood tests may be abnormal

[gillingham_01]

Thank you for writing back to me gimel.  Yes, I did try copy/pasting the address you wrote into my browser, but it is not coming up for me.  Are you sure this is the correct address?  This website comes up for me though.  Are they pretty much the same?

www.thyroid-canada.com/lowthyroid.htm

[gillingham_01]

Thank you for writing to me again goolarra.  yes, I am confused with my test results too, and for the same reasons that you say.  I don't understand why there is so much variability either, or why I am suffering so bad with all of these terrible symptoms.  Not only is all my hair falling out very, very severely with no regrowth, but my eyebrows are falling out too.  The edges have nearly disappeared now.

I could not get any of the endocrinologists to order a RT3 for me, but I did manage to have one RT3 test done on 2/1/15, ordered by a naturopath.  I had my blood drawn at 6:00 am on that day:

RT3
range           9.2-24.1
my value      14.3

FT3
range            2.0-4.4
my value       3.3

FT4              
range            0.82-1.77
my value       1.23

TSH
range             0.450-4.5
my value        6.16  

If you are asking if I can relate my coldness to eating in any way, the answer is yes.  Every time I eat something, no matter how little, I will suddenly become extremely cold very quickly.

But also, beginning last August, almost like clockwork, my entire body will suddenly become freezing cold beginning around 2 pm every single day, and I am almost always not eating anything at that time.

Another strange and troubling symptom I was having for quite awhile during the previous 3 months or so, was my eyes would suddenly start to hurt and a blood vessel would suddenly burst in my left eye between 3-5 pm.  This hasn't happened in the last month or so.

yes, I do know that panic attacks from anxiety can cause some hypo symptoms, and I do know that some of my many daily panic attacks are the result of the severe trauma I have suffered, but I am suffering with so very many hypo symptoms goolarra.  They can't all be being caused by severe anxiety and panic attacks.  I keep thinking that there is something interfering with the thyroid hormones getting into my cells.

Just as I am writing this to you now, I am fighting down the beginnings of a panic attack.  They just keep happening and they're truly killing me.  Only a tiny, fleeting fragment of a thought connected to all of my trauma will set them off, and sometimes they happen without any conscious thought at all.  I wake up every single morning in a panic attack, burning hot and drenching sweat.  My sleep cycle has been severely disrupted ever since this happened to me.

I have told so many doctors about my panic attacks, but I am either ignored or told too bad, you'll just have to live with it.  All they prescribe for me is valium which I try so hard to stay away from.  Benzos are very dangerous drugs to get hooked on, and doctors willingly prescribe 100's of valium without seemingly a second thought.  

so, yes, I am still very worried about starting on Armour goolarra.

[gimel]

Did you have a chance to take the survey in this link I gave you previously?

http://www.thyroid-australia.com/lowthyroid.htm

[goolarra]

One of the problems with your labs is that the tests ordered haven't been consistent.  So, it's hard to see any kind of pattern.  Looking at just the last three tests, you can see that TSH is not tracking FT3 and FT4 at all.  As FT3 and FT4 go up, so does TSH.  As the frees go up, TSH should go down.  

TSH levels can vary as much as 70% intraday just depending on the time of day the blood was drawn.  FT4 levels are more stable, but FT3 also varies considerably.  All have a circadian rhythm.    

Can you relate your coldness to eating in any way?  Panic attacks (anxiety) can be symptoms of both hypo and hyper.  

I don't see evidence of your thyroid starting to fail in your FT3 and FT4.  FT4 is on the high side, and FT3 is right where it should be.  TSH is all that's off, and TSH is usually best ignored anyway.  TSH causes no symptoms.  You can see that your FT4 is considerably higher now than it was in what you consider your baseline.

T3U is considered an obsolete test.  Despite its name, it's actually an indirect measure of T4.  FT4 is a direct test and much more reliable.  

Has RT3 ever been tested?    

[gillingham_01]

I forgot to say that I had the T3 updake test done on 3/30/15 with these tests.

