[Harpy]

#1064271

Haven’t had the pleasure before so welcome on board.
I agree with you fully my partner had some constant symptoms and occasional flare ups with periods of anxiousness and fatigue over a good 20 years before she was diagnosed with GD, although her Endo is insistant that it does not behave that way I am dubious, primarily because she probably was not tested for her Hormone levels and other blood levels were most probably in the normal range. What a lot of people forget is that the thyroid is not the cause of the disease, it is one of the victims and is reacting symptomatically to the antibody onslaught. You may well have had the antibodies present causing other issues before the thyroid finally capitulated.
It appears that our diets, lifestyles, environmental toxins & stress factors may well be contributers to making our bodies succeptable and then one of these may be severe enough to cause a final capitulation which is then manifested as Graves or another of the related autoimmune diseases.
Anyway I’m with you on the long term build up vs the sudden disease theory.

[savtanee]

#1018364

I am wondering if anyone out there has had the experience of feeling that you have had undiagnosed Graves’ for a long time despite regular check-ups and blood tests with an internist. I have been treated for anxiety for 10 years and since that time have had tremors, hair loss, feeling like a panic attack (heart racing, etc.), sweating, feeling hot all the time, weight gain, etc. I chalked it up to anxiety and menopause but once I got the Graves’ diagnosis, I realized that it may have been this all along. My internist claims that the bloods were always normal. But I wonder—-

[Kimberly]

#1064272

Hello – Unfortunately, it’s fairly common for patients to be mis-diagnosed with depression or an anxiety disorder, when they had Graves’ all along.

I think that part of the problem is that too many doctors do not do regular screening for thyroid function. The last recommendation that I saw was that adults be tested every 5 years, unless they are in a "high risk" group. The problem is, we don’t always know if we are in a "high risk" group — and the doctors might not ask the right questions to find out. I was in a "high risk" group, as my grandmother had a thyroid issue…but I didn’t find out about it until *after* I was diagnosed. I was fortunate that my doctor included TSH screening as part of my regular checkup.

I also suspect that I had an undiagnosed go-round with Graves’ in my 20s, as I went through a period where I didn’t feel well, but the doctor said my labs were "fine". Looking back, I seriously think that I had hypER symptoms during that time.

[Buttamama28]

#1064273

Hello,

I also agree that it could have been missed; even if the physician won’t admit to it. I had problems around age 8 or so, where I had unexplained pain and swelling in my lower extremities, excessive hunger, mood swings and aggressiveness- and my doctor just said I was a growing child progressing to the "next" stage in life.

I continued to go through this up until my 3rd pregnancy when I was about 24yrs old. That is when I was diagnosed. So from a child, to a teenager, to an adult (through 2 miscarriages), I was finally diagnosed. Now they say it was "probably" what I have been battling all these years.

Geesh!! (Keep Smiling)
Buttamama28

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