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If hypothyroid from tramadol (link), skip med?

Posted by confuzyq on January 22, 2008, at 8:19:45

I have been taking 50 mg. of tramadol 3x a day for about five years, prescribed as an AD by my pdoc at a leading research center. (I'm aware of the controversies. But the only one that concerns me is one that doesn't seem to be mentioned much: ramifications of long-term use apparently aren't known.)

An internist who didn't know I take tramadol just told me I am hypothyroid, and is calling in a med. (Don't know which yet, but assume it's standard...) My thyroid function tested normal as of about six years ago, although I've read that an overbroad definition of "normal" is used by many labs.

Like many depressed, dysthymic or anhedonic ppl, I do have several symptoms that fit hypothyroidism (but not weight gain or constipation). However, not sure why but the first thing that crossed my mind was that maybe long-term tramadol use was related. So I did a quick search for correlations, and found the following:

http://cks.library.nhs.uk/hypothyroidism/in_depth/background_information

(Appears under How Do I Know My Patient Has Hypothyroidism? > Investigations > How Do I Interpret the Results? > When May the TSH Results be Misleading? > Other Drug Treatment.)

"Other drug treatment: Other drugs may interfere with TSH secretion or the production, secretion, transport and metabolism of thyroid hormones. Some drugs modify thyroid status whilst others produce abnormal thyroid function test results in otherwise euthyroid people.

-- High-dose glucocorticoids, high-dose dopamine and potent opioids (e.g. tramadol) inhibit TSH release and therefore may decrease the TSH concentration."

...so, I'm trying to decide if I should proceed with taking the med this doctor calls in; or if that would be useless or even harmful somehow if the tramadol is the real cause. Or, if taking the two together probably wouldn't "matter" anyway.

Not sure I even get any effect from the tramadol anymore, but am under a lot of stress lately and for now would rather not fix anything that might not be broken, or resume the search for something else.

Will ask a doctor about this but probably not right away, so thanks for any opinions in the meantime!


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poster:confuzyq thread:808285
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080114/msgs/808285.html