Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2023 February 21

= February 21 =

Thyroid pills
Not seeking medical advice. Question is inspired by just seeing a TV show involving someone with Hashimoto's disease. The person explained that this is an autoimmune disorder where the body attacks the thyroid gland, and this is bad because without a thyroid gland, you will die! But I know that thyroidectomy is a thing, and that the person usually has to thyroid pills for the rest of their life afterwards, but assuming they take their pills it's not that terrible in the scheme of things.

My question is what happens if the person doesn't take their pills, such as due to a supply interruption? Do they get symptoms if they miss one dose? What if they miss it for a week or a month? If they miss enough to become seriously ill, does the illness reverse once they are back on the drug? And is someone with Hashimoto's (assuming they are getting appropriate treatment) somehow in worse condition than someone who has had their thyroid removed outright?

My mom takes some prescription meds (not thyroid related) and regularly experiences hassles because the prescription has run out of refills (requiring new prescription requests to her doctor, which can take a while to get handled), and that sort of thing. In my mom's case, those occurrences have been annoying but not really dangerous. I'd like to think anyone with critical dependence on a drug should keep a very large supply on hand, but the dispensing system seems set up to prevent this. Thanks. 2601:648:8200:990:0:0:0:756C (talk) 00:52, 21 February 2023 (UTC)
 * See our article Hypothyroidism. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 00:55, 21 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Thanks, will look there. 2601:648:8200:990:0:0:0:756C (talk) 00:55, 21 February 2023 (UTC)

Goldfish size
I heard that goldfish keep growing throughout their life if you put them in a large enough tank with the right conditions and food. Is this true? If so, why would they stop growing in other cases? 135.180.244.18 (talk) 05:28, 21 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Googling the subject, this appears to be true of fish in general, and also for other cold-blooded creatures such as reptiles. This is also true for various types of trees. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 08:18, 21 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Not surprisingly, we have an article Goldfish which goes into some detail about this. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 51.198.55.125 (talk) 08:25, 21 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Why the 15 incher was conducting a population survey, we'll never know. Clarityfiend (talk) 16:48, 21 February 2023 (UTC)