3/30/15
TSH          3.36          FT4     1.24      FT3    3.0

T3 UPTAKE
range               24.0 - 39.0 %
my value          36.0

[gillingham_01]

goolarra, do you know what the T3 Uptake test result means?  I had this test done also, but I'm having a hard time understanding what the result means:

T3 UPTAKE
range               24.0 - 39.0 %
my value          36.0

[gillingham_01]

Thank you for writing again goolarra.  My thyroid tests have been all over the place.  When I was feeling well, before all this happened to me, I had these tests done, so I think these values are close to what my baseline was:

5/11/10
TSH       2.7         FT4  1.17       FT3  didn't have done

My problems began in Jan-2012.  These were my tests from then up to now:

Ranges:
TSH       0.450-4.5  
FT4        0.82-1.77
FT3        2.0-4.4

1/1/12
FT3        3.3

4/11/13
TSH        2.46         FT4   1.22

7/29/13
TSH        2.57

9/25/13
TSH        3.36          FT4   1.27

8/25/14
TSH         4.28          FT3    3.36

10/25/14
TSH         3.36          FT4    1.09        FT3   2.6

3/30/15
TSH          3.36          FT4     1.24      FT3    3.0

5/26/15
TSH          5.26          FT4      1.46     FT3   3.6

I have read that thyroid levels follow a circadiam rhythm, but that they should not fluctuate all that much throughout a 24-hour day.  I couldn't understand my last lab values at all.  At around 1-2pm I suddenly become freezing cold every day, and that is when I went to the lab to have my blood drawn.  I was expecting the values to be very low, but they were the highest they've ever been.  The doctor said the TSH is high because my thyroid is starting to fail and so is needing more and more TSH to stimulate it to produce hormones.  When I mentioned about thyroid hormone resistance, he did not say anything.

It really scares me to start hormones, not only for the reasons I mentioned earlier, but because I am afraid I could not tolerate high doses.  I already suffer from terrible panic attacks now which are unbearable and have worn me down terribly.  It feels like huge surges of adrenaline that just hit me, and I get burning hot and break out into a drenching sweat.

Where I live, it would cost a fortune to see a private therapist goolarra.  I did check a few of them, but they all charge well over $100 for only 45 minutes that must be paid upfront, and none of them have a sliding fee scale.  This for-profit health system in this country is just horrible.  I feel as though I am just falling into a black hole.

[goolarra]

I agree with your assessment of the medical industry, which I refuse to call the health "care" system.  The art of medicine has all but gone by the wayside, and we are left with a pile of numbers that we are expected to conform to.  However, I do think there are still caring people out there; you just have to ferret them out, which can be a daunting task.

It's not easy to decide if symptoms are physical or psychological.  Of course, the "rule" is to eliminate the physical first.  If you find something amiss, correct it and see if that helps.  It's a process of elimination, and it takes time.

You have suffered trauma before, but each situation is unique.  Your support system has probably changed considerably over those traumas.  

Your FT3 is a little bit on the low side relative to your FT4 (57% vs. 67%).  Typically, FT3 should be a higher percentage of range than FT4.  When it's not, a conversion issue is suspect.  It's the conversion of T4 to T3 that is slowed by trauma, etc.  

There is a condition called thyroid hormone resistance (THR).  People who have this condition often have to have FT3 and FT4 levels extremely high (sometimes several times the upper limit of the test ranges), or hormones can't get into cells.  The saturated levels seem to allow the hormones to enter cells.  I always envision this as a kind of "egg and sperm" scenario.  Only one sperm (a little bit of thyroid hormone) makes it into the egg (cell), but it takes millions of sperm (very high levels of thyroid hormone) to bust into the egg (cell).  Your FT3 and FT4 are pretty high to still have elevated TSH, and that is a symptom of THR.

I really don't think you have much to lose in trying thyroid meds.  It would be very hard to feel much worse, and if you do, you simply stop taking thyroid meds.  Of course, as I've said before, taking thyroid meds is not like taking an antibiotic...results are not immediate...so, barring any severe reaction, you do have to stick with it for a while.  Some people have a reaction to the fillers in thyroid meds, but the active ingredients have almost no side effects, over medication being the primary one.  

I also think you have to find a therapist.  You've obviously been through a lot.  Sometimes we can't do it all on our own.  Therapy is another thing like thyroid hormone meds...results are not immediate.  It can take many months of building trust before any real improvement is possible.  I would suggest you start by finding a therapist who is as self-employed as possible.  It's hard to do these days, but at least stay away from the ones employed by the huge medical complexes.  I tend to find doctors who are truly in "private practice" to be much more responsive.

