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Is a total thyroidectomy operation a cause of Type 2 diabetes?

J

JoGO

Newbie
Messages
1
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
I had a total thyroidectomy operation several years ago and never felt well after the surgery. I started to feel totally exhausted and although I was not overweight at the time of the surgery, I started to put weight on around my middle. My GP told me that my weight gain was 'middle-aged spread' and kept testing my thyroid hormone levels to explain my weight gain and tiredness. I was taking on replacement thyroid hormone tablets and this went on for at least 4 years until I became so ill that I could not function at work and was sleeping for hours during the evening and at weekends, and had a terrible thirst. I lost my job as I fell asleep at work. Finally at the routine blood test at the surgery, I asked the phlebotomist to tick the box for blood sugar on the form and I was called into the surgery two days later as my blood sugar was over 30 and I was told that I had Type 2 diabetes. Does anyone know if Thyroid problems/removal predisposes a person to diabetes?
 
Hello,
I also had a total Thyroidectomy many years ago (and have not been the same since...major weight gain as well), and then ended up getting Type 2 Diabetes. I don't know the answer as to whether the first caused the second, but I would also like to know, and to hear from others who suffer with both. I feel like we are living a never-ending balancing act! It's a "new normal" for us.

I came down with Hepatitis A several years ago from bad shellfish. That attacked my liver and threw me into liver failure! But that's not really my point....My point is that those things caused my blood sugar to go over 600 and my thyroid hormones to go off the charts!!! In other words, a completely separate illness that should have been manageable, almost killed me because of the other conditions (diabetes and lack of thyroid)!!
I am constantly checking my blood sugar and having my A1C checked. And for the most part, I have felt somewhat ill, in pain (neuropathy, fibro which developed after thyroidectomy, frequent brain fog, weakness and often somewhat lousy infor a decade now). On good days, I'm a 6 or 7 out of 10. This combo of no thyroid and diabetes has also affected my mental health.

How I manage, and have improved the quality of my life is that I went on an antidepressant (depression is a known side effect of both conditions). I also research and take various supplements which have helped strengthen my immune system, heart, digestion, and mental clarity. I try to maintain a lower carb diet. No added salt on anything. No fried foods, no bread, and limited sweets. Cutting down on artificial sweeteners helps me to feel better too. I get more sleep, like 9 or 10 hours per night, and nap when I feel the need. Try to avoid stress and things that I know will trigger me (like certain people, topics or activities I'm not fond of). I just have to be more careful with "me". I look out for my needs more than ever before. My husband and daughter are great at helping me with that and being supportive. Having family or friends who love, try to understand and accept you unconditionally is very beneficial. If someone doesnt have that, there are support groups for both conditions as well as mental health support groups. Some kind of support is vital.

I'd like to hear from others who are living their lives with diabetes and a total Thyroidectomy.
 

Hello there honeybc3 - I haven't had a thyroidectomy, thankfully, but I do have some ongoing thyroid regulations issues. I was T2, and indeed had my T2 in a good place, well before my thyroid started struggling. My major symptoms are around temperatur dysregulation.

Bearing in my that the thyroid gland is criticial to our whole metabolic health, it is important it's working well itself, or is supported by synthetic or natural hormone supplementation.

For me, finding a point at which my thyroid is balance has been much, much harder that controlling my T2, and I am still some way off finding anything even close to a sweet spot.

I don't know where you are based, but in UK, it can be challenging to find an Endocrinologist with a good level of expertise, in dealing with thyroid challenges. Most are diabetes forcused and focus their thyroid judgements on the TSH level - which isn't even a thyroid hormone.

I have spent many, many more hours than I would care to add up, learning about thyroid function (and malfunction), with and without the addition of diabetes.

Is your thyroid gland well managed? Are your hormonal levels well up in range and viatmin levels good? On direction from my Endo, I also follow a glute-free diet

I can't stress enough how important the thyroid is to our whole metabolic health.

I can't think of anyone on the boards here who have had a total thyroidectomny, but there are plenty of folks with thyroid issues. I'm surre others will comment as they come online.
 
