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Dear Ann Glanders Column, Week of: July 11th, 2011
Shannon Asked: Does Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Hashimoto’s have anything to do with each other? Have you ever heard of carpel tunnel being a symptom of Hashimoto’s?”
DAG: Interestingly, Shannon, there just might be a connection here. There has been a connection with CTS (Carpal Tunnel Syndrome) and Hypothyroidism. As you know, Hashimoto’s disease is an autoimmune disease while hypothyroidism is a condition.
Hypothyroidism is most commonly caused by Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. That being said, there was a 15 year research study that showed a strong relationship between CTS/other RSIs and hypothyroidism. However, the July 27, 1998 Archives of Internal Medicine published by the American Medical Association has just reported a research study that found that many people with CTS may have unrecognized medical diseases, including hypothyroidism, as the cause of their CTS.
It goes on to say that an article, titled “Concurrent Medical Disease in Work-Related Carpal Tunnel Syndrome” reported that, in a third of all the patients studied, other illnesses — mainly hypothyroidism, diabetes and joint disease — were present, that could be the cause of the CTS.
So, if a person has CTS, doctors should determine if a case of CTS is due to a treatable medical problem such as hypothyroidism and that the hypothyroidism remains managed, since being under-treatment would trigger the pain sensations of CTS.
Please see research these references:
Thyroid About / Carpal Tunnel and Thyroid About / Hashi vs Hypo
Shannon, I do hope this information helps and if it does, please print out the above to discuss with your doctor.
***
To allof my thyroidees and thyroidettes, please drop by Dear Ann Glanders on Facebook for a visit. I’ve posted lots of questions. I’m eager to chat with all of you, so let’s start chatting via Facebook. Everything is on the table, discussion wise.
In the mean time, this is Dear Ann Glanders signing off and saying, “Hey ya’ll I’m here for you, so please, use me!”
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3 Responses to “Dear Ann Glanders Column, Week of: July 11th, 2011”
Leave a Reply to imsdac
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Thanks for the information. I wish I had known this before having CTS surgery on both of my hands this past January. Too bad I didn’t realize then that what I had was hypothyroidism and adrenal fatigue. Hopefully all this info will help someone else avoid what was probably 2 needless surgeries for me 🙁
Did the surgeries help take away the CTS pain for you? I really do hope so.
Lisa
Yes Lisa, the numbness and pain is totally gone after the surgery. But it took a lot of physical therapy and it was a long recovery. I still don’t have the manual dexterity that I used to have and I still drop things all the time… almost like the messages from my brain don’t quite make it to my fingers. Hopefully in time that will resolve itself.