Aspergers and Hypothyroidism?

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Could there be a link between the two? I've been doing some reading and finding out that there may be a hormone connection between the two.

What do you think? I have untreated hypothyroidism which I am going to get diagnosed and treated soon.

I always suspected a hypothyroidism as far as I'm concerned but I recently took blood test and there was nothing wrong; but I learned later that you cannot know the state of your thyroid if don't make a scan so I don't know yet.

There are tons of similarity with Asperger and if you do have hypothyroidism, there might be a chance that the symptoms you attributed to Asperger (scatterbrain, bad concentration, hypotonia, anxiety...) might soften over month if you treat it.


This is my hope, being diagnosed a hypothyroidism so I could at least treat it.

The most common variant of hypothyroidism that occurs in first world countries is called Hashimoto's thyroiditis. It's autoimmune based - your immune system attacks your thyroid causing your low thyroid hormone output.

I have heard things that have said that there is a correlation between autoimmune disorders and autism within families and within the person. (I am hypothyroid myself and my endochronologist says knowing my case and family history its Hashimoto's, though we've not done any testing for it).

How do you know that you are hypothyroid without being diagnosed?

I must add that I've tons of symptoms that I attributed to my Asperger that could be the result of hypothyroidism: a very caracteristic pale skin, depression, "tired" features, joint pain, hairloss, lack of beard, tiredness, neurastheny, frequent inflammation, absent minded, hard time standing straight...

Asperger has been linked to tons of stuff lately: lack of Taurine, Elhers Danlos syndrome, Cortisol response (stress hormone).

At least Hypothyroidism is treatable.

I have recurrent hyperthyroidism as a result of Graves Disease. Overactive rather than underactive.
If there's a link between thyroid issues and autism it is likely to be the autoimmune part that is linked as Tuttle says. Graves, like Hashimoto's is an autoimmune disease.

Well, it could be a case of self-diagnosis which will lead to diagnosis. I self-diagnosed with hyperthyroidism 10 years ago after going to and from the the doctor with various symptoms for a while. I finally put them all together, came up with overactive thyroid, went back to the doctor and asked for a blood test. The doctor suppressed a laugh and humoured me by doing a blood test to "rule it out". The next day he called me at work and asked me to go in to see him immediately - turns out my thyroid levels were the highest he and the lab had ever seen .... Fortunately I was eventually able to get it under control with medication as I was desperate to avoid RAI or surgery. It was stubborn as hell though - took a long time. Now I'm stable without meds but every now and again it flares up and I have to start taking meds again.

When getting tested for hypothyroid, do not go by the TSH alone! It only measures your pituitary's opinion of what your thyroid hormone levels should be. The only truely useful tests are free T4 and free T3.

I tend to be weary of anything linking autism to anything other than any psychiatric disorder that is based in fear or anxiety.

Seconded. I have hypothyroidism and autism, but fail to see a link between the two...

This is because the link is not "autism causes hypothyroidism" or "hypothyroidism causes autism". It is "there is a correlation between hypothyroidism and autism - more people with autism have hypothyrodism themselves or in their family than the general population at a clinically significant rate and this is interesting."

Or, could it be that "hypothyroidism and autism are both common disorders, and therefore, seeing them together wouldn't be unusual."

I have hyperthyroidism.

I have hypothyroidism, but so does my NT sister.

I have hypothyroidism, not Hashimoto though. It started about 2 years ago. Now I'm on meds, but I still have the symptoms (like being extremely tired) sometimes.

This topic interests me.

I'd say that there are links between hypothyroidism and Asperger, as a lot of the symptoms overlap; and at the same time they are not comparable as Asperger is a syndrome, while hypothyroidism is a "root" problem (you can directly treat it).

Anyway, for those of you who are treated for hypothyroidism, to what extent your symptoms, and what symptoms exactly, did it ease?

That does not explain "statistically significant higher percentage than general population".

The occur together in individuals and families /more often/ than is expected with just how common both are.

I didn't even realize how much I was affected until I went on corrective medication. My low(high) numbers were caught during routine lab work. Suddenly I had much more energy, and it did normalize my menstrual cycle. I've put on weight over the last few years, but more from age and inactivity than imbalance probably.