You have to start somewhere.  Even if where you start is wrong, it will eliminate one more unknown.      

[gillingham_01]

Thank you for writing again on my post goolarra.  I was hoping you would come back.  While you were away, gimel and others have been offering their thoughts to try to help which I appreciate so much.  Thank you to all of you.

yes, I am suffering with severe emotional trauma goolarra.  I was feeling well before all of this happened to me.  It all started with a physical trauma I suffered, and then several very emotionally traumatizing things happened one after the other shortly afterwards.
  
no, I am not in any therapy. I tried, but it just does not work for me.  People I think do not understand that there is a very dark, hidden side to the medical field throughout, and an especially dark side to anything having to do with the mind.  One does not realize this until something terrible happens to them and they try to find help. This is a very big subject really, there is so much to say on it.

I can say though that one of my traumatizing events was actually at the hands of people in this field of medicine.  Not only was I made to feel inferior and condescended to and worse, but I was given a drug that closed off my throat. I found myself at 3 in the morning nearly suffocating to death and had to force my fingers down my throat to keep my airway open.  I suffered like this for hours until the horrible drug began to finally wear off, but I honestly though I was going to die.  And this did not happen to me once, but three times.  When I told the doctor about it, she just looked at me with a cold, blank stare.

I tried seeing a few counselors but was met with the same soul destroying attitude. There are probably a few counselors that truly do care and convey this to their patients, but from my own awful experiences, I feel there are also many who do not care, or have just become callous over time from spending their days listening to people talk about their problems.  Every time I hear medical people on news stories saying that help is available and to go see these people when one is experiencing difficulty I absolutely cringe.  The way the system works, and this type of care in particular, is very seriously flawed.  I believe a lot of people are harmed and made even worse by what they're put through.  I'm sorry for writing so much,.. I am trying not to, it's just so difficult.

What you said about my traumatized emotional state is something I have been trying to find out about for a long time, that being that some of my symptoms could also be caused by this.  I was well before all this happened to me.  All the trauma came first, so it must be having an effect.  It is another reason why I am afraid of the thyroid meds, yet somehow I feel that many of my symptoms are being caused by my thyroid hormones not acting on my cells the way they should.  The lowest thyroid levels I've had were last October, but my symptoms began to develop beginning in early 2012.  They were:

TSH    
Range           0.450-4.5
mine               3.36
fT4
Range            0.82-1.77
mine               1.09
fT3  
Range             2.0-4.4
mine                2.6

I have had alot of emotional trauma in my life (the death of my husband, brain surgery, many other things).  I survived them all though, never suffering as badly as I am now.

How can I know which is causing more of my symptoms than the other (malfunctioning thyroid vs. effects of emotional trauma)?  I have read that in severe emotional distress cortisol and the other stress hormones suppress 'production' of many hormones, but I have had a hard time finding much information on whether high stress hormone levels also block thyroid hormones that are naturally available from entering cells. It's all so complex.  If my naturally produced hormones are not getting into my cells, supplemented hormones won't get into them either.  

so this is where I am at goolarra.  I am getting worse by the day, actually feel critically ill, and not knowing what to do to recover from all that is happening to me.  
It is why I turned to this forum, hoping some of the members would be willing to share their thoughts and advice.  I appreciate so much yours and everyone's comments that have been shared, and your willingness to try to help me.

[goolarra]

A lot has happened in a few days on this thread!

If your doctor is offering Armour, I'd certainly take him up on it.  You have a very long list of hypo symptoms (although I'm sure some of those symptoms have other causes and/or share their cause with thyroid).  There isn't much of a downside to trying it.  

You are in therapy, correct?  A severely traumatized emotional state can cause many of these symptoms, too.  And I don't mean you are imaging the symptoms, but that they are psychosomatic, i.e. real symptoms with emotional roots.  They are just as legitimate as symptoms with physical causes.    

Although I did not lose hair, many people on this forum have, and there was regrowth after starting thyroid meds.  Once again, I caution this could take some time since hair loss is often one of the last symptoms to leave.

As you said, you have to start somewhere.  

