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Trauma Triggered Hypothyroidism
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.
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.
Thank you for writing again goolarra. I hope you will be back online soon.
My symptoms being as severe as they are, I now wonder if there is something that is preventing my thyroid hormones from getting into my cells. These are my test results that I had back on March 30, alittle less than 4 months ago. I had my blood drawn at a different time on that day (9:40 am):
TSH
my value 3.36
Ft4
my value 1.24
Ft3
my value 3.0
Ferritin
range 13-150
my value 185
Vit D-25 Hydroxy
range 32-100
my value 56.8 (this should be higher now have been taking supplement)
Vit B
range 211-946
my value 1419
Cortisol (7-10am)
range 6.2-19.4
my value 16.6
I have read that thyroid hormones getting into cells is a complex energy-dependent process. I have also read that thyroid hormones follow a circadian rhythm, with levels at there lowest around 3 pm and at their highest around 3-4 am. I have a terrible time sleeping and I know my circadian rhythm is badly messed up. This weekend I slept most of the day on Sat & Sun because I feel so tired all the time, and then was awake most of the night. Then during the week I will have to be up early on certain days. When I wake up I can barely move or get out of bed. I literally can barely move. I also wake up in a panic attack and become extremely hot with profuse sweating. I wake up like this every single day. I also know my BMR is now very low. I have no appetite and so I eat very little, yet I am gaining weight. I can't begin to tell you how terrible I feel.
My symptoms being as severe as they are, I now wonder if there is something that is preventing my thyroid hormones from getting into my cells. These are my test results that I had back on March 30, alittle less than 4 months ago. I had my blood drawn at a different time on that day (9:40 am):
TSH
my value 3.36
Ft4
my value 1.24
Ft3
my value 3.0
Ferritin
range 13-150
my value 185
Vit D-25 Hydroxy
range 32-100
my value 56.8 (this should be higher now have been taking supplement)
Vit B
range 211-946
my value 1419
Cortisol (7-10am)
range 6.2-19.4
my value 16.6
I have read that thyroid hormones getting into cells is a complex energy-dependent process. I have also read that thyroid hormones follow a circadian rhythm, with levels at there lowest around 3 pm and at their highest around 3-4 am. I have a terrible time sleeping and I know my circadian rhythm is badly messed up. This weekend I slept most of the day on Sat & Sun because I feel so tired all the time, and then was awake most of the night. Then during the week I will have to be up early on certain days. When I wake up I can barely move or get out of bed. I literally can barely move. I also wake up in a panic attack and become extremely hot with profuse sweating. I wake up like this every single day. I also know my BMR is now very low. I have no appetite and so I eat very little, yet I am gaining weight. I can't begin to tell you how terrible I feel.
You're right. Your TSH is a bit elevated, yet your FT4 is at 67% of range, which is high of the 50% target, and FT3 is at 57%, which is in the upper half of range recommended. Neither of those levels should be causing hypo symptoms.
Has your vitamin D and ferritin been tested? Once FT3 and FT4 levels are adequate, we have to consider some kind of resistance syndrome. Vitamin D and ferritin are key to thyroid hormones getting into cells.
Have you had a 24-hour saliva test for cortisol? This test gets four distinct readings throughout the day. Any cortisol test that is just a snapshot or averages can miss high and low spots throughout the day.
I'm going to be offline for a few days, so don't think I'm ignoring you.
Has your vitamin D and ferritin been tested? Once FT3 and FT4 levels are adequate, we have to consider some kind of resistance syndrome. Vitamin D and ferritin are key to thyroid hormones getting into cells.
Have you had a 24-hour saliva test for cortisol? This test gets four distinct readings throughout the day. Any cortisol test that is just a snapshot or averages can miss high and low spots throughout the day.
I'm going to be offline for a few days, so don't think I'm ignoring you.
Thank you for writing on my post again goolarra. I really appreciate that you are there.
yes, my symptoms are terrible, very severe. I have never suffered as bad as this in my life, and I have had quite a lot of suffering in my life. I could try to get my doctor to repeat the antibodies test, but it's hard to know if he will.
