[L-thyroxine pseudomalabsorption: a factitious disease]

Abstract

Introduction: Thyroxine supplementation of patients with hypothyroidism is usually simple. A few patients, however, continue to present elevated TSH levels despite large doses of L-thyroxine.

Case: We report the case of a 71-year-old women who had had a thyroidectomy 10 years earlier and had since been hospitalized repeatedly for profound hypothyroidism. Despite her consistent claims of good adherence to her treatment regimen, we considered the diagnosis of L-thyroxine pseudomalabsorption and confirmed it by thyroid hormone absorption tests.

Discussion: L-thyroxine pseudomalabsorption due to concealed poor treatment adherence should be considered after ruling out drug or dietary interference and true organic malabsorption. Diagnosis of this factitious disease can be confirmed by L-thyroxine absorption tests.