I can't speak from experience about hyper but I've been hypo for about ten years. The only time it has ever affected my training was when I was first diagnosed and my TSH was through the roof. Once you get on a full replacement dose you should be fine. It does sound like you might want to find a new endo though. As a side note, I would be very careful about what you read on the Internet. There are a ton of wacko thyroid sites out there which have no basis in medicine science or reality.

I've been on thyroid replacement for years. If you are hyperthyroid and they are going to zap your thyroid you'll be in the same boat. Once I got the correct dosage dialed in (and it does change from time to time) it isn't a big deal. One teeny tiny pill once a day. And if you miss it one one you might get tired in the afternoon. It hasn't been a problem at all. Count your Blessings.....this is one of the easy ones......

I agree with what the post above says. I've been hypo for about ten years, and have only had any problems when my dosages were being adjusted, or needed to be. That said, its an interesting ride trying to find the right dose in the beginning, but it didn't affect me for too terribly long. Make sure you take your pills though, because two or three days without them will lead to misery.

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"Triathlon is for people who can't handle drugs and alcohol." -IMFL t-shirt

The Dude Abides...

I was hyper for a few years and tried to regulate it but ended up getting my thyroid taken out via surgery. My sister was also dealing with the same issue (at the same time and with the same doctor) and opted to go the radioactive iodine route - we're pretty sure we're a case study somewhere.

While hyper I found it incredibly hard to continue any type of serious training and would absolutely do as your doctor recommends. I know that as athletes we most often have a mentality of "we can push through it" but doing that may very well land you in the emergency room or worse. Listen to your doctor!

After I had my thyroid surgerically removed and my sister had hers radioactivily removed we both suffered some pretty severe swings into the land of hypothyroid before figuring out what the right dose is. Sadly it's not so easy as simply having the thyroid removed and then putting you on a pill. It's a constant tweaking of the pill (typically synthroid) to determine what the right medication levels are for you). In both my sister and my case it took us about 5-6 months to get that right - especially since it takes about 6 weeks to get a new dose full into your system before you can get tested to determine whether or not it's the right dose for you. Even once you do figure out the right dose there is constant tweaking (typically once a quarter or once every six months until you seem to hit a good long-term timeperiod where it needs no tweaking and then you'll usually be tested once a month).

I don't want to make it sound all bad b/c some people have much easier (and obviously, some much harder) times getting everything situated. As for racing, I had my thyroid out in January and did a few sprints that summer but nothing major. I honestly think it took me about 8 months to get back to where I was before my thryoid started acting up. But I will leave you with a bit of good news - after the surgery and once I finally got regulated I told my endocrinologist that i had no idea that you were supposed to feel "this" good. I had spent such a long time feeling so horrible that my mind had turned "horrible" into "normal" and I just thought that's how everyone felt. Once i was regulated I realized that normal was really 110% better then where I had been (not to mention the obvious changes that made to my workouts and racing). Yes, I'm constantly getting tested and am currently in a period of flux right now where we just can't seem to get my dosage right - but now I know what "normal" is supposed to feel like so I can get to the doctor early when I start to feel "not-normal" and let them know that something's going wrong.

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I also spoke today with my dad who is an Endo, and he said that taking six weeks of no activity is not necessary. Of course it depends on how bad your levels are, but you should be able to train as much as you can handle. Like I said above, I think finding a new Endo might be a good idea.

Thanks very much for your help. I have two more appointments coming up this week one with a sport doctor and the other with a different endocrinology. In medicine anything permanent seem to me as a last solution. I have the fealing that in a fue years time a solution will be available that won’t include having the gland removed.
Hearing personal people experience is very helpful, thanks.

Avner Shimron

I was diagnosed with Grave's disease in the spring of 2003. From then until April of 2007 I took methimazole to suppress my thyroid hormone levels. Last spring a change in health insurance forced me to switch endocrinologists, and my new endo was not enthusiastic about prolonged maintenance methimazole. He took me off, and when my levels were high normal (TSH just over the threshold) last December, he declared me in remission. Should my thyroid levels spike again (I'm checked annually), I'll be getting radioactive iodine.

Training while taking methimazole was not an issue. I couldn't detect a difference, although I imagined that postponing my dose until after a race gave me a little thyroid boost (sort of an anti-placebo effect). I don't know what the risks of training with hyperthyroidism might be, but I'm sure that I did it for several years (including an Ironman). For reference, I was 54 when I diagnosed.

Good luck with it, and I hope the IM works out.

David

I've been dealing with Graves Disease for 15 years. I'm currently about 2 months into my third round of methimazole. When I was first diagnosed, I was referred to an endocrinologist, he put me on a beta blocker (in addition to the methimazole) to keep my heart rate down. The "espisode" I had about 4 years ago, I went to my general practitioner, he didn't prescribe anything other than the methimazole. In fact, my GP didn't originally bring up the methimmazole option. He wanted me to have an RAI ablation. I brought it up, and he told me that it was a perfectly acceptable alternative.

In none of the diagnosis have they told me to limit my activity. I will say that when my thyroid levels are off, I can run my heart rate up over 200 bpm. I train with a HRM, and my perceived level of exertion does not match my heart rate. That is how I knew to go back to the doctor to have my thyroid levels checked, which is usually done annually. When I train, I back off when my heart rate gets above what my normal max heart rate was before going hyperthyroid.

