Vaping and thyroid issues ?

[Darkwitless]

this thread caught my attention because I meet this week with an Endo to discuss thyroid nodules diagnosed in May. Non cancerous - but beyond that I don't know squat about them. Oh and all my blood work has been "normal".

I didn't start vaping until Aug 2 - so vaping isn't the cause of the (possible?) thyroid issue here - however I have been a fairly heavy smoker for years 1/1+ pack per day.

 

[Kutsikas15]

well... results came in and TSH was 6.41 (normal range in our country is 0.4–4.0) = Hypothyroidism ... uhh....im soo mad/disappointed right now........

 

[Darkwitless]

Kutsika - did you talk to the Dr? Thyroid problems can occur and do occur in people who don't smoke nor vape. I have 2 friends with "issues" who have never smoked nor vaped. Sorry about the diagnosis, but glad they found the problem. Now you can work on getting it straightened out. Hope you feel better soon!

 

[Kutsikas15]

Yeh i went to endocrinologist today and she wrote me prescription for L-thyroxine - i'll start taking those from tomorrow morning - ty all for your support

 

[dspin]

Iv'e had thyroid problems since 1976 and vaping doesn't have anything to do w/it.

 

[lisabsn]

Thyroid problems show up after a period of time. I have hypothyroidism and have had it for years. Vaping has not made my problem worse. When your thyroid really starts to act up you notice it. Smoking is so not good for you try the VG drink lots of fluid. You need to help your body rid itself of the toxins in analogs. Yeah thyroid problems suck but they are very treatable and most of the time you won't even notice it. Good luck and don't be scared by this, you take a Synthyroid every day and go on about your life. See an endocrinologist and follow the treatment program they lay out for you. It'll be fine, don't give up and go back to the killer cigs.

 

[barkatt]

Oh, I hope everything is ok! I just went to see an endocrinologist and had 16 (yep I said 16) tubes of blood taken and a thyroid ultrasound. Get my results back in a couple of weeks, but she was impressed with the e-cig and the fact that I just 'quit' smoking the analogs. She didn't mention anything that was negative or that we should watch out for.

 

[Kutsikas15]

wierd thing was that-i started to feel tightness feeling around throat when i started to vape "Black" e-liquids (Those suppose to be from USA, i have never found any informaton about that brand yet tough)... uhh i really hope that it's not the liquid that broke my thyroid...but yeh-every time i vaped it-i felt tightness, so i stopped and after a while-it went away (meanwhile i was vaping another e-liquid) dunno ... but the guy who solds em in here told me that he vapes those too and have never felt anything and also other customers have never said anything... uhhh should i return vaping or not....dunno what to do :/

 

[StormFinch]

I too suffer from thyroid issues, in the form of Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. My numbers bounced around for years, from hypo to hyper and back again. Because of this I was always told that I was fine on follow ups, I wasn't fine however. It took quitting smoking cold turkey several years ago for my thyroid to finally give up and my TSH to climb to over 60.

The best possible source for thyroid information is Mary Shomon's site at about.com; Thyroid Disease Information - Hypothyroidism - Hyperthyroidism - Thyroid Cancer - Autoimmune Disease - Hashimoto's - Graves' - Goiter - Nodules Mary has been a thyroid patient activist for 15 years and the info she has put together is invaluable. For example, did you know that the lab range for TSH in the U.S. is supposed to be between .3 and 3? The problem is, although the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists lowered the TSH ranges years ago, most labs have not followed suit and still list from .5 to 5 as normal. Unfortunately, most doctors go by the lab ranges and do not treat individuals who actually do have a thyroid issue. According to some estimates with the newer range in mind, as much of 10% of the population may have a thyroid problems.

 

[Springbird]

I have had hypothyroidism for about 12 years. I started vapeing 9 weeks ago and it has had no effect whatsoever on my thyroid that I can tell.

 

[dspin]

I too suffer from thyroid issues, in the form of Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. My numbers bounced around for years, from hypo to hyper and back again. Because of this I was always told that I was fine on follow ups, I wasn't fine however. It took quitting smoking cold turkey several years ago for my thyroid to finally give up and my TSH to climb to over 60.

The best possible source for thyroid information is Mary Shomon's site at about.com; Thyroid Disease Information - Hypothyroidism - Hyperthyroidism - Thyroid Cancer - Autoimmune Disease - Hashimoto's - Graves' - Goiter - Nodules Mary has been a thyroid patient activist for 15 years and the info she has put together is invaluable. For example, did you know that the lab range for TSH in the U.S. is supposed to be between .3 and 3? The problem is, although the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists lowered the TSH ranges years ago, most labs have not followed suit and still list from .5 to 5 as normal. Unfortunately, most doctors go by the lab ranges and do not treat individuals who actually do have a thyroid issue. According to some estimates with the newer range in mind, as much of 10% of the population may have a thyroid problems.

You are so right about the lower tsh. I finally found a doctor in June that not only went along w/that, but also went by my symptoms, etc., not the test and upped the synthroid back up for me

 

[StormFinch]

You are so right about the lower tsh. I finally found a doctor in June that not only went along w/that, but also went by my symptoms, etc., not the test and upped the synthroid back up for me

There seems to be so few docs out there like yours, I'm glad you found one. We currently have a massive shortage of endocrinologists, and those that do practice tend to concentrate on diabetes since that's where the money is. Currently doctors that practice alternative or holistic medicine and internists tend to be an easier choice.

My current doc is a gp that specializes in re-generative medicine. He does tend to be more progressive than most, and had no qualms about adding T3 to my synthroid to help balance my system. I do however see him leaning toward pushing my TSH up to the recommended levels (1) however, so we are going to have to have a talk when I go back in. I seem to feel better at about 0.25.

