Hello! I have been a doctor for 21 years. My name is Georgy Olegovich Sapego. In this article, I'll talk about the relationship between cholesterol and thyroid gland.
In hypothyroidism, the thyroid gland produces few hormones. Back in the 60s of the last century, it was noticed that people with hypothyroidism increase blood cholesterol, and heart attacks are more common. At that time, even the diagnosis of hypothyroidism was made by cholesterol, and hormones were not tested. It is difficult to say how many people were so wrongly diagnosed, but the fact is.
Now we have checked everything and have learned for sure that overt hypothyroidism is indeed often accompanied by an increase in blood cholesterol levels.
In fact, there will be very complex fluctuations in the individual cholesterol varieties. Therefore, one cannot immediately blame the thyroid gland for heart attacks.
The reason for all these freaks is that in hypothyroidism, cells do not notice "bad" cholesterol, and therefore do not seek to remove it from the blood.
When people with hypothyroidism were tried to treat the thyroid hormone with thyroxine, their cholesterol did not always return to normal. Usually, the higher cholesterol was, the more noticeably it decreased against the background of thyroxine. At 8 mmol / L cholesterol, the difference was not always obtained.
How often does this happen?
If we take all people with high blood cholesterol, then about 5 - 7% of them will have hypothyroidism. This is not much more than hypothyroidism, in principle. So don't assume it's all about the thyroid gland. Cholesterol often rises on its own.
But all the same, people with high cholesterol should be tested for hypothyroidism, so as not to slip statins on them. Statins are not candy. They save lives, but they have side effects. To avoid the side effect of muscle pain, thyroid function is also checked. This is the second reason for the survey.
If the thyroid gland is not working well, the side effects of statins on muscles are much more common. It is not entirely clear why this is happening. It might not be about statins, but about the effect of thyroid hormones on muscles.
Be sure to consult your doctor about these issues. Everything is serious there. Both statins and thyroid hormones are drinkable for life, so do not take risks, do not self-medicate and self-examine.
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Do statins harm the heart muscle?
Fat-soluble statins
