rash from thyroid

Brought to you by Quell

This episode is bought to you by Quell — to help support rebuilding healthy skin from the outside-in + inside-out!

Take 10% off your next order! Use promo code QUELL10 at check out — Get started HERE!

– – –

Can you get a rash from thyroid disease? Yes, yes you can. And in this episode, I’m connecting the dots between autoimmune thyroid disease and chronic hives.

Today, we’re digging into how your thyroid can affect your skin, and how you can determine if yours is part of your rash trigger.

If you’ve been struggling with a rash that just won’t disappear and you feel like you’re running out of options (and hope!) be sure to download the Stop My Rashes Guide here so you can figure out your root cause combo and finally get to the bottom of your skin rash.

Or, listen on your favorite app: iTunes (Apple Podcasts) | Spotify | Stitcher | TuneIn | Subscribe on Android

In This Episode:

  • What are urticaria, chronic hives, and dermatographia?
  • Chronic hives treatments and why they don’t always work
  • The interesting connection between chronic hives, thyroid, and autoimmunity
  • What is Hashimoto’s and are you at risk of developing a thyroid disease rash?
  • How to get your doctor to run a full thyroid panel

Quotes

“While it’s true that hives, dermatographia, and urticaria are associated with histamine overload, if Zyrtec for urticaria doesn’t work for you, you’re often left with few options. Maybe, if you’re lucky, your doctor might order allergy testing, but most people find themselves at a frustrating dead end if antihistamines for urticaria aren’t a magic bullet.”

“For some people, one of those early symptoms is chronic urticaria. But they can’t connect that back to their thyroid because their doctor is possibly only running cursory thyroid bloodwork — looking for levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone, or TSH. Problem is, your TSH is only going to be elevated after your thyroid has been significantly damaged. So TSH isn’t enough to tell you what’s going on.”

Links

Get labs run HERE that you can order yourself at a flat rate

Healthy Skin Show ep. 261: Chronic Hives: Why Won’t They Go Away

RESEARCH – Relationship between Chronic urticaria and autoimmune thyroid disease

Stop My Skin Rash Guide FREE download

 

Doctor with model of thyroid

317: Itchy, Painful Rash From Thyroid Disease: Your Guide to Stopping It {FULL TRANSCRIPT}

Welcome back to episode 317 of the Healthy Skin Show! In today’s episode, I’m going to dive into chronic hives, your thyroid, and the fascinating connection between dermatographia, urticaria, and autoimmune thyroid disease.

If you’re struggling with chronic urticaria, I’ve already talked about the hidden root causes that are often ignored on the show so make sure to check out episode #261 HERE!

 

Woman scratching hives

What is an Urticaria Rash?

First off, let’s talk about what is chronic urticaria (also known as chronic hives). Chronic hives is a condition where you develop raised, reddish patches of skin due to swelling between the upper and middle dermis of the skin.

Some degree of angioedema involved with chronic urticaria is typically involved as a result of mast cells and basophils that become activated. (1)

The resulting hives (which are also known as wheals) are a type of urticaria, which is also known as chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU for short), chronic urticaria (CU), and chronic idiopathic urticaria. (1)

 

What Is Dermatographia?

Dermatographia is another type of urticaria.  Dermatographia is a type of chronic inducible urticaria (CIndU) as well as a type of physical urticaria, where your skin erupts in hives due to physical touch. This could be from scratching your skin or even from clothing that touches your skin. (2)

Dermatographia is also known as “skin writing” because some people can literally draw or write on their skin which then erupts into a rashed, itchy pattern.

One participant of my Skin Rash Rebuild group had such severe dermatographia that she couldn’t wear yoga pants or anything tight because dermatographia hives would quickly appear. It truly impacted her quality of life!

Aside from dermatographia, there are other types of physical urticaria too, including urticaria induced by exercise, delayed-pressure urticaria, cold and heat urticaria, solar urticaria, and vibratory urticaria.

The classification of chronic inducible urticaria includes physical urticarias and non-physical urticarias. The most common of these non-physical urticarias are cholinergic urticaria and delayed-pressure urticaria. (3) Non-physical urticaria happens when you’re exposed to a trigger, like exercise, hot water, or even spicy food. (4)

 

dandelion seeds causing histamine allergies

Common Chronic Hives Treatment

So now that we’ve established that urticaria bumps include both chronic hives and dermatographia, let’s talk about how these conditions are typically treated.

The main problem is that in conventional medicine, it is often difficult to even define the exact type of urticaria you’re dealing with. And by some estimates, 80-90% of chronic urticaria is the idiopathic form “where the external allergic cause or disease cannot be found.” (5)

Then there’s the fact that dermatographia treatment and treatment for chronic hives often includes antihistamines. While it’s true that hives, dermatographia, and urticaria are associated with histamine overload, if using antihistamines like Zyrtec for urticaria doesn’t work for you, you’re often left with few options. Maybe, if you’re lucky, your doctor might order allergy testing, but most people find themselves at a frustrating dead end if antihistamines for urticaria aren’t a magic bullet.

Plus, taking antihistamines for the rest of your days isn’t ideal for most people, as they aren’t without potential side effects. I’ve discussed the issues of using antihistamines long-term on another episode with Dr. Chris Thompson HERE.

The newest option is a biologic drug known as Xolair, which is an injectable medication used every four weeks to treat chronic spontaneous urticaria (not other forms or urticaria). Some people find it helpful, while others do not.

 

woman having her thyroid checked by a doctor

What Causes Hives? Could It Be A Thyroid Disease Rash?

One possible trigger of urticaria is your thyroid. It’s one of those causes of urticaria hives that often gets overlooked.

This is kind of surprising because there’s actually quite a bit of evidence supporting this chronic hives autoimmune connection.