I did get my test results today, and they are very confusing:
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 3.36
In the past I always had my blood drawn in the morning, but this time I had it drawn at 2:00 pm. I did this because every day starting at about 2-3pm I suddenly get freezing cold. I am cold most all the time, but I get especially cold at this time of day. I also get freezing cold if I eat something. Eating is hard for me because I don't have an appetite, yet I am gaining weight. All my hair is falling out. I have terrible problems sleeping and I know my circadian rhythm is completely out of whack. I asked my doctor what time I should go to have my blood drawn, and he said I should go in the afternoon when I start to feel so cold.
To me, my results are saying that my thyroid is really struggling because of the high TSH, yet the Ft3 and Ft4 levels don't seem as bad as they should be with the very severe symptoms I am having. Looking at these test results, It almost seems as if my thyroid hormones are not entering my cells. I am feeling even more distraught now. I feel as if my endocrine system has gone completely haywire. I also am suffering with severe panic attacks and awful sweating. This is especially bad in the morning. I wake up with a panic attack and profuse sweating every day. It feels as if my body is just being flooded with adrenaline. It's the worst feeling. I did have my cortisol checked several times, and it's always in range towards the high end.
I just don't know what to do now at all.
yes, my symptoms are terrible, very severe. I have never suffered as bad as this in my life, and I have had quite a lot of suffering in my life. I could try to get my doctor to repeat the antibodies test, but it's hard to know if he will.
I did get my test results today, and they are very confusing:
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 3.36
In the past I always had my blood drawn in the morning, but this time I had it drawn at 2:00 pm. I did this because every day starting at about 2-3pm I suddenly get freezing cold. I am cold most all the time, but I get especially cold at this time of day. I also get freezing cold if I eat something. Eating is hard for me because I don't have an appetite, yet I am gaining weight. All my hair is falling out. I have terrible problems sleeping and I know my circadian rhythm is completely out of whack. I asked my doctor what time I should go to have my blood drawn, and he said I should go in the afternoon when I start to feel so cold.
To me, my results are saying that my thyroid is really struggling because of the high TSH, yet the Ft3 and Ft4 levels don't seem as bad as they should be with the very severe symptoms I am having. Looking at these test results, It almost seems as if my thyroid hormones are not entering my cells. I am feeling even more distraught now. I feel as if my endocrine system has gone completely haywire. I also am suffering with severe panic attacks and awful sweating. This is especially bad in the morning. I wake up with a panic attack and profuse sweating every day. It feels as if my body is just being flooded with adrenaline. It's the worst feeling. I did have my cortisol checked several times, and it's always in range towards the high end.
I just don't know what to do now at all.
TSI is a tricky test to interpret. The range is 0-139%, but 139% is where MOST people start to feel symptoms...some do sooner, some later. The fact of the matter is that there's a huge gray area in the test, and people who don't have Graves' have TSI of less-than 2%. So, it might be worth repeating that to see if your 24% result is trending in either direction.
TPOab was a while ago, so that's definitely worth repeating, once again looking for a trend.
Despite the name, postpartum thyroiditis does occur other than postpartum. Pregnancy and childbirth are trauma.
Your doctor may have told you that you could feel worse on thyroid meds because he suspects your adrenals are stressed due to trauma. The whole endocrine system is interdependent, and if adrenals are off, it can be very hard to regulate thyroid.
Thyroid definitely plays a role in trauma. The thyroid will scale back hormone production to slow metabolism. It's almost a state of torpor that allows the body to conserve energy and heal, both emotionally and physically. Also, some drugs affect thyroid hormone production, a few of them for many years after the meds are discontinued.
Your symptoms seem really bad. I understand that you have a lot going on, but if your thyroid is malfunctioning, you need to address that. Perhaps you should try to pin your doctor down on WHY he thinks you might feel worse on meds. You feel terrible now... As you said, it takes years to heal from severe trauma...you can't put up with these symptoms that long.
Of course, it's impossible to disprove anything, but if you've found nothing to support your doctor's claim that you can never get off thyroid meds, it's just possible that's not true. I've "known" several people on this forum who took thyroid hormones to support them through a temporary thyroiditis and then discontinued them once the thyroid recovered.
