Hi Stephanie

It always warms my heart when I get messages like this. It makes it all worth it to know that I am making a difference for someone when they are going through one of the biggest battles of their lives ? Hope your recovery continues in the right direction.

Hi Marilyn,

Did you read the information I gave Michelle regarding hypothalamus/pituitary dysfunction? Also, the hypothyroid and reverse T3 information? I don’t want to overwhelm you with too much all at once. There are many possibilities after a TBI. Reverse T3 just happens to be the problem I have. If you’ve read all of the information and think you may have this problem I will be happy to share with you what I’ve learned. There are specific tests that most doctors don’t know about. So, let me know if I can help.

Please share what you have learned; I would be very grateful. Marilyn Ralston (susierist3@gmail.com)

You are a star, thank you so much!!!!

I’ve had hypothyroidism since my early 20’s, but with each TBI all of my symptoms got worse. I didn’t suspect that it had anything to do with my TBI’s until I read the article about the soldiers.

This link explains how the endocrine system can be affected by TBI. There are many other scholarly articles that address this problem, but this one is easier to understand.

https://www.nahypothyroidism.org/traumatic-brain-injury-a-cause-of-hypothyroidism/

There are 2 good sites that give info on Reverse T3–Stop the Thyroid Madness (STTM) and Hypothyroid Mom. Many doctors refer their patients to these sites to give them a better understanding of hypothyroidism.

Helen I love that despite things are clearly different for you now you are positive and pushing yourself when and where you can.

Thank you so much for sharing this. I also had hypothyroidism after my accident, but as I have been board line for almost 2 decades I hadn’t thought it might have been affected by my injury. I for one would love to hear more about it.

Shortly after my accident, I read that the military was finding a high incidence of hypothalamus/pitutary dysfunction in soldiers with TBI. These master glands in the brain control the entire endocrine system and can be damaged due to a TBI. It can cause problems with cortisol, testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, human growth hormone–all of the hormones produced by the endocrine system.

In my case it caused my hypothyroidism to get much worse and my regular medication no longer worked. My temperature had dropped as low as 96.2 degrees and was rarely higher than 97.0. I had also lost some hair and was tired and cold all of the time.

Three different doctors tested me and I did have this problem but they didn’t know how to treat it so they did nothing. It took me over 3 yrs. to find a doctor who would treat me for a problem called Reverse T3.

It’s a relatively new discovery and my endocrinologist said treatment is all experimental and at this time she wouldn’t treat me until there are years of scientific studies to develop a treatment.

I did my own research and found what was working for most people and I finally found a doctor who is helping me experiment with the right natural medication.

The first month, I had 6 or7 days when I felt almost like my old self. In the past 3 months I’ve had at least 1/3 of the days that I’ve felt very close to normal. Not just fatigue, brain fog, short term memory, etc., but my headaches and myofascial pain are also better.

Those days have given me hope. If I’m right, this could help so many people with TBI. It truly feels like a miracle!

The testing and treatment are very inexpensive and covered by most insurance companies. It seems a little complex at first, as it’s not the traditional tests used for thyroid problems. It’s not really complex at all, but it’s not yet understood by many doctors. If anyone is interested I will be happy to share what I’ve learned.