 

[HyOnLyph]

Yeh i went to endocrinologist today and she wrote me prescription for L-thyroxine - i'll start taking those from tomorrow morning - ty all for your support

I've been taking various Thyroid medication for years. One thing you have to be careful of. Do not take your Thyroxin with other medications and especially not with vitamins/minerals.
For example... Calcium, manganese etc causes the Thyroxin to bond with it and it flushes out of your system without any use to you. I was up to over 360 mgs / day and suddenly stopped taking the Calcium..the thyroxin absorbed into my system and I overdosed on Thyroxin and my resting heartrate shot up to about 150 beats / minute. Almost had a heart attack. So don't worry but be a little wise in your timing.

My Endo didn't have a clue. He had no idea that the thyroxin would react with Calcium or other minerals.
I got a lot of info from www.thyroid.org.

 

[lung shui]

I forgot about being diagnosed with hypothyroid until I read this. I just stopped taking meds and not worried about it. I prefer just eating healthy (when I have time) ana apple a day keeps the doctor away, huh. Anyways is vaping better for the thyroid than smoking? it's gotta be, without all those chemicals I sucked on before. is it the nicotine or the smoking that causes thyroid problems? hope its not the nicotine cause I vape a lot.

 

[Stephaniems]

A year into vaping I suddenly gained 40lbs in under 4months, went to a doctor and found out my thyroid took a hard nose dive. Anyway he put me on a natural thyroid and I've lost 38lbs in 4 months now. Feeling a tons better. I don't think it was the vaping because everytime I quit smoking I'd have the same symptoms of lots of weigh gain and depression. I think it was cigs that ruined it and masked it for years and years.

 

[HyOnLyph]

Funny thing about the Thyroid. It can just quit on ya. The thyroid is very sensitive to radiation. That is why, now when you go to the Dentist, the lead apron has a neck piece that wraps up under your chin. When I finally found a good endocrinologist, he said it was far more likely that it was effected by the dental xrays over the past XX years..(lots of em) and that they used to use a much stronger xray to take the films. (has to do with sensitivity of the film).

And when mine quit, it quit all at once. Or at least felt like it. I crashed immediately. Depression, fatigue, etc.

I'm not, and never have been, a smoker so it has nothing to do with tobacco for me. Why am I here in ECF? My wife and I run a home for women in recovery and we are trying to introduce the possibilities of vaping to our smokers. So... I'm here to participate and find out info so I can coach them better. But this thread caught my attention.
Blessings all.

 

[alnjessie]

I am in the medical field myself, and in knowing that everyone is different in their body chemistry etc.and react differently than the next to something, but I feel Vaping is a much safer alternative than ciggs.. to those of you that are now scared out of your shorts your thyroid is going to go haywire on you due to vaping...please don't be... there are even doctors who vape and I doubt they would do it if it was even possible...I can understand the fear of something being wrong, but before KNOWING IF it was vaping and then wanting to blame vaping for it as a possible reason is not exactly a good thing to do online for over 26,000+ people to see..especially people new to vaping... and with the FDA all over the vaping world trying to stop the vaping world from turning and with no just reason as of yet. Anyways... I do hope you get to feeling better soon though

 

[Stephaniems]

Ya know I've never even thought about it but I'm betting that I've been exposed to a lot of xrays over the years with having 3 kids. And I've only been offered an apron thing when the lady for whatever reason didn't believe I wasn't pregnant.

I did not blame vaping btw.

I've had underactive thyroid symptoms since I had my first child. Body temp went down to 96.3 and stayed there over 10 years ago. I would have worse more noticable symptoms when I quit smoking such as huge amounts of weight gain with 0 change in diet. That I could not live with. Freezing in the winter could live with, feet always like ice eh kinda funny when I stick my toes in the back of my husbands knees hehe. No sweating was a bonus (I now know what most people feel like standing in 100+ weather and it aint fun!!!)

Smoking masked the symptom of not turning into a giant whale and feeling like crap all the time. Things I couldnt ignore.

I'll say it again I'm sure vaping did NOT cause my thyroid issues.

Although I am soooo glad I can take a tiny little pill that cost 10.00 a month and feel 100x's better.

I hope no one thinks I am blaming vaping, for me it was either having a child or its been messed up before that and I smoked so I didn't notice it as bad.

 

[MrsAngelD]

My thyroid medication did nothing but make me feel worse, ever since being diagnosed with graves, I went from being a semi-healthy 30 year old to a "I can barely walk now" 34 year old. I opted not to have my thyroid removed. When I came off my meds I immediately lost 30 of the 90lbs I put on since beginning "treatment". I'm working on getting better now with change in diet and exercise. The problem with current medicine and Graves disease is the symptoms are treated and not the disease.

 

[HyOnLyph]

I pretty surprised that they usually don't offer you an apron. Here, it is 100% of the time. Although some don't have the throat collar yet.
I think certain people have varying degrees of tolerance to xrays etc. Some are predisposed to sensitivity to xrays, sunlight, etc.
Xrays are just a different frequency of light. Much like sunlight, microwaves, etc. It's all radiation. We just tolerate it differently.
Personally, I wonder, with all of the various types of radiation floating around, what are we doing to ourselves.
I wonder if anyone has ever compared the increase in overall radiation in our environment...radiowaves, TVwaves, radar, microwaves, cell phone etc ...and compared the overall levels to the increase in "radiation effected illnesses" like cancer, hypothyroidism, etc.

Just something I wonder about.