Thyroid issues and lack of sleep.

araminta wrote: For me personally, acupuncture's been remarkable in addressing many issues more effectively than western medicine, among them high blood sugar and thyroid. Of course, the reverse is also true: I'd never turn to acupuncture for help in setting a broken bone.

I'm glad that you found something that worked for you!

You are much braver than I. There are certain things that I would rather let western medicine take care of. My thyroid being one of them. I went for a year without health insurance or any kind of medicine for my thyroid. I tell you what, that was the WORST year of my life. I don't even remember most of it because I had horrible brain fog and exhaustion like you wouldn't believe. I had to drop out of college that year.

[quote][/quote]Does anybody know if lack of quality sleep (eg, sleep apnea) messes with thyroid function? I really hope my slacker thyroid doesn't get worse and worse! Maybe when I start CPAP therapy things will get better?

I also have an interest in the relationship between OSA and HypoT as I have both too. I started a thread on this topic a few weeks ago...and found as you have there are several on this list with this dual diagnosis. I read some research articles on this topic. Apparently several years ago Duke University and others believed there was enough correlation between OSA and thyorid disease they began a study. They proposed untreated hypothyroidism caused OSA which would resolve with thyroid treatment. They did have a few cases of OSA resolution with therapetic treatment of HypoT. Due to the small number of patients who were "cured" of OSA with effective HypoT treatment, they dropped proposal of all patinets being evaluated for sleep disorders also have thyroid checks. It wasn't viewed as "cost effective." (The power of $).

My sleep doc has mentioned changes in thyroid and srounding area tissue as the relationship between OSA and HypoT.

I personally believe my OSA and HypoT have similiar enough symptoms, it can be difficult to know what is what. I also have started to notice my HypoT seems to cause horrific physical fatigue, forgetfulness and simply feeling yucky when my Thyroid treatment is inadequate. I think I'm beginning to notice OSA makes my mornings feel like crap, mental fog, and sleep without restfulness that feels different. Last week, I tried a new mask ending up with high level leaks leaving me able to compare treatment of OSA and less effective treatment differences!

OSA and HypoT is clearly a double wammie!!!!!