How many with thyroid & lupus?

[Willow34]

Hi everyone! Hope you are all doing alright this morning. I have a question to ask the people on this board.... how many have thyroid problems with their lupus? I am just curious.

[Katharine]

Hi Willow,

I have had Hashimotos thyroiditis for several years now. Long before my lupus diagnosis.

I think quite a few people also have thyroid problems.

Katharine

[Willow34]

That is so interesting. I have had something going on since I was 16 (just turned 35 last weekend), and they still don't know what is going on. I am asking because my last flare was strong enough.... that six months later I was tested again, and now am Hypo. I was wondering if I should just let it all go. Not bother any more trying to find out what is going on... just let the flares come and go and deal with it.

I am not being treated for anything, and I don't have any follow up visits with anyone these days. I am not complaining, but I am just tired of it all. I was thinking that now, after all these years, that my thryoid is not working - would they just say 'Oh! Well, she is hypo. No use in looking any further!". I was just wondering if anyone here would have thyroid issues. What comes first? The arthritis that attacks the thyroid gland... or is it the thyroid gland all along and just leave it at that?

I look up the different symptoms of arthritis and thyroid issues and they are a like in so many ways.. but my problem is that I had inflammatory arthritis ( my doctor's own words) way before my thyroid has become faulty. So, if the whole thing was caused by the arthritis flare... and I am not being treated at all... then what else can be attacked???

[cad]

Hi Willow,
This is very interesting.
I am type 1 diabetic since i was 2yrs so 28 yrs now.

I started to get my joint problems and fatigue in sept/oct last year. My thyroid function was fine in dec.

Then i got really bad fatigue throughout Jan /Feb and just when i thought i was about to die my thyroid function was checked again and my tsh was really high and now have hashimotos.

My endocrinologist even said for it to get that bad that quickly was very unusual and he was quite surprised by the test results!

I now think that the illness i have now was what instigated my thyroid problem as it happened so quickly.

Saw rheumy in april who suspected sle and then bloods have now indicated mixed connective tissue disease which i am waiting to have confrimed.

Also ahve loads of other symptoms.

But i now have 3 autoimmune diseases. Very strange.

Also if you have underlying endocrine weakness such as diabetes, thyroid or adrenal gland problems then you are much more likely to develope other autoimmune diseases f the connective tissues.

Cassie

[lazylegs]

Hi Willow,

I was diagnosed with Grave's prior to the Lupus diagnosis. It was taken care of radioactively because the goiter was not able to be surgically removed. It killed off a little too much so now I am hypo instead of hyper.

Good luck finding the correct dosage to make you stable.

Take care,
Lazylegs

Take care,
Lazylegs

[Willow34]

This is so interesting... my GP never has told me what type of arthritis I have.. just that it is inflammatory. My rheumatologist ruled out RA and OA... but never said what it is I have. He took x-rays of my lungs and said that though he can't see it, he suspects I have serositis (sp?) and when I look it up, it is lupus connected.

All this to say that I was thinking of just not going to my GP with anything else that is bothering me (arthritis related), though he told me to come see him for anything that happens... I was feeling that if they all think the thyroid is the issue, why bother?

[Katharine]

I'm not sure I'm following here, maybe it's just me...

Where is the link thyroid/arthritis??

If you are hypothyroid you should be being treated for it. Being hypothyroid can give many similar symptoms to lupus and with treatment you can feel a whole lot better.

sorry if my brain's not working

Katharine

[Willow34]

Well, this whole thread is for me to find out if there is a link. My problem is that I don't know what came first... the chicken or the egg? Do people with lupus have thyroid issues before or after? Does the fact that I had symptoms of something "arthritic" years before I had hypothyroidism point to the fact that it isn't arthritis at all - just thyroid issues? Everything I reading about thyroid problems, doctors are saying they were fooled into thinking the patient had arthritis... when it was thyroid all along.

[Katharine]

Ah ok It is clearer now!

All I know is that my thyroid condition is also autoimmune and pretty much hereditary. Having one auto-immune disease does increase your likliehood of having another.

If you have a thyroid issue it might be all you have. But, even if that is "all" it needs monitoring and correct medication as underactive thyroid can be quite dangerous if left untreated.

It does not preclude another condition. I was sent to a rheumy when my endocrinoogist said that my thyroid was well controlled and couldn't explain all my symptoms.

Katharine

[suebehar]

I was diagnosed with a hypothroid 20 years before my lupus diagnosis. I also have RA and Sjogrens.