PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - ROBERT B. LAYZER
AU  - EDYTHE GOLDFIELD
TI  - Periodic paralysis caused by abuse of thyroid hormone
AID  - 10.1212/WNL.24.10.949
DP  - 1974 Oct 01
TA  - Neurology
PG  - 949--949
VI  - 24
IP  - 10
4099  - http://n.neurology.org/content/24/10/949.short
4100  - http://n.neurology.org/content/24/10/949.full
SO  - Neurology1974 Oct 01; 24
AB  - 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.