I was just curious if anyone has problems with their thyroid and has type 1. If you do, what do you have, what’s it like treating it and how has/did it effect your diabetes?
I have hypothyroidism and I take meds for it. When the thyroid is slow, you can gain weight, feel tired, loose hair, etc. The meds help to regulate it.
i could write a book about my thyroid issues!
i’m going through a bunch of stuff with it right now. i started a discussion called “desperate and need help” and there is a TON of good info on there and also i started one called “anyone on armour thryoid” (something like that)
I’m not happy with my thyroid right now. I have hypothyroidism and really have to make sure that I test regularly and never forget to take my pill. I always end up regretting it if I don’t.
Thanks for everyone’s replies! now i have another question:
so several people have hyperthyroidism, but which condition do you have: graves or hoshimotos?
Hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism are two different disease with different treatments. Graves disease is actually hyperthyroidism where your body produces too much hormone and you have to take medicine to reduce the amount of hormone in your system, Hoshimotos is auto-immune hypothyroidism where you would test positive for antibodies and your tsh number may actually still look ok but you need to take Synthroid or Armour to get more hormone in your system. Then there is just regular old hypothyroidism where your TSH numbers are low, you don’t test positive for anti-bodies and you have symptoms like fatigue, weight gain and so on.
I have regular hypothyroidism and since I have gotten my tsh level down to 1 I have a actually lost about 15 pounds and here I thought it was pumping!!
I take Synthroid for regular hypothyroidism.
Honestly, I hate it more than diabetes. It takes longer to know if the dosage is right and I just find it to be less precise to treat than my blood sugars.
That being said, the symptoms (for me) are relatively minor: a bit more tired than usual and extreme sensitivity to cold.
Near as I can tell, it hasn’t affected my diabetes at all, though.
Actually, they are very closely related and once you have one, it’s very easy to tip the balance to the other. I have Hashimoto’s (autoimmune hypothyroidism), but have tipped over into hyper a number of times.
problems with the thyroid are extremely common even for people without diabetes. You either have Hypo or Hyper, and once the medication dosage is correct you will never really notice it. I have hypothyroid and have NEVER had a trouble with it. Every now and then I need a new dose - it’s also common for your dosage to need to be increased and there is a max dose available. It will be measured once a year by a blood lab by your doc to check but that’s about all there is to it. It can indeed be troublesome when the correct doses are not met, and it can take some time to figure that out. Synthroid aka Levothyroxin is one of the MOST common prescribed pills around today.
Hypo here for 16 yrs or something like that. And I went MORE hypo at dx with D … one reason I suspected it was T1 and not 2.
Typically if you have Hypo you are not going to become Hyper unless you over medicate. Yes they are related but they are not the same and that was the point that I was trying to make. People need to understand the difference between over production of TSH hormone (hyper) and under production of TSh hormone (hypo) because one is not going to take Synthroid if they have Hyperthyroidism.
I got Hashimoto’s about ten years after I got diabetes. But I had it for several years before anyone noticed (I kept complaining about a lump in my throat, that I slept about 22 hours a day, that I’d gotten really depressed, and that I’d gained 75 pounds in a couple months, so the doctor put me on something for hyperthyroidism). Anyway, so now I’m on levothyroxin. I have no idea if it affects my diabetes or not – that might be interesting to study. It seems like, sometimes my thyroid levels are too high or they’re too low, and it doesn’t seem to correlate to how much synthroid I’m taking.
It does – and apparently T4 is metabolized into T3 in the liver … a process that is also affected by insulin resistance?
My Internist just sighed and said, “it’s all related.”
im curious as to why you gained weight with hyperthyroidism. usually the metabolism speeds up due to the hormones. granted that i think is a reason for one eating more since your hungry
Actually, my sister was dx as hyper and she did have to take medication to bring it down.
Also, hypo can migrate to hyper for unexplained reasons. Took the same dosage for a long time, then got hyper and had to reduce, then got hypo and had to increase - it ain’t an exact science and there is soooooooooooo much we don’t yet understand about autoimmune diseases.
p.s. - I don’t take Synthroid. For me, it is awful stuff. I take a bio-identical thyroid medication (still a prescription).
I believe there is so much we don’t yet understand about the interrelationship - in fact, there’s so much we don’t yet know about autoimmune diseases. I never realized how many there are - check out this list - http://www.aarda.org/research_display.php?ID=47
I think / hope / pray we will learn much more about the connections in the coming years.
Regarding thyroid issues, I’ve found this to be very helpful - http://forums.about.com/ab-thyroid. The biggest impact for me is the weight - BG connection. The hashimoto’s makes it a bigger challenge to maintain my weight (a constant 15 lb up and down, up and down), which in turn impacts my BG. I also found that neither synthroid or the generic equivalent work for me (make my hair fall out, among other things) - like Heather Turek pointed out. I take a bio-identical thyroid replacement (Armour Thyroid, still RX). A lot of controversy around it because the larger drug companies constantly spread rumors about the bio-identicals (made by smaller drug companies), so not all docs understand this.
Unlike some, who get tested once a year, I get tested every quarter - it takes about that for dosage changes to take effect and I like to stay on top of it because the symptoms can be subtle and sneak up on you.
I have had hypothyroidism for 15 years, and diabetic for 5 years, I am also anemic, all endocrine disorders, I just take a pill every day for my thyroid and its good,
I still think that insulin causes weight gain… I gained a lot of weight when I started shooting 4x per day.
I know someone else who had hyper and gained weight even though it does not make sense.
Hi there are a lot of good comments and great info on this discussion! I’ve had thyroid problems since i was diagnosed 18 years ago with diabetes and have had a TON of problems.
I have been misdiagnosed and given the wrong thryoid meds by MANY different doctors for years and am doing my own research now out of desperation.
Im almost finished reading a book right now called “stop the thyroid madness” and it makes SO much sense and has taught me SO much. It’s a “one stop shop” if you want to learn the basics of thyroid and the info you need when the rubber meets the road. there is also a website. just google “stop the thyroid madness”
Even if you don’t agree with everything in it it’s worth educating yourself because we are ultimately responsible for our health and we know our bodies best!