One of the other threads got me thinking about my Dad, who passed away last year, from something that was completely avoidable.
He was in his seventies, and had other health problems, so when he was getting weaker and weaker, it was blamed on other things.
Just before he passsed away, they did a simple thyroid test. (T3, T4, & TSH) They found out that his levels were way below normal, and that this was probably why he was going downhill. All the physical symptoms were blamed elsewhere, they didn't think of thyroid until he started becoming disoriented.
The family was called together before the test because the doctors thought he was never going to recover. By the time all us kids arrived, they had discovered the thyroid problem (which is fixable with a once a day pill) and they told us they expected him to make a full recovery. He was almost completely unresponsive at the time.
We all went home, thinking that they would get the hormone or whatever you call what the thyroid produces, and he'd get better.
3 days later, he died.
There was an autopsy, and they never could really find a definitive cause of death. But all of his functions were failing, and this was most likely exacerbated by his thyroid problem.
90% of all thyroid problems are in women, and the problem of under-diagnosis is very high. This is a huge problem for men, because since it mostly effects women, men often don't even test their thyroid. In my Dad's case it was too late.
So anyhow, men, have your thyroid checked, escpecially if you have a history of thyroid problems in your family. There's often a simple fix, but there can be devestating consequnces if you ignore it. (I't even a fairly cheap fix - one month's worth of pills is about $25 or less.)
He was in his seventies, and had other health problems, so when he was getting weaker and weaker, it was blamed on other things.
Just before he passsed away, they did a simple thyroid test. (T3, T4, & TSH) They found out that his levels were way below normal, and that this was probably why he was going downhill. All the physical symptoms were blamed elsewhere, they didn't think of thyroid until he started becoming disoriented.
The family was called together before the test because the doctors thought he was never going to recover. By the time all us kids arrived, they had discovered the thyroid problem (which is fixable with a once a day pill) and they told us they expected him to make a full recovery. He was almost completely unresponsive at the time.
We all went home, thinking that they would get the hormone or whatever you call what the thyroid produces, and he'd get better.
3 days later, he died.
There was an autopsy, and they never could really find a definitive cause of death. But all of his functions were failing, and this was most likely exacerbated by his thyroid problem.
90% of all thyroid problems are in women, and the problem of under-diagnosis is very high. This is a huge problem for men, because since it mostly effects women, men often don't even test their thyroid. In my Dad's case it was too late.
So anyhow, men, have your thyroid checked, escpecially if you have a history of thyroid problems in your family. There's often a simple fix, but there can be devestating consequnces if you ignore it. (I't even a fairly cheap fix - one month's worth of pills is about $25 or less.)
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