4 ms·

> I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis in 2003. This is a fairly common benign inflammatory condition of the thyroid which causes me no problems. Larr

> I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis in 2003. This is a fairly common benign inflammatory condition of the thyroid which causes me no problems. Larry is indeed very lucky. One of my good friends was diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis after ten years of misdiagnosed and ignored symptoms. (It's a very rare disease, and many of the early signs - weight gain, mood swings, fatigue, etc. - can easily be mistaken for typical adolescence). In Larry's case, it seems they caught the disease and began treatment before it completely destroyed the thyroid, which is a real danger - if the disease isn't diagnosed by this point, treatment becomes much more difficult, and patients develop heart problems. Unfortunately, my friend has not been so lucky, and has been suffering with the complications for several years now.

foobarqux 13y ago
> (It's a very rare disease, and many of the early signs - weight gain, mood swings, fatigue, etc. - can easily be mistaken for typical adolescence) Thyroid problems are routinely misdiagnosed as non-existent, not only for adolescents. Hypothyroidism in particular may be routinely under-diagnosed due to unspecific symptoms and far too stringent thresholds on thyroid levels. http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com
- bcoates 13y ago
  To the downvoter: if the above is wrong, it's non-obviously wrong enough that it deserves an explanation.
  - philwelch 13y ago
    (Not the downvoter.) I've read that site several times. Frankly, while I'm sure a lot of patients don't do well enough on levothyroxine or need more intensive tests than the TSH, I'm very skeptical of people who develop fanatical, rigid opinions about how to treat hypothyroidism without extremely careful and rigorous study, largely because I'm very skeptical about people who develop fanatical, rigid opinions about anything without extremely careful and rigorous study.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
exhaze 13y ago
Sounds like your friend would've been a perfect fit for CrowdMed [1], a start-up that aims to diagnose rare, hard to diagnose diseases. The founder's sister went thru a similar nightmare of endless doctors' visits and misdiagnoses, inspiring him to start the company. Shame they weren't around when your friend developed the condition. [1] http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/16/crowdmed/ http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/16/crowdmed/
philwelch 13y ago
I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's when I was 15. I was referred to an endocrinologist and placed on levothyroxine. Aside from a brief detour into Armour (they had production issues and I had to switch back to levo), it was fine. Hashimoto's is not a rare disease. It is one of the most common forms of hypothyroidism and one of the most common autoimmune disorders. The diagnostic metric for it is also well-known--check TSH levels and, in some cases, the free T4 as well. I'm sorry to hear about your friend, but his experience is not entirely typical.
- epsylon 13y ago
  It's quite more prevalent in women than in men, and it's quite rare for young people. Mine has been detected at age 24 (I'm a male) after a palpation by the company works doctor who found the thyroid slighlty abnormal. Confirmed by echography and blood tests. There are genetic predispositions though, my mother suffers from the same thing.
  - ahoyhere 13y ago
    > it's quite rare for young people Some doctors/researchers believe that hypothyroid (typically caused by Hashi's) is not rare in young people at all (or adults!), but merely underdiagnosed. Alleged symptoms of youth hypothyroidism include constant and recurring ear/nose/throat and upper respiratory infections, severe allergies, fatigue, sensitivity to cold, slow healing, etc. I was recently diagnosed with low thyroid (not specifically hashi's but, again, probably) and had 100% of those symptoms (and many others) for my entire life. I nearly died as a child from asthma and have had constant sinus and lung issues since. Since I've been on a very low dose of thyroid medication, the "allergy shiners" that I've had since I was 2 years old have disappeared… in a week.

foobarqux 13y ago

> (It's a very rare disease, and many of the early signs - weight gain, mood swings, fatigue, etc. - can easily be mistaken for typical adolescence) Thyroid problems are routinely misdiagnosed as non-existent, not only for adolescents. Hypothyroidism in particular may be routinely under-diagnosed due to unspecific symptoms and far too stringent thresholds on thyroid levels. http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com

bcoates 13y ago
To the downvoter: if the above is wrong, it's non-obviously wrong enough that it deserves an explanation.
- philwelch 13y ago
  (Not the downvoter.) I've read that site several times. Frankly, while I'm sure a lot of patients don't do well enough on levothyroxine or need more intensive tests than the TSH, I'm very skeptical of people who develop fanatical, rigid opinions about how to treat hypothyroidism without extremely careful and rigorous study, largely because I'm very skeptical about people who develop fanatical, rigid opinions about anything without extremely careful and rigorous study.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

exhaze 13y ago

Sounds like your friend would've been a perfect fit for CrowdMed [1], a start-up that aims to diagnose rare, hard to diagnose diseases. The founder's sister went thru a similar nightmare of endless doctors' visits and misdiagnoses, inspiring him to start the company. Shame they weren't around when your friend developed the condition. [1] http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/16/crowdmed/ http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/16/crowdmed/

philwelch 13y ago

I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's when I was 15. I was referred to an endocrinologist and placed on levothyroxine. Aside from a brief detour into Armour (they had production issues and I had to switch back to levo), it was fine. Hashimoto's is not a rare disease. It is one of the most common forms of hypothyroidism and one of the most common autoimmune disorders. The diagnostic metric for it is also well-known--check TSH levels and, in some cases, the free T4 as well. I'm sorry to hear about your friend, but his experience is not entirely typical.

epsylon 13y ago
It's quite more prevalent in women than in men, and it's quite rare for young people. Mine has been detected at age 24 (I'm a male) after a palpation by the company works doctor who found the thyroid slighlty abnormal. Confirmed by echography and blood tests. There are genetic predispositions though, my mother suffers from the same thing.
- ahoyhere 13y ago
  > it's quite rare for young people Some doctors/researchers believe that hypothyroid (typically caused by Hashi's) is not rare in young people at all (or adults!), but merely underdiagnosed. Alleged symptoms of youth hypothyroidism include constant and recurring ear/nose/throat and upper respiratory infections, severe allergies, fatigue, sensitivity to cold, slow healing, etc. I was recently diagnosed with low thyroid (not specifically hashi's but, again, probably) and had 100% of those symptoms (and many others) for my entire life. I nearly died as a child from asthma and have had constant sinus and lung issues since. Since I've been on a very low dose of thyroid medication, the "allergy shiners" that I've had since I was 2 years old have disappeared… in a week.