[gimel]

I think your fear of thyroid meds shutting down your thyroid function is unfounded.  There are studies I remember seeing that showed that the gland's function returned after stopping thyroid meds.  

[gillingham_01]

Thank you for sharing your comment with me Rai_Rai.  I really know what you are going through with the terrible anxiety and profuse sweating.  It is a terrible thing to struggle to cope with every single day.  A huge surge of anxiety and profuse sweating is what wakes me up, every single day, and it is really draining me now.

It is really great that you are able to go to the gym and that it is helping you alittle.  I hope you continue to improve.  I wish I could go to the gym or even take my evening walks like I used to, but I just don't have the strength or stamina anymore.  I have never felt as terrible as this; it is very, very frightening for me.

Are you taking Armour?  If you are, has it caused you any bad symptoms?  What dose are you taking?  I hope you do not mind me asking you.

[gillingham_01]

Thank you for your comment again Gimel.  I shared my most recent ferritin result which was on March 30 alittle further up in my post.  It was:

Ferritin
range                 13-150
my value            185

I was on iron supplements for a few months prior to this test though, so I am sure this is the reason my value was high. I stopped the supplements on March 30.  Because I am having so much trouble with my digestion, I think my ferritin has probably decreased alittle since March 30 because I'm probably not absorbing much iron from what I am able to eat.  Somehow, I don't think my doctor will agree to retest it again so soon.

I also had my calcium level tested on March 30.  The result is:

Calcium
Range              8.6-10.2
my value          9.3

I actually did write down my long list of symptoms for my doctor and gave it to him Gimel.  He said he thinks I am hypothyroid and has suggested I try Armour.  And that was where I was at when I put my first post on this forum, asking if there is anyone who has experienced what I have (severe emotional and physical trauma having caused what I am now going through) and if so, whether anyone was able to recover their thyroid health in some way without having to go on thyroid medication.  While I am suffering terribly, more than I can ever say, I am still afraid of thyroid meds permanently shutting down my thyroid.  Goolara said that she didn't think this would happen.

Being a woman and suddenly having lost nearly all of my hair is 'profoundly distressing for me, so I was wondering too if any other members have had this happen to them and if so, if thyroid meds helped their hair to come back. I know it is distressing for men to lose their hair too, but it is much, much worse for a woman to have this happen to them.  It is horrible.

today was another very hard day for me.  My mind has been in such a fog all day it felt like I was thinking in slow motion.  I have just tried to eat a small piece of chicken.  My stomach is not making any digestive sounds.  This happens whenever I try to eat which is hard to do already because I have no appetite.

[gimel]

I also thought you might like to go through the check list in this link, and geta  composite score to evaluate for hypothyroidism.  It is interesting.

http://www.thyroid-australia.com/lowthyroid.htm

[gimel]

You have an overabundance of classic hypothyroid symptoms.  There may be other issues as well that need further testing.  So do you think you could give your list of symptoms, along with a copy of the symptoms in this long list that can be associated with hypothyroidism, to your doctor and get him to consider starting you on a therapeutic trail of thryoid med?  Also do you think you could get him to test for ferritin and calcium?

http://hypothyroidmom.com/300-hypothyroidism-symptoms-yes-really/

The reason I mention calcium is covered in the following link.  I may be grasping at straws, but maybe it is worth considering.

http://www.parathyroid.com/parathyroid-symptoms.htm


:

[Rai_Rai]

I also have some of the symptoms like my eyebrows are thinning, lack of stamina, brain fog. The worse for me is the anxiety and sweating even when its not hot my face just feels like a hot flush and it starts pouring with sweat.
I've recently had my blood test done again because I think I'm under medicated, still waiting on those results. But in the mean time I found going to the gym helps and drinking freshly made fruit juices and trying to relax with yoga or just doing things you like, sometimes I feel like I have to fight against my body to get past the fatigue, frustrating!!