My advice is be careful. My first diagnosis was done in the emergency room. I had been taking Claritin-D for allergies, and went into atrial fibrulation. They had to do a cardioversion to get my heart rhythm back to normal. The pseudoephedrine in the Claritin-D and a hyperactive thyroid didn't mix well.

Also, make sure your endocrinologist specializes in thyroid function, and not diabetes.

Good Luck,
Darren

One more for hypo. I've been on synthroid for 10 years also (I'm noting a trend here?). My doc at the time was super conservative on dosage. I have been on the low energy side for several years and gaining weight. I got a copy of my medical records 2 1/2 years ago when I moved and discovered that the doctor had misread the last blood test. I got a new doc here and moved form 75ug to 125ug. The difference is amazing and my riding has never been better.

Biggest downside is that the body responds slowly to thryoid changes so expect 6 months before things get straightened out.

I agree with you that taking out or destroying your thyroid ought to be after all other options have been exhausted. After all, there is no turning back. About 10 years ago, I was diagnosed with Graves disease. My endo gave me two options RAI or partial removal. I did some research and said I wanted to try drug therapy instead. I was prescribed tapazole. I took it for about 6 months, my thryoid levels returned to normal. My endo at the time said that the Graves would eventually return and I would be back for RAI.

Well, 10 years later, I am still normal. I have seen other endos who have indicated that I could not have had Graves as it would have returned by now. I think of "what if I would have just had it removed or done RAI like they wanted me to?" I would be on synthroid right now. I get it checked every year and so far, so good.

I also wonder if there is any correlation between hyperthyroidism and those who start an aggressive exercise program and exercise a lot after a period of time where they did not. My hyper popped up when I really started to exercise a lot. Nothing to base it on, but I always had this feeling it was related - my body had its way of revolting.

Exercising does not cause hyper (or hypo) thyroidism. This is the kind of internet voodoo medicine I was talking about above.

Your reading comprehension is pretty poor. I said that I have always WONDERED if they could be related. I was curious if any studies have ever been done for such a group. Thank goodness you are here to dispel the voodoo.

So, based on your vast experience with thyroid complications, there is no link between the two, or it has never been studied?

How long have you been a practicing endocrinologist?

I've had hypothyroidism for the past 18 months, I personally think that if its not managed properly then there is a link.. i was diagnosed with a TSH at 5.5, and i was in a horrible state, sleeping 12h/night, and trying to swim with my team, but really swimming horribly. I then got put on a low dose, .05 mg/day of synthroid, and felt better, but then did a training camp and had my TSH taken at the end of it, and was up to 8.5ish.. got bumped up to 0.075, and then that brought it down to 4ish, but still was barely able to train, then I switched Dr's, and we decided to get abit more aggressive because at this point i was heavily depressed, sleeping 12h/night, and not training at all.. bumped it up to 0.15 mgs day which finally allowed me to start training again, that pushed my TSH down under 2, as i was able to increase my training i saw my TSH increase again to about 2.15ish, which i defiantly noticed as it required another 2ish h/sleep a night, so increased dose again to 0.175 which allows me to train at ~12-15h/week with some decent intensity, however, now that I'm doing more intensity, i actually feel that its increasing, so i'm probably going to get bloodwork done in a week or 2 to figure out if there's a change.

"My hyper popped up when I really started to exercise a lot. Nothing to base it on, but I always had this feeling it was related - my body had its way of revolting."

It seems pretty clear to me that you are implying that your increased exercising caused your hyperthyroidism. I guess if i'm reading this incorrectly you could explain to me what you meant by "my body had its way of revolting."

And i'm not a practicing endocrinologist but my father has been for about 30 years so yes my comments are based on more than just a "feeling." It would take a lot more space and time than I have here to explain to you all of the various causes of hyper and hypo thyroidism but I can assure you that exercise is not one of them. Of course, as athletes, we are a lot more in tune with our bodies than the general population so I would agree that we can more acutely notice changes in our thyroid function. This is why it's important to take your medicine regularly, visit your doctor regularly, etc.

Well darn............ My Dad was an aerospace engineer for 30 years. I never realized that makes me an engineering expert as well. Thanks for enlightening me.

Haha did you ever work with your dad? I've spent a substantial amount of time working in the office, talking with patients, discussing the medicine and the science with him and other physicians so your criticism is way off base. But hey, you are free to believe whatever you want about your thyroid problem. I was just pointing out that your theory has no basis in medicine.

Dredging up a zombie thread here. I recently went to the doctor for some problems that I have been having, and it turns out that I have hyperthyroidism. I am scheduled with an endocrinologist next week. I have found very little information in the scientific literature, except for one interesting paper that found that thyroid levels were temporarily increased (in a completely different demographic) after a hard workout. I had ridden 65 miles the day before, so maybe that affected the results?
I am wondering if anyone here has found there were special concerns regarding their training and treatment. Obviously, I am going to make sure the endocrinologist understands that when I say I workout, I don't mean aqua aerobics twice a week. Is there anything else I should be aware of going into the appointment?

FWIW, my next big race is a 50k next month.