Hashimotos Thyroiditis

Archeron

Hi All,

Just wondeirng if anybody has come across this particular illness before.

A family member of mine has been suffering numerous long term illnesses for many years, resulting in her being on 19 different medications (totalling about 50 pills) a day to tackle everything from diabetes to high cholesterol to rhumatoid arthritis to name but a few. Sadly, over the past number of months, edema has been added to her list of ailments, and now she has been prescribed Furosimide to try and tackle this.
Initially, the edema was only in her feet, but gradually has moved up her legs. Now, tragically, it is also in her arms, and she looks absolutely terrible with the amount of liquid she is retaining. I am seriously concerned for her health at this stage, and am really worried about heart failure. At the moment, she is approaching 25 stone in weight, and despite her dieting strictly (good amounts of exercise is impossible due to RA), her weight is increasing all the time. I would guess that app 10 stone at least of her weight is retained fluid.

While googling around this morning looking for further information on edema, and potential ways to deal with it, I linked to an article on Hashimotos Thyroiditis. This lists potential symtoms as depression, sensitivity to cold, constipation, insomnia, muscle cramps, fatigue, dry scaly skin, thinning hair and puffiness. These are ALL symtoms that she is showing and is on medication for, and I fear that she may be getting treated for other illnesses that could all be part of an underlying thing such as Hashimotos. As it is, she is being treated for insomnia, dry skin, depression, fluid retention etc etc etc all as seperate illnesses resulting in all her many various medications.

My question is, does anyone have experience with this or similar thyroid problems? If so, were they quickly spotted and treated, or is this a problem that could be interpreted as something else, and thereby go untreated?

I am sorry to say that I dont have much faith in her family doctor who only comes to see her app every 6 months (and last time he saw her, didnt actually do or test anything, he literally just looked at her and proclaimed his surprise at how big she had gotten since his last visit), so I would really appreciate if anyone thinks that this is a subject I should raise with the relevant medical personnel. On another note, I do feel that she should be in hospital, but she is extremely reluctant to consider this, considering the last time she was under hospital treatment, she was treated abysmally (imagine leaving a 64 year old woman sitting in a chair without moving her for 7 weeks solid!!), and came out covered in various pressure wounds and sores. It took her about 9 months to recover from those and trhe original problem was actually worse, so if its possible to suggest a possible alternative illness to investigate to the doctor, its a route she and I would rather take.
thanks for reading.

P.S. I would like to state that I am not an armchair doctor or anything like it, but these illnesses have been such a huge part of our lives for so many years now, that any possible route is worth investigating.

Turquoise

I realise this was quite a while ago, but figure I'd reply anyway. I've been suffering with hyperthyroidism for years, with bouts of Hypothyroidism due to medication.
It does sound like it could be a thyroid problem, but having said that, thyroid symptoms are very general, you know? I often think my thyroid is out of whack when it's not.
It's extremely simple to check it out though, all it involves is a blood test to check TSH and a couple of other things. Any doctor worth his salt will happily do one, it only take a few minutes.
Anyway, hopefully things are already sorted by now.

Archeron

thanks for the reply Turquoise. Unfortunately, she hasnt been sorted yet, and is being admitted to hospital again this week. Please God they'll be able to find out what is causing all this and do something to help her.

_Whimsical_

Archeron I have nothing constructive to say on the subject but I really hope she has some good luck this time in hospital and that something helpful comes of this visit.It's horrible to be very worried about someones health and find yourself looking to google for the answers. If she doesn't have regular blood tests it's probably worth asking specifically for a thyroid test just so you know for sure if it's ok or not.

Turquoise

I'm really sorry to hear that Archeron - best of luck to her and I hope they find out what's causing all her problems.