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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jwlee35 12/13/2013

I was just wondering, how common is hypothyroidism in men? In the past, I've ALWAYS heard it associated with women. I'm trying to gather as much info as I can to take to my doc. I've sat in front of him and gone through my laundry list of symptoms too many times to count, and he ALWAYS chooses one symptom and tries to focus on that. His nurse will call my home after I've had blood work done, and leave a message stressing that EVERYTHING WAS NORMAL. She will actually raise her voice on that last part to stress it. I've never felt so close to being on the right track as I am now, and I don't want my doc to de-rail me now.

Thewino 12/14/2013

Hey jw,

I've never heard the statistics but I know that I am included in this group. I'm a male and have been on Armour Thyroid for about three years.

My GP is an Internist and is pretty sharp.

Be well,
TheWino

GageL 12/14/2013

jw,
I am in that group as well. Welcome.
And by the way, fire your doctor ASAP.

bransnana 12/14/2013

You have to make sure they are testing your Free T-3 and 4 and if you're low in the range and have symptoms,you are hypothyroid most likely. If they are just testing tsh, that can show "normal" or what "they" consider normal.

StillListing 12/14/2013

My doc's assistant called me up and told me that I was normal (HA), because my TSH had fallen to the top of the range. Yeah, not hardly...
They just don't understand.
I think that for every 10 women that are diagnosed with the disorder, there is 1 man. The disease is less common in men, but they don't know why.

jwlee35 12/15/2013

@bransnana, They've tested my TSH and free T4, but not my free T3. I've had my TSH tested 2 times, once was 1.4, the other was 1.5, but the last lab done also tested my free T4 and it was .9.

keeska 12/15/2013

jwlee, your doc is a splitter (only wants to deal with one symptom at a time). You need a doc who's a lumper (takes all symptoms into account). I don't think there's any disease that only has one symptom.

StillListing, I wonder what the doc would say if you asked him if your friend should lose weight if he weighs 302 lbs. If he says anything besides "how tall is he?", you should get another doc.

MButterfly 12/16/2013

Here's a link from LIveStrong:

http://www.livestrong.com/article/102393-hypothyroidism-symptoms-men/

The links speaks to the reason I really don't believe this is a "woman's disease".

StillListing 12/16/2013

MB -I didn't see a "reason" on LiveStrong. Looks like symptoms are the same for both sexes. That "aging" thing.... yep, heard that one...

Keeska - can only wish that anyone that says that you are "normal" when you are in the "range" had to deal with the symptoms themselves, although I really don't wish this disease on anyone...

MButterfly 12/16/2013

The link addresses mens' issues with hypothyroidism more than womens (or its supposed to).

Here's some more about thyroid disease in men compared to women:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7641412

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