RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Thyroid detectives: on the trail of Munchausen’s syndrome
JF BMJ Case Reports
JO BMJ Case Reports
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
SP e226087
DO 10.1136/bcr-2018-226087
VO 12
IS 4
A1 Chakraborty, Partha Pratim
A1 Goswami, Soumik
A1 Bhattacharjee, Rana
A1 Chowdhury, Subhankar
YR 2019
UL http://casereports.bmj.com/content/12/4/e226087.abstract
AB Thyrotoxicosis factitia, a disorder frequently seen in young or middle-aged women with psychological disorders, most commonly results from surreptitious ingestion of excess thyroid hormones. In most patients, diagnosis is relatively straightforward and depends on the demonstration of biochemical thyrotoxicosis, suppressed endogenous thyroid function and absence of clinical features of underlying thyroid disease. However, at times, confounding factors can make the diagnosis particularly challenging and necessitate the investigating physician to don the detective’s cap to get to the root of the problem. We discuss a patient whose diagnosis was reached with ingenuity after considerable effort from four endocrinologists having a total experience of 37 years in their field.