Expert: Joanne - 12/6/2008

Question
My friend told me that during her recovery from anorexia and bulimia that her thyroid gland created more hormones than usual and it made her body very mixed up, spotty, and very moody and tired. Is this true? Will it happen to me if i stop? i'm too scared to go to my doctor about it

Answer
Amy

I have not read anything that suggests that it is common for there to be thyroid problems during recovery, but quite often, during the eating disorder thyroid hormone levels are low.  There is a chance that your friend's thryoid has just begun to make enough hormone again only her body doesn't know how to react to it, or she may have been susceptible to thyroid problems and it has just been triggered by the eating disorder.

I do not think that your friend's experience should put you off recovery though!  If you attempt to recover properly, and get professional, medical input, then all these sorts of problems can be detected and treated properly.  I find it weird that your friend felt tired having too much thyroid hormone though as usually too much of these hormones can make you quite hyperactive almost.  It is more likely that she experienced these symptoms simply as her body was trying to adjust.  Spots are just her bodies way of dealing with some of the changes it is going through, and spots tend to be linked more to the sex hormones rather than thyroid, so there is a chance that this is her body beginning to prepare itself for menstruation, etc, if that had all stopped previously.

I'm not going to say that you won't feel tired and moody, nor whether or not you will get spots.  I have no doubt that you may not feel great at the beginning, but I think it will be unlikely you should suffer any major thyroid problems, but do encourage you to get proper medical advice.  Even if you do feel low or ill for the first month or 2 of recovery, think about how well you could feel once you get past that!  You may feel tired or low on energy, but I can assure you that you will soon feel much more energetic than you will just now!

Joanne