Hypothyroid

Tumby · Post by **Tumby** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 6:25 am

Hi all,

I am a newbie to this forum but I have been having a Chow since 1996. Currently I have two chow, one is 11 and the other is 7. The yonger one recently has been diagnosed with Hyprothyroid, and I wonder whether any Chow owner has experience on this sickness? Accoarding to my understanding, the lack of hormone is causing one type of bateria growing out of control in his colon, and causing diarrhea on an on and off base. To stop the diarrhea, the only way seems to be taking Antibiotic pills, but which is something I don't want to put on him on a long term base. This drives me nut as I have no clue what else can be done to help him, nor the vet can do anything beside feeding him medicine. Any suggestion?

Thanks all.

vicster605 · Post by **vicster605** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 7:06 am

Hi Tumby and welcome to the site

I'm sorry to hear about your Chow having some health issues..... The treatment for Hypothroid in humans as well as canines is a medication called Synthroid.....lab work is done to make sure the levels are within normal limits...they require this medication for life, and it is a rather simple fix. Your Chow can live a normal life.
Not sure what the diarrhea and the antibiotics are about?? The antibiotics can cause diarrhea, as it can kill off the normal flora present in the colon as well as the bad stuff....They should keep adjusting the Synthroid until the correct amount is given and if that is causing the diarrhea then it should stop.....I don't get the antibiotic thing unless there is another reason he is getting it??
Does he get the medication called Synthroid??

Tumby · Post by **Tumby** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 7:21 am

As far as I was told that the recent throid test is in a satisfactory level base on the dosage that is given to my Chow, so I don't think it is anything to do with the pills. According the my vet, she said the problem with the throid is causing the grow of bateria in the colon out of control and a test was done with a positive result of having excessive of one type of batria (I forgot the name but I can find this out on the invoice tonight) that cause the diarrhea.

About the pill's name, I need to look up the bottle tonight to tell whether it is Synthroid or not.

kiwani · Post by **kiwani** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 9:13 am

Re: "Accoarding to my understanding, the lack of hormone is causing one type of bateria growing out of control in his colon, and causing diarrhea on an on and off base."

SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth) *interferes* with the availability of vitamin B12, and the thyroid relies on B12. The symptoms of SIBO are greasy loose stools, gas, malabsorption, etc.

The thyroid can be *temporarily* affected by nutritional problems, other illnesses, meds, environmental factors, etc. There is a lot of research information on secondary causes of thyroid problems in the forum archives. There is also some research on SIBO and one of its causes, 'exocrine pancreatic insufficiency'. There are other causes of SIBO as well. The main point is that the SIBO affects the body's vitamin B12 levels which ends up hurting the thyroid.

There are also some threads in the recent archives concerning probiotics and rebuilding the gut immune system after antibiotic use.

Tumby · Post by **Tumby** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 5:50 am

vicster605 wrote: Does he get the medication called Synthroid??

Okey vicster605, I looked at the bottle of the pills last night and it is named NV Thyro-Pill, I guess it is different brand but works the same as Synthroid.

After a day or two with bad stool, it seems getting back into normal but will see how long it last........

vicster605 · Post by **vicster605** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 4:28 pm

I'm not familiar with that one....sorry...hope the diarrhea stays gone

shandilady · Post by **shandilady** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 10:47 pm

I am thinking maybe there are different brands, my husky with hypothyroid is on L-Throxine. He was a little tubby, cranky and his hair was falling out on the poor guy's tail and back legs. It all has grown back on the meds. Good luck with your baby.
Rob

Tumby · Post by **Tumby** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 10:27 am

Thx all!!

He is doing ok for the past days w. his stools and I hope it is going to last the way it is.......

Btw, Happy New Year to you all!