 

woman having thyroid examined

What Is A Hashimoto’s Rash?

So what exactly is a Hashimoto’s disease rash? Well, Hashimoto thyroiditis is the most common form of hypothyroidism. It’s an autoimmune disease — which means your body’s immune system attacks your thyroid gland tissue. This ultimately causes your body to produce low levels of thyroid hormone. (6)

Hashimoto’s is most common in women, occurring 4 to 10 times more often in women than it is in men. It typically develops in women aged 30 to 50. (7)

Now, here’s the really frustrating thing about Hashimoto’s. Sometimes, you can have what’s referred to as subclinical thyroid issues. Your thyroid isn’t functioning properly, but it also hasn’t been completely destroyed to the point where things will show up clearly on your typical thyroid bloodwork. Lots of people spend years dealing with frustrating thyroid symptoms without getting a proper diagnosis.

For some people, one of those early symptoms is chronic urticaria. But they can’t connect that back to their thyroid because their doctor is possibly only running cursory thyroid bloodwork — looking for levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone, or TSH. The problem is that your TSH is only going to be elevated after your thyroid has been significantly damaged. So TSH isn’t enough to tell you what’s going on.

So if you suspect that you may have a thyroid skin rash, it’s important to make sure your doctor runs a full thyroid panel that includes:

  • TSH
  • Free T4
  • Free T3
  • Thyroglobulin antibodies
  • Thyroid peroxidase (TPO) antibodies

With Hashimoto’s, you can have elevated antibodies for years before you even develop thyroid symptoms.

I discuss thyroid testing in depth with thyroid specialist Dr. Izabella Wentz here.

If your doctor won’t run the full thyroid panel, you can order it yourself here at a pre-negotiated flat rate.

 

Rash From Graves Disease

So far, we’ve talked about hypothyroidism and how that’s connected to skin rashes. But on the other end of the spectrum, you also have hyperthyroidism. This is when your thyroid is overactive. People with hyperthyroid issues often suffer from anxiety, gastrointestinal issues, and difficulty with body temperature regulation.

A common cause of hyperthyroidism is Grave’s Disease, another autoimmune disease. (8)

While it’s less common than hypothyroidism, it’s also possible to experience a rash from Grave’s Disease. (9,10)

 

Woman who just figured out the The Chronic Hives Autoimmune Connection

The Chronic Hives Autoimmune Connection

The connection between chronic hives and thyroid is quite interesting.

For one thing, the American Academy of Dermatology Association (AAD) lists hives as a sign of thyroid disease. (11)

Then there are the reviews that indicate thyroid dysfunction rates are increased in patients with chronic urticaria. (12)

We already know that chronic hives can be related to histamine intolerance. And some researchers believe that thyroid antibodies could make mast cells (the cells that release histamine) more susceptible to destabilization. (13)

Here’s the bottom line: research shows many autoimmune disorders are associated with chronic urticaria. In fact, patients with chronic urticaria are more likely to have hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, or antithyroid antibodies.

And it’s not just autoimmune thyroid disease, either. There is also a significantly higher incidence of other autoimmune diseases among female patients with chronic urticaria. (5)

One theory is that infections drive autoimmunity. For example, H. Pylori is often found when thyroid autoimmunity is present…and in one study, 35.71% of chronic urticaria patients had“a focus of infection.” — and not necessarily infections that started on the skin. The researchers noted that potential infection triggers could include H. pylori, Yersinia, Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Norovirus, Blastocystis hominis, Giardia lamblia, Trichinella, Trichomonas vaginalis and Toxocara canis. (5)

So if you’ve had any of these infections, it may be a good idea to look into autoimmune disease as another potential root of your chronic hives.

 

woman with hand out in stop gesture

How To Stop A Rash From Thyroid Disease

For some people, once they’re able to identify thyroid disease as part of their root cause combo for their chronic hives, their thyroid medication helps get things under control. (14,15)

In one study, 72 people with chronic urticaria and positive anti-TPO antibodies were randomly divided into 2 groups and given daily low-dose antihistamine loratadine for 3 months. During this period, one of the groups also got levothyroxin 50 micrograms/day — and this group had a faster recovery with a higher incidence of no itching. The authors recommend TSH and anti-TPO antibodies be tested and that thyroid medication treatment could be helpful in the treatment process. They also noted that the prevalence of anti-TPO in the general population is 3%–6%, while the incidence in patients with chronic urticaria is reported to be 17.7%–29%. (16)

For others, it’s important to note that urticaria could be a sign of thyroid dysfunction, but the thyroid dysfunction may not be the root cause of the urticaria. However, it’s important for overall health to address imbalances — and if your thyroid is imbalanced, it will throw off your hormones, your metabolism, your digestion, your body temperature, and can even make you lose your hair…so it’s important to get it checked if you suspect thyroid is at play in your case.

To order a full thyroid panel, check with your doctor, or follow this link to order it for yourself.

Sometimes, I have found that a low-histamine diet can be a useful short-term tool in helping reduce your overall histamine load so you can better work on getting to the root cause of your chronic hives.

But ultimately, it’s important to really dig into your case, because in my experience, after helping thousands of people recover from skin rashes — I can say with certainty it’s typically between 3 and 6 different factors at play that are at the root cause of your rash.

If you’re ready to dive into some detective work, be sure to check out this article, where I explore the hidden causes of chronic hives in depth.

And I’ve also put together a complete guide to stopping your rashes you can download here. This guide will walk you through evaluating your possible root causes and help you create a plan for getting to the bottom of your skin rash.

I hope this overview of chronic hives and thyroid disease has been the a-ha moment you needed to connect the dots and get to the bottom of your root cause!

 

reference books

References

rash from thyroid