Anonymous
Okey dokey, Dianne – remember – you asked for it!
On two websites in the past week, (I’ve been up almost all night, every night since my diagnosis, researching) there were references to estrogen, although the associations were never explained beyond mere mention. So…I went around to the back door. Estrogen and thyroxin both have an impact on bone density, weight gain/loss, emotions, et al. Graves’ Disease is many, many times more prevalent in females – what do women have that men don’t? (sorry, guys – bear with me, if you will) The other factor that made me question female hormones, is the fact that my breasts are SORE- all the time! My entire life, until the stress that I thought triggered the weight loss over a year ago, and ultimately, this diagnosis, I never experienced any breast pain, even with pre-menstrual symptoms. From my mother’s bout with breast cancer, I learned that there are estrogen receptors in the breast. After her mastectomy, her surgeon asked her if she had ever noticed breast tenderness before her period. The doctor then prescribed the drug toTomoxafin to inhibit the over-absorption of estrogen in the breast tissue. Graves’ MUST have something to do with my symtoms, since they both apeared at the same time. Understand, I’m having problems tying all these little pieces together, but it would seem to me, that there is a little sex hormone monster lurking in the shadows. Dr. Gordon mentions hyperestrogenism in his discussion of hyperthyroidism. He also cites elevated ratios of free testosterone in men. He mentions a connection with the pituitary gland in relation to excessive thyroid hormones. There are TSH-producing pituitary tumors, and as far as I know, my current doctor hasn’t even done any pituitary or other hormone tests. All that appears on this single sheet of paper from the lab, is thyroid info (which is pretty bad) and a CBC. There is no mention of FTSH, or other levels that are discussed in various articles.
Needless to say, I will be taking up alot of Dr. Gordon’s time Wednesday morning. I’ll jump on here directly after, to post any information that might be of interest. I’m grasping at straws, I realize, but some of you are going through agony, dealing with callous medical “professionals”. The doctors are performing a service for us. They darn well better listen to us when we notice changes in our bodies,or emotional status from day to day. I think it’s a shame, when a doctor tells a young woman not to be concerned with her weight gain, as I read here in an earlier post. Even if he takes no measures to correct it, he should certainly realize that self esteem is vital to successful treatment of any chronic illness and at the very least, offer her some comforting words. The only way we are going to erradicate this type of insensitivity, is to take our health care matters into our own hands, and insist that we get the attention and compassion that we deserve.
Gawd, I’m sorry for all this psychobabble. It’s 3:03am and I am sleep-typing. Believe it or not, I never have much to say in person. 
Pam