BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Thyroid Health Hi Jim

My family has been reading your articles with great interest. We have thyroid disease in our family and love how informative your articles are. I'm the daughter of parents with autoimmune disease and thyroiditis and wondered if you could tell me how probable it is that I'll get the disease and at what age this usually happens. I'm the youngest of the kids and the other kids aren't having symptoms yet either. We are hoping we will not end up with the disease, after seeing how much our parents go through with theirs at times. Thanks for any information you can give us.

jellybean33,

Thanks so much for the kind comments, I'm glad the articles have been helpful! You ask a really great question.
I in fact mention something about inherited thyroid disease in the main feature article that is up on the Thyroid Health main page right now, in regard to the Epstein-Barr Virus connection to autoimmune thyroiditis. Here's a quote from that:

"Thyroid disease, especially the autoimmune type runs in families, in fact children of one parent that has thyroid disease, has a 50% chance of also developing thyroid disease during their lifetime. Hossein Gharib, M.D., F.A.C.E, president-elect of AACE and Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Medical School states; �Fifty percent of thyroid disease patients� offspring will inherit the thyroid disease gene.�

I actually didn't know that chances for children of thyroid disease parents were at 50% risk until I found that quote from the MD above. I knew it was a high percentage risk but 50% was surprizing. That's not great news for children of thyroid disease parents but shows the importance of getting blood tested at any point thyroid type symptoms arise and if they don't manifest earlier, to start getting tested at age 35 regardless. Some reputable thyroid statistics state that between ages 35 and 40 is a common age for the onset of thyroid disease.
Educate yourself about thyroid disease symptoms, so that you can recognize when there is a need to be tested, before age 35. Here is the link to an article, where I list symptoms of thyroid disease, both hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism.

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Thanks for that detailed reply now we know what to look for in advance. Could I also ask what tests are best to check for a thyroid problem if you do get the symptoms or are at that age testing needs to start? I thank you in advance for a reply on this one and again thank you for the helpful information in answering our questions.

I should have mentioned those test in the first reply jellybean and please feel free to ask all the questions you like, it is the purpose of this forum.
In my opinion, when symptoms arise in someone at risk for developing thyroid disease, they should have not only tests ordered for thyroid function but also the ones to detect "thyroid antibodies". These are the killer cells the immune system creates and sends out to attack what it percieves as invaders in the body (e.i. viruses & allergens). In the case of autoimmmune thyroid disease, it recognizes the thyroid as one of those invaders. These antibodies can cause thyroid disease symptoms in advance of causing eventual thyroid hormone imbalance and is why I believe they are important to have tested. These antibodies are the "anti-thyroidperoxidase" (TPO),"anti-thyroglobulin" (TG) and "thyroid stimulating imunnoglobulins" (TSI). Those first two are common findings (found to be positive) in autoimmune hypothyroidism, while that third one is more commonly found in people with autoimmune hyperthyroidism, so depending upon the symptoms one is having, they may want only certain ones tested for.
The thyroid function tests, that detect thyroid hormone imbalances, are the "TSH", "T-4" and "T-3" levels. Some Doctors believe the "Free" levels of the T-4 & T-3 are best and from what I've read, I agree with them. These are the ones I have tested in follow up on my thyroid hormone therapy for hypothyroidism but are good for diagnosing thyroid disorders as well. If only one test is used to evaluate thyroid function, it will usually be the TSH level. This one is the pituitary hormone that accurately reflects how well the thyroid gland is supplying hormone to the body and is senstive in that it usually detects a change in thyroid function earlier than any other tests.
Here's an article link to one I wrote in detail about thyroid hormones that might also help:
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Hi Jim,
I have Lyme Disease.
My primary symptom is severe skin burning {PN} all over my body.
My second symptom is muscle twitching, which Is controled with large doseages of powdered Mag.

Do you have any suggestions or thoughts.
I just read your article on PN.
Very intersting.