Okay, I won't give you the lecture on reference ranges, then. LOL
Taking thyroid meds is not going to permanently shut down your thyroid. If you feel worse on meds, you simply stop taking them (working with your doctor, of course). Do be aware, however, that thyroid meds are not like taking an aspirin. They have to build in your blood for several weeks. Your body has to rebalance now that they're present again. The first dosage we're on is really nothing but an educated guess. So, after a few weeks, we re-evaluate and adjust meds, and the process starts again.
Thyroid is very misunderstood by the medical profession. If your friends continue to suffer, it's because the nut behind the prescription pad is keeping them under medicated or on the wrong meds. Patients pop into the very bottom of the free ranges, and the doctor pats himself on the back...patient is no longer hypo...baloney! Most of us don't feel well in the bottom of the ranges. This is not the way it has to go...tell your friends to find a doctor who will treat them until they feel well.
Let's see what your FT3 and FT4 look like and go from there.
TPOab was a while ago, so that's definitely worth repeating, once again looking for a trend.
Despite the name, postpartum thyroiditis does occur other than postpartum. Pregnancy and childbirth are trauma.
Your doctor may have told you that you could feel worse on thyroid meds because he suspects your adrenals are stressed due to trauma. The whole endocrine system is interdependent, and if adrenals are off, it can be very hard to regulate thyroid.
Thyroid definitely plays a role in trauma. The thyroid will scale back hormone production to slow metabolism. It's almost a state of torpor that allows the body to conserve energy and heal, both emotionally and physically. Also, some drugs affect thyroid hormone production, a few of them for many years after the meds are discontinued.
Your symptoms seem really bad. I understand that you have a lot going on, but if your thyroid is malfunctioning, you need to address that. Perhaps you should try to pin your doctor down on WHY he thinks you might feel worse on meds. You feel terrible now... As you said, it takes years to heal from severe trauma...you can't put up with these symptoms that long.
Of course, it's impossible to disprove anything, but if you've found nothing to support your doctor's claim that you can never get off thyroid meds, it's just possible that's not true. I've "known" several people on this forum who took thyroid hormones to support them through a temporary thyroiditis and then discontinued them once the thyroid recovered.
Okay, I won't give you the lecture on reference ranges, then. LOL
Taking thyroid meds is not going to permanently shut down your thyroid. If you feel worse on meds, you simply stop taking them (working with your doctor, of course). Do be aware, however, that thyroid meds are not like taking an aspirin. They have to build in your blood for several weeks. Your body has to rebalance now that they're present again. The first dosage we're on is really nothing but an educated guess. So, after a few weeks, we re-evaluate and adjust meds, and the process starts again.
Thyroid is very misunderstood by the medical profession. If your friends continue to suffer, it's because the nut behind the prescription pad is keeping them under medicated or on the wrong meds. Patients pop into the very bottom of the free ranges, and the doctor pats himself on the back...patient is no longer hypo...baloney! Most of us don't feel well in the bottom of the ranges. This is not the way it has to go...tell your friends to find a doctor who will treat them until they feel well.
Let's see what your FT3 and FT4 look like and go from there.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with me. I forgot to mention that I also had this test done a few months ago along with the previous one I had mentioned:
THYROID STIMULATING IMMUNOGLOB
Range 0 - 139 %
My value 24
And I had this test done approx. 1-1/2 years ago. I was in very bad shape then too. I have only been getting progressively worse. When I had this test done, I was starting the second year into the terrible series of traumas that I have suffered:
THYROID PEROXIDASE (TPO) AB
Range <=35 IU/mL
My value 14
I will try to read about silent thyroiditis and deQuervain's thyroiditis. Thank you for suggesting this. I would not be suffering from postpartum thyroiditis though.
I am not entirely sure why my doctor told me that I could feel even worse on thyroid medication. I am wondering if it might have something to do with the fact that I am very, very severely emotionally and psychologically stressed due to the traumas I have suffered and the aftermath of which I am still suffering with.
Perhaps he might be thinking that it's my emotional/psychological state that is causing my hypothyroidism and that this needs to be fixed somehow first? It would too much for me to even try to write about my traumas that triggered all of this, but I can say that fixing a profoundly traumatized person is very, very complex, very, very hard to do, and it takes a very long time to accomplish if at all. Also, all of those horrible drugs that are forced on people have many terrible side effects.
