# Any relation between Hashi's and abnormal pap smears?



## shafree (May 8, 2014)

There's an interesting thread here called "Ovarian cancer and hyperthyroidism" that touches on possible connections between the two of those things. I'm wondering whether any of you have had abnormal pap smears that you think might have been caused in part by Hashimoto's.

Early this year I went to the gynecologist for an annual checkup and told her about problems I was having with my cycle. She chalked it up to stress but seemed a little more concerned when my pap smear came back ASCUS. However, since I was HPV-negative she said not to worry about it, we'd do a followup in six months and everything would probably be fine.

After I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's this spring (and had obviously been sick with it for longer than that) she decided the problems were probably caused by that. My endo, who continues to adjust my Synthroid dosage, agreed the menstrual problems could be thyroid-related but thought a connection to the bad pap was specious. The followup pap results just came back and I'm booked for a biopsy next month, this time with a new doctor. (Edited to add: biopsy will be both cervical/endometrial.)

For the record, I'm in my early thirties. Don't smoke, don't drink, have never been pregnant and I'm physically fit with a healthy diet. I'd hate to think my gynecologist potentially ignored warning signs of something serious because she thought it fit under the banner of "thyroid problem," but at the same time my own inclination is to wonder about a connection between the two. If the biopsy comes back fine, I suspect I'll be particularly suspicious of thyroid hijinks!

If anyone has been in a similar situation, I'd love to hear your story.


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## CA-Lynn (Apr 29, 2010)

Never heard of such a thing. Abnormal Pap smears are very common so I am curious as to how anyone can prove a connection between them and Hashimoto's.


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## shafree (May 8, 2014)

Hi, Lynn. Agreed, I've searched extensively and can't find anything linking the two. The endocrinologist's reaction made more sense to me than the gynecologist's.

Yet I know, however irrational it seems, that if the biopsies come back fine there will be a part of me that wonders whether some unspecified hormonal thing was afoot that could have some connection, however tenuous, to the thyroid.


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## CA-Lynn (Apr 29, 2010)

Well here's the thing.....10-20 years from now, after modern science has made more discoveries, we're going to look back on medicine today and think we were in the dark ages.


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## Snowflake (Jul 12, 2014)

This may be off topic a little, but I've drawn some lines between the dots for myself. My maternal grandmother had her thyroid removed when she was about my age - late forties. My mom was my age when she started menopause. I started menopause the same age as my mother, and my thyroid problems ramped up at the same time. My grandmother has passed away, but I would guess she was going through menopause at about the same time she had her thyroid problems.

Our bodies have all these different hormones produced by different structures in the body. I can't help but think there is an interaction between either the producers of hormones, like the thyroid, and other producers, like the ovaries, or between the producers and the different hormones, or even among the hormones themselves. When one stops or slows, like the ovaries in menopause, then the balance is thrown off and takes time to get righted again. If you are prone to thyroid disease it makes sense to me that it would kick in at menopause. It makes me wonder how many women get diagnosed with thyroid diseases around menopause?

All this to say, I think it is definitely possible that thyroid hormones could have had an influence on your current issues. I'd be interested in what other people think.


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