# Addison's disease after thyroidectomy?? Help?



## Finally40 (Aug 31, 2013)

Total thyroidectomy 10/2012 papillary cancer/follicular variant. Rai 11/2012
25 mcg cytomel twice per day. All has been relatively "great" till lately. I'm having hypoglycemia and BP issues, had some R waves issues on an ECG, endo is testing for Addison's this week and doing a 24 hour holter and another fasting glucose (I just did labs non fasting in office Tuesday but haven't gotten those from her yet, the girl in the office called yesterday to say that I'll be having a FBS before the cortisol stim/aldosterone test. Anyone here with thyroidectomy have adreanal issues or addisons? I've never heard of addisons till Tuesday . Thanks


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

Finally40 said:


> Total thyroidectomy 10/2012 papillary cancer/follicular variant. Rai 11/2012
> 25 mcg cytomel twice per day. All has been relatively "great" till lately. I'm having hypoglycemia and BP issues, had some R waves issues on an ECG, endo is testing for Addison's this week and doing a 24 hour holter and another fasting glucose (I just did labs non fasting in office Tuesday but haven't gotten those from her yet, the girl in the office called yesterday to say that I'll be having a FBS before the cortisol stim/aldosterone test. Anyone here with thyroidectomy have adreanal issues or addisons? I've never heard of addisons till Tuesday . Thanks




How many symptoms do you have re Addison's Disease?

50 mcg. of Cytomel is a hefty dose. Are you in sports or something? Can you share your most recent TSH, FREE T3 and FREE T4 lab test results w/ the ranges included? We need the ranges.

Fortunately, I have not had Addison's.

Others will be along. It is a holiday weekend so you may not get much of a response until the early part of next week.

I am sorry you had cancer but ever so glad it was found and taken care of. Did you have follow-up RAI?

Have you had your thyroglobulin labs run?


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## Finally40 (Aug 31, 2013)

Labs from June:
Free t4 0.3 range 0.8-1.8 (I'm not on any t4 and have no thyroid)
Tsh 0.062 range 0.45-4.50
T3 24 range 24-39
Thyroglobulin <0.5 range .05-55.0
TPO ab <6. Range 0-34
Free thyroxine index <.1. Range 1.2-4.9

I just had new thyroid labs last week but they haven't come back in yet. I know that the majority of my numbers are "low", I'm hypo without the thyroid , but medically hyper to suppress the cancer. My dr has had it all under control and I've felt great, until this past month or so when the hypoglycemia issues started.
Symptoms of Addison's that I have, let's see
Back/abdominal pain, hyperpigmentation on the face (forehead mostly I thought it was sun exposure but I'm rethinking it now), low blood pressure, hypoglycemia, extreme fatigue. So far that's about it. I've lost weight, but these could be associated with the thyroid stuff too. Oh and diarrhea


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## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

Is there any reason t4 isn't in their? Is that total t3? I think if you are on t3, you really have to insist on free t3. That said, you t3 is horribly low so it seems logical that you doing feel well.


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## Finally40 (Aug 31, 2013)

This last lab work included free t3, and a bunch of other stuff. Trust me when I say: something is NOT right here. I've fired one endo and more recently a nurse practitioner (went to her solely for the hypoglycemia thinking it was reactive hypoglycemia , hoping she could help me with a diabetic diet as she a "diabetes educator"---we'll she TRIED to completely STOP MY THYROID meds!!! She said I've been on thyroid replacement for "too long" and I didn't need them!!! Oh my gosh I nearly decked her ( I had to apologize to her for my attitude that day as it was very unchristian). I have a new endo in a different town, takes me a 2 hour drive, but she comes very highly recommended


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## mouthy83 (Jul 18, 2012)

I have Addisons disease. Havent had any thyroid removed but i do have Hashimotos thyroiditis (amongs other things.)

I was begining to think my thyroid issues had caused my addisons but speaking to my specialist recently he said my cortisol numbers were SO LOW that i would have been having adreanal issues for years and years (only found hashis in 2011).

Is there anything in particular u'd like to know?? Or where u just curious in asking?? What has ur specialist said about the possible link?


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## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

So that t3 result of 24 is free t3? That is horribly low.

I'm still going to argue that you'll need some t4 in the mix. Dessicated medications have the proper ratio if t4 to t3. T3 has such a short half life that it's like fueling yourself up, burning out in a couple of hours and then having nothing in the tank.

Who put you on cytomel only and what was the reason?


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

Finally40 said:


> Labs from June:
> Free t4 0.3 range 0.8-1.8 (I'm not on any t4 and have no thyroid)
> Tsh 0.062 range 0.45-4.50
> T3 24 range 24-39
> ...


My goodness; when a doc has a patient on Cytomel only, that doctor should be running the FREE T3 lab. Your Free T4 is low and it should be because you are on Cytomel only and even if you took some T4 it would still be low as this is a natural event when taking exogenous T3.

So, can you get your doctor to run FREE T3? And yes; TSH should be suppressed because of the cancer.

It could be that you are converting the Cytomel (T3) to rT3 because when there is not enough T4 in the system for peripheral deoiodination, this can happen so I recommend the rT3 test as well.

Understanding the Thyroid: Why You Should Check Your Free T3
http://breakingmuscle.com/health-medicine/understanding-thyroid-why-you-should-check-your-free-t3

rT3
http://thyroid-rt3.com/whatis.htm


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