My hypothyroid symptoms are now very, very severe. I am suffering so bad that I am afraid to even leave the house for fear that I may suddenly collapse from some sort of medical event. All of my hair just continues to fall out and none of it is regrowing. It's almost all fallen out now, and this is 'profoundly' traumatizing for me. If only you could know what I have been put through and how 'cruelly' people have treated me, including medical professionals, because of what I am going through losing all my hair like this.
I have searched the internet endlessly trying to find any scientific studies to disprove what my doctor said, about there being a possibility that thyroid meds could permanently shut down my thyroid, but I just could not find anything. The fear of this is very great for me. Before all this happened to me, there was nothing wrong with my thyroid. I can't find anything about trauma induced hypothyroidism where people have recovered in my searches either.
To be honest, I have gone to three different endocrinologists now over the last few years, and they have all treated me terribly. None of them recommended that I go on thyroid medication because prior blood test I had done at the time I saw them were all 'in range' (I know, I've done a lot of reading about the ranges). The doctor I am seeing now is my new general practitioner doctor, and he is the first one who has actually said I am hypothyroid and that I can try thyroid medication if I want to.
But I have these fears, that it could make me feel even worse, and that it could permanently shut down my thyroid. I know a few people who are on thyroid medication, and they continue to suffer. They say the thyroid medication hasn't helped at all.
I should have my test results for my TSH, Ft3 and Ft4 on Monday. I just don't know what to do.
THYROID STIMULATING IMMUNOGLOB
Range 0 - 139 %
My value 24
And I had this test done approx. 1-1/2 years ago. I was in very bad shape then too. I have only been getting progressively worse. When I had this test done, I was starting the second year into the terrible series of traumas that I have suffered:
THYROID PEROXIDASE (TPO) AB
Range <=35 IU/mL
My value 14
I will try to read about silent thyroiditis and deQuervain's thyroiditis. Thank you for suggesting this. I would not be suffering from postpartum thyroiditis though.
I am not entirely sure why my doctor told me that I could feel even worse on thyroid medication. I am wondering if it might have something to do with the fact that I am very, very severely emotionally and psychologically stressed due to the traumas I have suffered and the aftermath of which I am still suffering with.
Perhaps he might be thinking that it's my emotional/psychological state that is causing my hypothyroidism and that this needs to be fixed somehow first? It would too much for me to even try to write about my traumas that triggered all of this, but I can say that fixing a profoundly traumatized person is very, very complex, very, very hard to do, and it takes a very long time to accomplish if at all. Also, all of those horrible drugs that are forced on people have many terrible side effects.
My hypothyroid symptoms are now very, very severe. I am suffering so bad that I am afraid to even leave the house for fear that I may suddenly collapse from some sort of medical event. All of my hair just continues to fall out and none of it is regrowing. It's almost all fallen out now, and this is 'profoundly' traumatizing for me. If only you could know what I have been put through and how 'cruelly' people have treated me, including medical professionals, because of what I am going through losing all my hair like this.
I have searched the internet endlessly trying to find any scientific studies to disprove what my doctor said, about there being a possibility that thyroid meds could permanently shut down my thyroid, but I just could not find anything. The fear of this is very great for me. Before all this happened to me, there was nothing wrong with my thyroid. I can't find anything about trauma induced hypothyroidism where people have recovered in my searches either.
To be honest, I have gone to three different endocrinologists now over the last few years, and they have all treated me terribly. None of them recommended that I go on thyroid medication because prior blood test I had done at the time I saw them were all 'in range' (I know, I've done a lot of reading about the ranges). The doctor I am seeing now is my new general practitioner doctor, and he is the first one who has actually said I am hypothyroid and that I can try thyroid medication if I want to.
But I have these fears, that it could make me feel even worse, and that it could permanently shut down my thyroid. I know a few people who are on thyroid medication, and they continue to suffer. They say the thyroid medication hasn't helped at all.
I should have my test results for my TSH, Ft3 and Ft4 on Monday. I just don't know what to do.
I agree with goolarra. Plus it sounds like you need a different doctor.
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