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When I was 18, I went for a physical. Because I have a lingual thyroid, they also tested my tsh because of the relationship between hypothyroidism and ectopic thyroids. Sure enough, my TSH was 22.75. I cant remember if they did a free t4 or not. Anyways. Shortly before I was diagnosed, I fractured my ribs during a coughing spell. When I was 22, I fractured my lt humerus while I was arm wrestling with a family friend (an adult male), They had to put a plate and 4 screws in. I didnt question it then even though that bone is one of the strongest bones in the body and its odd that I broke it that way. The doc told me that the bone was healthy. Still, I wondered, especially after completing nursing school and understanding more about the endocrine system; since one of the hormones produced by the thyroid is calcitonin, would it not be decreased by primary hypothyroidism? on another note, both my mother and my aunt were diagnosed much later in life with hypothyroidism and both have severe osteoporosis. My aunt's bones do not even show up on the xray and my mother is almost as bad. Sorry for all the elaboration. However I feel it is necessary to give an accurate, complete picture. none of the Dr.'s I have talked to ever mentioned any kind of relationship between hypothyroidism and its affect on calcitonin. I feel like there is a positive correlation between them. I would just like to know 1) if I am right or at least in the same ballpark and if I am, is the levothyroxine tx enough?
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Hi Anonymous,
February 17, 2011 - 9:15amThank you for your question and for finding EmpowHER. I found this in an article from a fellow HerWriter: "The most common medication for this condition is Levothyroxine. Treatment with drugs should be monitored very closely as excessive medicines could lead to palpitations, osteoporosis sometimes."
I'm not sure the explicit link, or why it can cause osteoporosis, but it apparently is a known side effect. The article has some other good tips, and there are other articles in the same area that may be of interest. Here is the full article I referenced: Hypothyriodism Article
Good luck and let us know what you find out.
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