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B19
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04 May 2014, 6:22 pm

I have read that:

1) hypothryoidism is very underdiagnosed (because of the type of tests they use and where they set the bar for normal levels - which varies between different countries and labs.

2) up to 30% (shockingly high) of medical diagnoses are wrong.

Hypothyroidism seems to affect women more than men, perhaps because women have more fluctating hormone dynamics going on anyway.

There is definitely a link between auto-immune issues and ASD - research points to it and my own personal experience and observations of other ASD members of the family.

So YES.



rapidroy
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05 May 2014, 12:08 am

I think I have a hyperactive thyroid, self-diagnosed for now. According to this thread that's uncommon.



eric76
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04 Nov 2015, 4:10 am

I had some blood tests last week that came back indicating a problem with my thyroid.

They took another blood test on Monday to make sure the results are accurate. I should know by the end of the week.

I've known something has been wrong.

Some days I have reasonable energy levels and on other days not much. For example, a couple of weeks ago I had to climb a ladder at a grain storage facility. I climbed about 40 feet and was worn out. Two days later, I climbed 60 feet and wasn't even breathing hard and was really tempted to climb higher just because I could.

I've also had several bouts with hypothermia this year.

Lately I've had a number of muscle and joint aches.



eric76
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04 Nov 2015, 4:11 am

rapidroy wrote:
I think I have a hyperactive thyroid, self-diagnosed for now. According to this thread that's uncommon.


Self diagnosis is worthless. Get tested.



underwater
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04 Nov 2015, 5:16 am

I certainly think a link between autism and autoimmune illnesses is worth looking into. The thing about autoimmune illnesses is that they are poorly understood, which also applies to Celiac and IBS which are part of the same family of illnesses.

What I can say from personal experience is that everything gets worse when my vitamin D levels are low, and vitamin D and iron get low if I eat gluten. This is of course personal.

However, from a lot of reading about autoimmune illnesses, it seems that very little is known about their causes. Generally, a lot of these illnesses are poorly defined diagnostically - just like autism, in fact. There is a lot of symptom overlap, which leads me to thinking that some diagnoses are really aspects of the same illness, or that one diagnosis may cover several different problems that result in the same symptoms.

There is now some documentation that vitamin D protects against allergy and asthma. I was diagnosed with asthma, which turned out to be vitamin D deficiency, not true asthma. Also, there is evidence that vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy can help cause MS in the child.

This is perhaps not exactly what the OP was asking about, but I think just looking at a possible link between autism and thyroid problems is too specific. There is more to it than that.



NowhereWoman
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04 Nov 2015, 2:29 pm

Hypo-T here, medicated with Levo.

I don't know whether the correlation is down to better DX nowadays of both, or per the comment that thyroid disease is more statistically significant in the AS community being down to AS people perhaps having searched more for medical answers in general including comorbidities such as depression and anxiety, and therapists wanting to rule out something physical first...so the thyroid disease is discovered that way. I know my sons' doctors always want to rule out the physical possibilities first rather than simply assuming exhaustion, depressed feelings/depressed talk and so on are "just a part of" my kids' autism.

Or something else.



eric76
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08 Nov 2015, 7:53 pm

I'm surprised that they haven't contacted me to tell me about the second round of tests for hypothyroidism.

They took the blood on Monday. Surely they would have had it analyzed by Friday.