Yes, we really don’t realize that hyPO is as hellish and awful as hyPER, until we have that experience. I am so darn sorry you feel like crap.
I have had your experience, and when people who did not understand Graves’ said “hey, it will get better, or it can’t be THAT bad!” I wanted to scream at them, “YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THIS IS LIKE!” It actually did help me, in my slightly more rational moments, that before all this, I am one of those people who had no idea what it was like. And that makes this site so valuable.
IT is terrible to have factors, known and unknown, bossing our bodies and minds around, and that is what is happening. You had done a lot of thinking before you scheduled your surgery, then a lot more before you cancelled it.
I am guessing, without knowing, that it might be your decision to have a partial thyroidectomy (also called a subtotal thyroidectomy.) I mentioned in an earlier post (right before this one) that I did have a subtotal one, cause they were doing them “back then.” As Kimberly mentioned in her post, now they do TT’s for the reasons she mentioned. Sooner or later, the patient (in this case, ME!) became hyPOthyroid, and I began Synthroid. and others I knew, had recurrent hyPERthyroidism, and had to go on that whole miserable merry go round again.
So the current thinking is,, that there are more “knowns,” if the whole gland is resected, and that it is easier to manage thyroid hormone replacement. I think this makes sense, based on my own experience. We were constantly wondering if I was/was not producing just a little bit of thyroid hormone, which made trying to evaluate my symptoms, the way I was feeling, consequently the dose of thyroid hormone replacement, much more difficult. With a TT, you pretty much KNOW that you are not producing any thyroid hormone, so trying to get to that stupid “sweet spot” where all of this is past history, and you are back to yourself again..is just that much harder,and takes that much longer.
Let me know if this needs more explanation. It’s pretty much my experience,and what I have learned.
I am the kind of person who wanted it OUT, and to move on as quickly as I could, so surgery was a great decision for me. I think I referred to my experience a bit more in my last post written today, so you might take a quick look at that one, too.
I really DO know the tough time you are having right now. I guess I preferred frequent bowel movements to constipation, and feeling more hyPER, rather than like a total slug who could not get out of bed. But if you had asked me at the time, I would have told you that all I wanted to be was NORMAL.
I found Graves’ a terrible experience. And with the exception of taking Synthroid, it pretty much IS behind me. I did get TED many years later, but not many people do. I am just SPECIAL!!
HA
SHIRLEY
