Hypothyroidism Support Group

Hypothyroidism is the disease state caused by insufficient production of thyrohormone by the thyroid gland. There are several distinct causes for chronic hypothyroidism, the most common being Hashimoto's thyroiditis and hypothyroidism following radioiodine therapy for hyperthyroidism. Advanced hypothyroidism may cause severe complications, the most serious one of which is...

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excessive thirst

itecblogger
itecblogger
One of the symptoms of hypothyroidism for me has been excessive thirst. A couple years ago, I had seizure-level low sodium from all the water drinking I was doing according to my labs. My doctor acted like i was the biggest idiot in the entire world and told me to just stop drinking so much (never mind that I was extremely thirsty). Since then, I just added more sodium into my diet and stopped drinking water all the time, switching it out for drinks with some sodium like soda or gaterade. I did feel better.
However, since I went on thyroid med 5 weeks or so ago, I am no longer thirsty all the time!! I didn't realize how not normal I was before. The reason why I'm posting this is that excessive thirst isn't listed as a symptom of low thyroid as much as other things. I've seen it mentioned by just a few people.
MButterfly
MButterfly
I totally had that! And it makes sense if you think about it. Hypothyroidism causes dry eyes/mouth....so why not thirst?

There were days when I literally couldn't drink enough water to quench my thirst.

I'm so glad you posted this. I have it in my journal as a "symptom" but I've never seen it listed or heard anyone else talk about it.
helerown
helerown
Shortly before I was diagnosed, my throat and mouth were excessively dry ALL the time. No matter how much water or fluid I drank, it made no difference. This was without a doubt a symptom for me as well, but probably one of the first symptoms to go away.
GageL
GageL
I always had dry mouth and excessive thirst and would quench it by drinking lots of water which is unhealthy. (But anything is better than soda or Gatorade, both poison literally).

Drinking too much water is as bad as not drinking enough. After my levels started to go up, the thirst diminished a bit. There is definitely a connection.