Hi Doctor, I am 54 and have been masturbating twice a week as my wife is frigid right from my marriage. She is unwilling to consult a doctor. I love her and I gave up sex with her. For the last one year, I increased the frequency to daily as I felt that I should get the maximum pleasure out of this before I become old. I got addicted to porn to masturbate daily. For the last two months, I started getting mild pain in the ankles, especially in the mornings. I went for a health check and found that my TSH level is high at 22.9 mcIU/mL. My family doctor suggested me to start Thyroxine 25mcg tablets. I did not tell doctor about my habit. But I browsed net and found that masturbation drains the nutrients like zinc and that affects the thyroid leading to hypothyroidism. Now I stopped masturbation for the last ten days. I started to see improvement and my ankle pain is subsiding. I did not yet start thyroxine, as I do not have any other symptoms of hypothyroidism. I started taking Zevit vitamin supplement which has b-complex and zinc.

I am thinking whether my Thyroid returns to normal functioning once I stop masturbating. I want to give it a try before starting Thyroxine supplementation. If I start taking thyroxine right now, I think my thyroid may become lazy and I start depending on the supplement for life.

Please advise.