[chineezguy]

#1018296

Labs and nuclear medicine scan show that I have Graves’ Disease. I’m getting a thyroid ablation in about a week. The weird thing is that I have none of the classic symptoms: no tachycardia, no rapid weight loss, no shaky hands, etc. I am tired a lot but I’m sure it’s because I go to bed way too late. I seem to be getting a bit forgetful, but I’m 60 years old. I sweat a lot but I live in a hot city (Sacramento). I’m wondering if I’m going to notice any changes after my thyroid gets fried.

[Kimberly]

#1063810

Hello – Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, but glad that you found our group!

GD is an autoimmune condition where the body’s own immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue. In Graves’, the targets are the thyroid and the muscles behind the eyes, and occasionally the skin, particularly in the shin area. The attack on the thyroid almost always causes patients to become hyperthyroid. Untreated hypERthyroidism is a dangerous situation, as it can cause complications such as bone/muscle wasting and heart problems – and occasionally thyroid storm.

As patients, we can usually *feel* when we are hypER. Everyone is a little different, but common symptoms include tachycardia (rapid heartbeat), heart palpitations, unexplained weight loss, increased appetite, restlessness, decreased attention span, shortness of breath, muscle weakness, fatigue, insomnia, and heat intolerance.

Symptoms in patients over 50 are sometimes different from the “classic” symptoms and can include depression, irregular heart beat, and congestive heart failure. If you are truly asymptomatic, I’m curious if you received copies of the lab reports that diagnosed you with Graves’. There are rare occasions where patients have the autoantibodies that cause Graves’ – but for whatever reason, they *don’t* cause the patient to become hypER. In this case, doctors usually adopt a “wait and see” approach to see if the patient does start to become hypER.

If you are indeed hypER (indicated when TSH is below normal and Free T3 and Free T4 are above normal), this definitely needs to be brought under control, and you have three different treatment options that will accomplish this: Anti-Thyroid Drugs, Radioactive Iodine, and Surgery to remove the thyroid. All three options have pros and cons, so I would definitely encourage you to do you own research and consult with your doctor before making a final decision.

Best of luck!

[Ski]

#1063811

Just adding one comment ~ you may not have noticed that in your post, you’ve dismissed classic symptoms (being tired and forgetful) using other excuses than the disease, which is very common and also tempting for someone who doesn’t want to believe they are not well. The fact that you go to bed late at night could be because you ARE hyper and it is difficult to fall asleep earlier in the day. The forgetfulness still could be due to hyperthyroidism vs. "just getting older." MANY of us have gone too long before getting tested simply because it’s so easy to say "oh it’s just because xxxx" when in fact it’s because we’re not well. Even doctors can dismiss slight symptoms, I can’t tell you how many of us have been told "you’re just working too hard" or "you drink too much caffeine," instead of running a test and finding out for SURE if something’s wrong. Pay close attention to your blood test results, they are the gold standard. If your levels reflect hyperthyroidism, it’s conclusive. If you truly don’t feel badly, consider yourself lucky that this was caught before you were severely symptomatic. The longer it’s left untreated, the worse you’d feel, and the worse those symptoms would get ~ which of course means damage has been done. If you can get successful treatment before too much damage has been done, you’ll have a FAR easier recovery.

[Author]

Posts