Author: bandersnatch
Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2011 10:34 am
I too see that this is an older post, but am dealing with similar issue and my sub doc actually told me opiates definitely effect the thyroid and sex hormones. He was an anesthesiologist before switching to addiction & pain management. I’ve been on sub 2 & 1/2 years, and a year ago i was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. Big word, but it’s basically an extremely common autoimmune condition where the immune system thinks the thyroid is a foreign body and attacks it. The ultimate result is hypothyroidism. It is the #1 cause of hypothyroidism, but majority of doctors don’t test for it. (Hello?!) It is also the oldest & first discovered autoimmune disease. (1901) You can ask your medical doctor for a test which will tell if you have thyroid antibodies present. (There are 2 things they test for. If anyone wants to know i can dig that info up.) Anyone who has unexplained hypothyroidism should demand these tests from their doctors. If you have antibodies present, it means you have Hashi’s, and there are things you can do to slow the progression of the dis-ease, and ultimately the destruction of your thyroid. The #1 best thing you can do for yourself is eliminate all gluten (ie, wheat, barley, rye) from your diet. At the molecular level, gluten & thyroid are almost identical, so continuing to consume gluten tends to exacerbate the break down of the thyroid. I noticed an immediate effect from eliminating gluten, including the reduction of swelling in my thyroid, which felt like a tightness in my throat. It’s not a bad time to be gluten free. There are many more options lining the shelves of grocery stores than there were even 10 years ago, though they do tend to be pricey.
If you want to find out more about thyroid/hypothyroid, there is an excellent patient advocacy site called Stop the Thyroid Madness that is full of thyroid-related information. (http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/)
I have no way of knowing if my use of opiates and/or subox created this condition in my body. There seem to be a lot of different possible causes, and as with many/most autoimmune diseases, the medical community really doesn’t know. It’s a chicken/egg scenario… But i believe we all have access to intuition about our own state of being. Trust your gut, and be your own health advocate. If your doctor won’t cooperate, find one who will.
I hope this information helps somebody out there…