As with many Lyme Disease stories I was misdiagnosed for 2 yrs.
My very first symtom was a tingling in a finger.

Within 7 months my body became an electricl curcuit gone haywire.

The symtoms after many ABX and TONS of other treatments, remains the same.

My saliva tests do indicate low areanal function.

Thank you so much.

Peace,
BJG

Hello Jim,

I read your Hypothyroidism and Fatty Liver Disease article and I found it somewhat confusing. The first question I have is where are there studies linking Hypothyroidism and Fatty Liver Disease due to an overconsumption of fat and sugar?

I consume a fair amount of butter, olive oil and cod liver oil. I consider these to be "good fats" because I follow a Traditional diet. I started this diet because I found a website www.westonaprice.org in 2004. Weston A Price was a Dentist who traveled around the world in the 1930's and studied people who ate a traditional diet and their modern counterparts who ate a modern diet of processed foods. He noticed a big deterioration of those who consumer the modern diet in their health and dental and facial structure. He wrote and published a book titled "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration".

There is a growing movement back towards grass fed meats and traditional fats because of the Weston A. Price foundation. My blood profile is excellent, I have been eating this way with my hypothroidism since 2005.

I am just wondering where this information is coming from? I agree that trans fats are dangerous and sugar consumption is never good. What kinds of fats are being discussed in this consumption?

Hi Belva,

I sent you an e-mail a few minutes ago, so look for that and thanks for writing. It's great to hear from readers!

gina2328,

I pasted a few quotes below. What really ties these type conditions together, is any metabolic disorder because these are commonly co-morbid and one metabolic disorder increases the risk for others.

TITLE: "Is Hypothyroidism a Risk Factor for Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis?"
CONCLUSION: "These data suggest that hypothyroidism is associated with human NASH. Further research is needed to confirm this finding and to understand its implications."
(Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology and PubMed)

LINK>> www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14506393

"Once the glycogen levels are filled in both the liver and the muscles, excess carbohydrates have just one fate: to be converted into fat and stored in the adipose, that is, fatty, tissue. In a nutshell, even though carbohydrates themselves are fat-free, excess carbohydrates ends up as excess fat."
(Dr. Joseph Mercola)
LINK>> www.rheumatic.org/insulin.htm

If you'll note in the fourth paragraph down in my own article, I state; "refined sugars". You could look at foods touched by manmade manufacture with fat in them as "refined fats", in other words they have fat added to them. As far as "fatty foods" I mention apart from this, most people will evaluate the fat content in what they eat if they have elevated cholesterol, heart disease, fatty liver etc... I could go into the article and list a few but would have to be for example purposes because I'm sure fatty foods available out there, number in the 1,000s. I also believe that trans fats (monounsaturated or polyunsaturated) that at first were thought to healthier but later it was found that abuse of them (overconsumption) can be very unhealthy.

"Consuming high levels of saturated or trans fats can also lead to heart disease"

LINK>> www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3045789

"Initially, trans fats were thought to be a healthy alternative to animal fats because they're unsaturated and come primarily from plant oils. However, in 1990 scientists made a startling discovery: Trans fats appeared to both increase LDL cholesterol and decrease HDL cholesterol. More studies over the years confirmed this."

LINK>> www.mayoclinic.com/health/trans-fat/CL00032

My above post, gives me opportunity to also explain something in regard to articles, using the "Hypothyroidism and Fatty Liver Disease" as an example.
BellaOnline has a well researched format for articles. They need to fit a certain length to benefit readers. While we'd love to cover every aspect of a subject in every article, it simply can't be done. In the above title for example, the purpose was to show the connection of metabolic disorders to eachother, more specifically, the connection of hypothyroidism to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. While I can hit lightly on all other aspects of the subject, I have to let the main theme cover only the main subject, as reflected in the title.
Articles should inspire research by readers wanting more information on an aspect not covered in an article. They can also open discussion on the forum, suggesting additional info that might help all of us learn more.
Keep the suggestions coming!