[curmudgeoness]

#1058933

Well, that was awkwardly worded, but I hope the question will be clear enough.

I was diagnosed with GD four or five years ago. I was pretty sick at the time, was put on a high dose of methimazole (40mg/day), crashed hard and went hypo, rode the hypo/hyper roller coaster for a while trying to get stable and feel better. I went through a number of endos trying to find one who would listen to me and talk to me instead of talking to my husband or telling me I was fat because I was lazy, etc. You’ve heard it all before or experienced it yourselves, I am sure.

I am happy with my current endo; he’s very busy, but he listens pretty well. I am on 5mg/day methimazole and have been in range (but not in remission) for just about two years. The last time I was checked, antibodies were high, and my thyroid generally has been 2x normal size.

Recently, I have been feeling as if my thyroid has grown larger. I feel pressure in my neck, and I feel as if I have a lump in my throat. Otherwise, I feel okay. My workouts are going well enough, my eyes look fine, pulse rate is good, I feel asymptomatic. For what it’s worth, I was sick for just about all of February and March (bad colds, bronchitis, allergies, etc.).

I have an endo appointment in about two weeks, and obviously I will mention this symptom when I see him. But — should I be worried? Does this require more immediate attention?

Thanks.

[Kimberly]

#1171037

Hello and welcome! We’re fellow patients here, not doctors…I would recommend calling your doctor’s office to see if they think this symptom warrants a quicker appointment.

However, if you are getting to the point where the issue is interfering with swallowing or breathing, *definitely* get in to see someone ASAP, whether it’s your GP, an ER, or an Urgent Care center.

Take care!

[jrs1218]

#1171038

My throid was swollen too. I had to keep looking up because that was the only thing that straightened my neck enough that I didn’t feel like gagging. It also made me feel like I had way too much pressure in my head. I personally discovered that when I ate very little iodine I felt a ton better. The swelling was still there, but it didn’t gag me unless I ate iodine. I did the very low iodine diet for like 5 weeks before I had RAI. (I want to clarify that when I say low iodine, I made my own bread and didn’t eat anything processed.) The time that I was off my meds and just on low iodine was the best I had felt in almost a year. (The doctor told me to nix the meds. I didn’t do it on my own. Prior to that I was on 2.5 mg every other day.) I can only speak for myself. No one else has ever mentioned low iodine to help treat symptoms. Even the people that I have talked to that have Graves have never heard of it. The doctor was like, ok…whatever. My experience is that they don’t really understand what they are doctoring about. The swelling of my thyroid went down after the RAI. I am 5 weeks post treatment and that’s the only thing that I am 100% thrilled with. I’m still doing the hormonal freaking out that seems to come with frying your thyroid, so until a bit later in the process, I don’t really have any opinions there.

I hope you get the answers that you are looking for and that you stop choking. It’s frustrating to feel so badly and still look like you are fine from the outside. I think that illness tweaks your body too and stress makes the Graves worse. Perhaps your colds are just mixing things up a bit for you. Make sure you write down all of your questions. I know my Graves mind forgets what to say when I need to remember the most.

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