| Second Auto-immune Disease After Hashimoto’s/Thyroidectomy?
My wife was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease 16 years ago, and wound up with thyroid cancer this year. She had a complete thyroidectomy in August, followed by a radioactive iodine treatment and full body scan. We just got the results of the scan back this week, and no remaining cancer cells were detected, so thank God for that!
However, about a week after her thyroid gland was removed, she began having symptoms that seem a lot like either Crohn’s or Ulcerative colitis (both are also auto-immune diseases). We’re waiting to meet with the gastointerologist to go over the colonoscopy/biopsy results, but the nurse said on the phone that it could be colitis, ulcerative colitis, or Crohn’s.
Would it be common or somewhat likely for a person with an organ-specific auto-immune disease like Hashimoto’s to almost immediately contract a second auto-immune disease after the affected organ is removed? Is anyone aware of anything in the medical literature that deals with this question?
Thanks in advance for any replies.
-Rich
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