[gillingham_01]

my list of symptoms is very lengthy gimel:

- along with my severe hair loss, my eyebrows are falling out.  I have always had thick eyebrows. I suddenly noticed a few months ago that the outer edges of my eyebrows have just about disappeared, and what's left continues to get thinner and thinner
- profound fatigue, my stamina is gone
- my motivation is gone
- increasing brain fog
- increasing slowness in my ability to think clearly
- in the morning when I wake up, I literally can't move.  I have never know fatigue as severe as it is when I wake up.
- my sleep pattern has become very disrupted, very hard to fall asleep, wake up every few hours
- this past weekend I slept nearly all day both days. This happens very often
- I've worked full time in high stress, demanding jobs for nearly 40 years, but now I cannot work more than two days in a row because of the profound fatigue I have every day.
- I have severe problems with my digestion, have greatly decreased digestive motility
- when I eat something, it feels like I've swallowed a rock, and I immediately become even colder than I already feel almost all the time.

- when I eat anything, even if it's only a few crackers, my stomach swells up
- constipation, at times severe
- I am gaining weight, yet I eat very little because I have no appetite.
- I have nausea that comes and goes most days, especially in the morning
- I also become especially cold at about the same time every day - between 1-3 pm.
- I used to walk 2-3 miles nearly every evening, for very many years.  I cannot do this anymore.  It is with great effort that I just walk 2 blocks to the mailbox and back.
- my eyes have started to bother me since this all happened to me.  They now hurt, burn, itch, my vision is becoming more blurry.  I can't read newsprint anymore now.
- my eyes have always been sensitive to sunlight, but this has now become severe
- my legs have now started to hurt and ache
- I wake up with unexplained bruises on my legs
- intolerance to both hot and cold temperatures
- my voice has been strange for the last several months now.  Is hard to explain, but it's like there's something stuck in my throat, and I have trouble speaking at length.  My voice sort of cracks and fades away.  I can't get the words out.
- frequent dermatitis on my fingers has recently been starting to happen, it comes and goes
- extreme sensitivity to noise
- have heart flutters that come and go
- severe anxiety with severe episodes of heat with profuse sweating.  This is the worse in the morning, but I also have these episodes throughout the day, every single day

I have always been extremely in tune with my body, have always been athletic all my life, tried to take care of myself, but since this has happened to me, I feel as though I am now existing in a very ill, foreign body.  I do not feel myself anymore. I am in extreme emotional distress because of what is happening to me.

[gimel]

In another site, that same doctor said, "Since NDT has more T3 than the human thyroid gland produces, the well-replaced patient’s FT4 will be below the middle of its range, and the FT3 will be high “normal” or slightly high before the next AM dose."  My FT4 and FT3 results are consistent with that.  

Before going further, can you please list the symptoms you have, besides hair loss.  

[gillingham_01]

I'm sorry, I made another typo when I posted my most recent lab values a few days ago.  Here is my corrected FT3 value:

TSH
Range           0.450-4.5
My value        5.26

FT4
Range            0.82-1.77
my value        1.46

FT3
Range             2.0-4.4
my value         3.6        (not 3.36)

When I was well before all this happened to me, I wouldn't have made mistakes like this.  My sustained concentration and focus are really being affected.

[gillingham_01]

Thank you again for offering your thoughts and comments Gimel. The information you provided that you say is from a good thyroid doctor is very helpful to me.  I've not come across this piece of information in all of the searching and reading I have done.

Could I ask you what your FT4 and FT3 levels are? (the levels that you feel relief from your symptoms)?

Could I ask another question?  Have you or anyone on the forum suffered very severe hair loss with no regrowth where it started to come back again after being on Armour?  I can't tell you how distraught I am with now having lost nearly all of my hair.

[gimel]

You expressed concern that the thyroid hormone was not finding its way to the cells of your body.  Perhaps it is more likely that your levels are just too low.  Have a look at this info.

In the words of a good thyroid doctor, "The free T3 is not as helpful in untreated persons as the free T4 because in the light of a rather low FT4 the body will convert more T4 to T3 to maintain thyroid effect as well as is possible. So the person with a rather low FT4 and high-in-range FT3 may still be hypothyroid. However, if the FT4 is below 1.3 and the FT3 is also rather low, say below 3.4 (range 2 to 4.4 at LabCorp) then its likely that hypothyroidism is the cause of a person's symptoms."

In addition, every person has slightly different levels at which they feel best.  I think it is worth a therapeutic trial of thyroid meds, adequate to raise your Free T4 and Free T3 levels.  Many members, myself included, say that relief from hypo symptoms required Free T4 at the middle of its range, at minimum, and Free T3 in the upper third of its range, or as necessary to relieve symptoms.