Periodic paralysis caused by abuse of thyroid hormone

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Abstract
Periodic paralysis developed in three patients while they were taking thyroid pills to lose weight. Two of them were taking quite large amounts (1 0 to 30 gr of thyroid extract per day), but one, a man of Japanese ancestry, took the equivalent of only 2 to 4 gr of thyroid extract daily and had no signs of thyrotoxicosis. During a clinical trial he had no attacks of paralysis for 10 months while off thyroid medication, but twice became paralyzed after taking the equivalent of 4 gr of thyroid extract daily for four or five weeks. We suggest that such patients have the same defect that is responsible for periodic paralysis in endogenous thyrotoxicosis, a trait that is most common in Oriental males.

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