Recovering thyroid function after stopping amiodarone?

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

In early November, I was prescribed amiodarone, a high-iodine medicine,

following heart valve repair surgery. I don't think my surgeon planned for me

to be on it for more than two weeks, but my regular cardiologist continued the

prescription, which I've now finished.

We're having a brutal winter here in New England, and I've been grumpy, tired,

achey, and putting on a few pounds (and have since developed mild edema). I was

complaining about this to someone, blaming it on the cold, and she said it

sounded like hypothyroidism. So I took another gander at the couple of meds I

was on, and the amiodarone/hypothyroidism issue leapt out at me.

Like I wrote above, I'm not taking it at present; from what I can tell,

amiodarone is a last-line-of-defense drug anyway, and I'm not sure why I was on

it in the first place.

I've been trying to reach my cardiologist, but the weather has messed up

everyone's schedule, and I haven't actually had a conversation with her. (BTW,

I did have a blood-draw to check thyroid function a few weeks ago, but haven't

heard the results.)

So... what I'm wondering is, does the thyroid bounce back if its issues were

related to outside factors? Is there anything I can do to help it?

Thanks! And I apologize for the ignorance the above must display!

- Helen