Does thyroid disease affect the immune system? (cold, blood, hair)

[Azul91]

My mom has thyroid disease, although I am not sure which one. I've noticed that she gets colds very easily and often. She takes Levothyroxine, and it worries me. Is the thyroid disease causing her a weakened immune system?

[jaminhealth]

Personally I don't do well on Levo..., I do horrible actually. I use desiccated thyroid but for me it's more than that, I never get sick. I'll send you a DM as this is about thyroid and I want to talk about something else. J

[Nov3]

The question is similar to "which came first the chicken or the egg.?"

One can have low immune and have thyroid issues and vice versa. Both can co exist.

read up on it as it appears some are hereditary.

See if her doctor will allow her to take selenium.

[lunetunelover]

Generally speaking, a thyroid issue is an auto-immune "disease". And, in many cases, researchers are finding that having one auto-immune disease makes one more susceptible to other auto-immune conditions. These other things could lead to a weakened immune system or a weakened response to bacteria and viruses. Diabetics, for instance, tend to have weaker immune systems.


It doesn't hurt to work with a doctor to see what vitamins and supplements can help improve the system. Mine has me on vitamin D and iron. She also approved me taking B12 and a probiotic. But it's important to discuss this with your doc because you may not know when an interaction can reduce the effectiveness of any medications prescribed.

[Prickly Pear]

As someone who has thyroid problems since day one, let me tell you something about it.

I have an autoimmune thyroid condition known as Hashimoto's... It is the root cause of my hypothyroidism (note, hypothyroidism can be caused by things other than Hashimoto's, I feel that it's important to make this clear, it's not always an autoimmune disease). The opposite of what I have is called hyperthyroidism, which is sometimes caused by Graves' disease. My Hashimoto's condition has always been bad and is now worse since my thyroid got cancer on one half of it and I had to get hemithyroidectomy. My dose is too low (yes, it really needs to be adjusted and I am working on that) so the other half is trying to do its best, but my body thinks my thyroid is a foreign entity sends something called "anti-TPOs" to attack it. Normal lab levels at my physician are somewhere between 0-30 micrograms a unit or so for anti-TPOs (totally blanked on how blood is measured in labs, forgive me). Mine so far, has not gone below 500. My surgeons even told me that my thyroid was a really bad case of Hashimoto's when I woke up from the anesthesia.

I have only been sick about five times in my life, and I mean truly sick like with a cold or flu.

You'll notice that with any health condition people have different symptoms. For an example some people with my same health condition have very dry, brittle hair and I have the exact opposite of that. They can also have a lot of energy, yet I'm fatigued 24/7 no matter how much caffeine I try to take up for it, or sleep. They can eat an entire cake and not gain a pound, yet I can breathe around chocolate and gain five.

Hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism is relatively common, one of these two conditions affect 1 in 10 women, and a little less common in men. And they vary, a lot, person by person. I probably got my condition through genetics, as my mom takes the same medication as your mom and myself but my mom has hyperthyroidism, which is the complete opposite of mine.

The answer to your question has more to do with which condition she has, as I said knowing whether your mom has the same condition as me or the complete opposite will answer your question. One is an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism) and an overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism). Results may vary.