Hi,
Yes I've been on Armor Thryoid for about 8 years and have had my T2 and TSH and other levels tested regularly and they are in the normal range. I was on Synthroid for 10 years prior to that, and felt much worse. Are you taking Synthroid? If so, maybe your doc will let you try Armor. Don't listen to anyone who says that thyroid replacement hormones work just like a thyroid! That's a lie! The thyroid gland affects everything, which is why I have never been the same since the thyroidectomy.

I'm sorry you're struggling and that it's hard to get the right kind of care for your thyroid there. I'm in the US, but even here I had to go to 5 different Endo's before finding one who would really listen about my 'lack of thyroid' issues, and not just look at my numbers. Keep shopping for the right Endo (if you can). They are out there, but they are few and far between! Blessings to you.
 
I had a half my thyroid removed about a year and a half ago. It was because of a benign tumour so my half thyroid which is left seems to coping. However I have just been diagnosed with pre- diabetes, although my last fasting test was up to 7. 2 which is a bit depressing. I've started the low GI diet and I'll let you know how I get on. Nobody seems interested in testing my thyroid function so I just have to assume everything is OK.
 
 
Well, what really matters is how you feel. Do you feel good? If so, I wouldn't worry too much. If not, then you should have the thyroid function blood tests. You can just ask your pcp to run these if you want, then if there if anything is off on those, take it to your endo. I always ask for the full copy of any blood tests so I can keep my own records too.
 

I am on Levothyroxine, which is the same as Synthyroid, in that it is a synthetic T4.

My latest issue is that my TSH has just become supprressed, but neither FT4 nor FT 3 are rrising as might be expected, and I'm certainly not converting T4 to T3.

I will be having more bloods done imminently, and if there is not a marked improvement (and symptomatically, I'd be astonished if things had improved), I will be seeking a combination therapy of additional standalone T3, or to convert to NDT (which is a naturally desiccated procine thyroid, just like Armour).

I have another Endo in mind, should I need to move on, so I'll get there in the end. The concept some medics seem to have of "being well enough" isn't good enough for me.

I know I'm not addressing the issues you want to discuss, honeybc, but my replies will at least boost this thread up the Recent Posts lists, back into view.
 
I had half mine removed 3 months before diagnosis of type 2. (And in the 12 months prior to that 4 other unrelated surgeries) I’m not on thyroid meds, yet, but it’s being watched closely as whilst still in range t4 levels are noticeably different and tsh double what it was. Although I have found very questionable glucose results going back years (never had an hb1ac before diagnosis). My memory tells me they were fasting but they are not annotated fasting or not. So I’m fairly sure I was at least prediabetic beforehand.

Was it the thyroid particularly that tipped me over the threshold? Or multiple surgeries in a short space stressing my body? I reckon one or maybe both had a hand in it.
 

Hi JoGO,

Thyroidectomy in itself does NOT cause type 2 diabetes, my friend, but having thyroid problems to begin with DOES put you at risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

You MAY find the following article on US Nationial Library of Medicine / National Institute of Health Journal of Diabetes Research to be informative:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3647563/
 
After a total thyroidectomy, you have no thyroid left to respond to the TSH hormone, so measuring TSH is no longer very useful.
 
Because that's the primary way doctors know how much thyroid replacement hormone a patient with no thyroid needs.
 
milesrf said:
After a total thyroidectomy, you have no thyroid left to respond to the TSH hormone, so measuring TSH is no longer very useful.
Click to expand...

Measuring TSH has only limited value for any patient, in that measures how much stimulant is created, not whether the thyroid reacts to it. It's a bit like saying if you press the starter button on your car and the engine turns over it runs fine. That there may be no spark, never mind combustion is just white noise to many medcis.

Yet another condition where the patient really must self-educate, then share those learnings with their HCPs.
 
In 2018 I had a problem with my parathyroid glands which, unfortunately, were growing into my thyroid. Surgery to deal with that meant that I lost half of my thyroid gland as well and was immediately put onto Levothyroxine. None of this has made me feel any better than before the surgery. But I had already been diagnosed as T2 diabetic some years before. I don't know if there is a connection between them, or perhaps between either of them and damage to my liver caused by a Hepatitis A infection many years before. I'm sure that somewhere along the line there are connections, but I don't really think that one causes the other - maybe just lays you open to further health problems.
 
 
Maybe look into a low carb diet?
 
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