Shaking, anxious and restless? Sounds like a typical Jose Reyes half-inning in the dugout.
But those are no longer just charming traits of the Mets’ ebullient shortstop — they are early-stage symptoms of hyperthyroidism, a hormone imbalance that Reyes will be examined for in the next several days in New York.
Reyes was scratched from yesterday’s Grapefruit League game and is scheduled for follow-up blood tests on Monday after physicians detected a possible thyroid hormone imbalance during an earlier physical. The thyroid gland is located in the neck and produces hormones that regulate metabolism.
An overabundance of thyroid hormone introduces a host of dangerous symptoms including tremors, weight loss, sleep loss and irregular heartbeat. But the prognosis with treatment — given early detection — is excellent, according to doctors contacted yesterday, and Reyes could return to action soon.
Treatment options are three-fold: Surgery to remove all or parts of the gland, anti-thyroid prescription drugs, and radioactive iodine, which the patient ingests in a capsule designed to nuke the thyroid with radioactive chemicals.
“I would even suggest radioactive iodine,” said Dr. Terry Seltzer, Assistant Professor of Medicine New York University School of Medicine. “It would be reasonably treated with pills, but that sort of prolongs it.”
Reyes, if diagnosed, would be something of a rare case. Thyroid conditions are four times more common in women than men, according to Manhattan endocrinologist Dr. Barry Klyde, and, of those, most are underactive thyroids. Also, thyroid disease most often occurs in middle-age patients.
The thyroid scare is the latest physical setback for the 26-year-old,who was limited to 36 games last season because of slow-healing right hamstring ailments. Doctors were reluctant to draw a connection between the leg injuries and the thyroid news — muscle weakness is associated with more advanced cases of hyperthyroidism.
If Reyes’ thyroid is indeed out of whack, immediate treatment should restore proper function in one and a half to two months, Klyde said. In the meantime, Reyes’ heartbeat would be the main thing to monitor in a quick return to the lineup.
“If he feels well, he can do what he tolerates,” Klyde said. “If he says he’s feeling OK, then he may be fortunate to just have mild illness. So if it’s mild, he won’t need such drastic therapy and a doctor would tailor the therapy so that he’s not incapacitated.”