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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Putting On Weight With No Change In Diet, Staph Infection, High BP And Cholesterol. Short Term Memory. Suggestion?

My mother is 53 years old, and I've noticed some alarming changes in her behavior as well as her health. She has put on at least 70 lbs in the last year despite no change in her diet (she eats like a bird. Barely anything at all and very small portions). She was a size 5, and now is to embarrassed to even wear pants. She has a staph infection in both ears that the didn't discover until last week and she's been having problems with it for over 3 years because they misdiagnosed it as psoriasis. I know she has high blood pressure and cholesterol. The last year or so, I've noticed a progressive, severe change in her personality. Her short-term memory is very bad, she very quickly escalates when confronted about literally anything that's not sunshine and roses (like a 6 year old throwing a massive fit over a toy escalating. Complete with whining and childish voices), her ability to process new information and reaction times are shot. She is not the person I remember. What could be wrong?
Sat, 12 Oct 2013
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General Surgeon,  's  Response
Hi ! Good evening. I am Dr Shareef answering your query. The increase in her weight of 70 lbs is quite significant and along with the change in personality points towards a hormonal problem, which is more like a hypothyroidism. In this condition, the individual gains weight without eating much, and goes into depression and all kinds of personality and mood changes.the voice change is also likely due to hypo functioning of the thyroid gland where less thyroxine is produced. Thyroxine is the hormone needed for normal functioning of all the systems of the body. The high blood pressure and high cholesterol also goes in favour of this .

Therefore, I would suggest you to go for a thyroid function test, and consult your family physician with the report, who may prescribe you the synthetic thyroxine available in the market as a replacement therapy, following which your mother may recover gradually.

I hope I have answered your query. Thanks for using heatlhcaremagic forum for your health query. Good luck.
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Putting On Weight With No Change In Diet, Staph Infection, High BP And Cholesterol. Short Term Memory. Suggestion?

Hi ! Good evening. I am Dr Shareef answering your query. The increase in her weight of 70 lbs is quite significant and along with the change in personality points towards a hormonal problem, which is more like a hypothyroidism. In this condition, the individual gains weight without eating much, and goes into depression and all kinds of personality and mood changes.the voice change is also likely due to hypo functioning of the thyroid gland where less thyroxine is produced. Thyroxine is the hormone needed for normal functioning of all the systems of the body. The high blood pressure and high cholesterol also goes in favour of this . Therefore, I would suggest you to go for a thyroid function test, and consult your family physician with the report, who may prescribe you the synthetic thyroxine available in the market as a replacement therapy, following which your mother may recover gradually. I hope I have answered your query. Thanks for using heatlhcaremagic forum for your health query. Good luck.