[Blue0909]

#1018045

Hello All,

I am new to the bulletin board and was hoping to get some advice and to vent. I was diagnosed with Graves a year and a half ago. I underwent RAI 2 months after being diagnosed because my endo advised it. The RAI did not completely shut down my thyroid like it was supposed to and my levels have been normal whenever they test them, however I’ve been on a mental and physical roller coaster since then. After the treatment I was fine for about a year but I’ve been suffering from severe anxiety over the past 7 months and really bad gastrointestinal problems since the diagnosis. I also noticed that I may suffer from season affective disorder. Fall and winter are the worst time of the year for me. My anxiety has gone to the point to where I have panic attacks. I start having severe tremors and my heart rate gets really high. I’m jumpy and on edge. Sometimes the anxiety comes out of nowhere or it may be a case where I’m having gastrointestinal issues. I have a real fear of getting sick and that sometimes triggers the anxiety. I have seen a gastroenterologist and did an Endoscopy and it came out fine. My gastroenterologist thinks that the anxiety causes the gastrointestinal problems. I am also suffering with equilibrium problems and have been seeing a ophthalmologist for the mild TED that I have. I can’t really describe it as the room is spinning but it feels like my brain has to catch up to what my eyes are looking at. This worries me too. I’ve explained all of the anxiety problems to my endo and he thinks that my thyroid is shooting out burst of hormone every once in a while and this is what causes the anxiety. One thing I forgot to mention was that my gastroenterologist suggested I take St. John’s Wort for the anxiety. I tried the pill version of St. John’s and it worked but it caused really bad abdominal pain so I quit taking it. I explained this to my endo during our last appointment in Feb. Last week I called and spoke with my endo because the anxiety was getting to the point to where it was out of control. It’s getting to the point to where I can’t completely function at work or be around people because I think an attack is going to take place. My endo has suggested I go see a psychiatrist. It’s not something I wanted to do because I don’t want to be on any prescription meds but I made the appointment. I never use to suffer with anxiety like this until I was diagnosed with Graves. Has anyone else suffered like this? If you have what did you do? I feel like im going nuts some days.

Thanks for listening to me vent ” title=”Very Happy” />
Blue0909

[Kimberly]

#1062386

Hello – Having our thyroid levels out of whack can absolutely affect our mental and emotional function. In fact, I just posted a link to the following article over on the Foundation’s Facebook site in regards to a question on Graves’ & Emotions:

http://www.ngdf.org/cms/modules/files/u … 784485.pdf

It looks like you are seeing a couple of different specialists…but perhaps it would be helpful to have a general practitioner do a complete physical…*just* to make sure you aren’t dealing with any other issues. With that said, it still wouldn’t hurt to go through with the visit to the psychiatrist. If he/she can help you with some tips (such as breathing exercises) to reduce the duration and frequency of these anxiety attacks, that will definitely be time well spent.

[Cubsfan11]

#1062387

I have been feeling the same way since last October after receiving RAI. I’m glad I’m not the only one that is feeling this way. Please hang in there and no you are not going nuts.

[lammie]

#1062388

Hi there, I’m so sorry to hear about your situation. I wrote a post here under "oh anxiety how you love popping up all the time" it’s on page 2 somewhere…it’s a little similar to your situation coz I basically was struggling with anxiety bad and yes it’s ever since having graves.

I’m unsure why the RAI didn’t work for you but the only difference I see with your situation & mine is that you did your RAI 2 months after you were diagnosed and I basically had Graves for 2 years first and then finally took it. It’s also strange that your levels are normal, but I definitely think it was the thyroid that gave me anxiety. I started to think it was a whole mind thing where it was me making me anxious (yes in some ways) but it has been 9 weeks since my RAI and my anxiety is basically gone. It kind of just appeared a little bit 2 weeks ago but I have hit the hypo stage now.

For me, I needed to take something just to hope it would work. I took Deralin (propanthenol) after RAI but I guess it didn’t really do much but I still took it until last Friday which is when I had my appt and he said I’m hypo and I’m now taking Thyroxine. A lot of people do suggest to talk to someone about it and I think I would have but I started to get stronger about 6 weeks post RAI.

Knowing that feeling of anxiety, I probably would go ahead with the prescription pills. I think people get worried that they’ll get addicted to them so I guess that’s just a warning. But with me, I think if it got that bad I was willing to do anything! Have a read with any of my posts and let me know if you want to know anything else.

[Brianna78]

#1062389

Hi , i have ahd severe anxiety since being diagnosed with gd, in February! I all ready had a underlying anxiety issue , but i have hyperventilated 3 times since January when i went to the e.r. and was told i had hyperthyroidism ! I was put on Valium 2 times daily ” title=”Very Happy” /> , and it helps alot!! In fact I only been taking half a pill once a day or sometimes I won’t have to take one. I have chose to take atd, for @ least 2 yrs. to see if I achieve remission ” title=”Very Happy” /> , I have 3 little kiddos, so rai is out of the question for me! I will do surgery if it coems down to that. Hopefully it don’t though!! I also walk most days of the week to help relieve anxiety and I start counseling in 2 weeks I hope you get to feeeling better!!!

[Blue0909]

#1062390

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Kim that was a great article. Its amazing how many doctors don’t think that some of the problems we may have (i.e. anxiety) are related to Grave’s. I’m going to speak with someone today about the anxiety. I may also speak with my endo to see if we can try to shut down the thyroid completely. I would rather do that than take meds for anxiety. In the end I just want to be able to better manage everything. Thanks everyone for your support.

[Irishgal]

#1062391

Hi there –

I just joined the site tonight and came across your post and can relate. I too was experiencing a lot of anxiety seemingly out of nowhere in the Fall. I attributed some of it to the highs and lows of Graves. Ultimately it got to be unbearable so I had a full physical to rule out other variables. When everything came back fine, I felt I couldn’t wait any longer to do something. So, I asked my doctor to prescribe a low dose of zoloft. I had taken zoloft years ago when battling some depression and bad PMS, and it helped once it was built up in my system. Since January I have been taking 100mg of zoloft daily and finally felt more in control after about 30 days. Now if I could only get my levoxyl right… ” title=”Smile” />

My suggestion is give it a try in a low dose for a month and see if it helps. Serontin uptake inhibitors take time to build up in your system so in order to evaluate your progress you really have to take it for a month. I would also suggest keeping a journal to track your mental and emotional state daily after starting zoloft to see if there are any trends, etc. I have found by tracking my moods daily I feel a bit more in charge of the disease and have already noticed some trends, etc. There are definitely different times during the day when my energy and mood are terrible.

Anyhow, hang in there. You aren’t crazy but Graves Disease certainly has a way of making us all feel like we are because many of the symptoms aren’t visible.

Best of luck!

[Blue0909]

#1062392

Hi All,

I just wanted to give you guys an update. I went to see a psychiatrist and I was prescribed a small dosage of Zoloft. I have reservations about taking these kinds of meds but I did start taking them this evening. Is there anyone out there that have gone on these medicines? I’m really nervous about all the side effects but they say this is supposed to help with the anxiety. I only see this as a temporary fix and want to purse getting down to the root of the anxiety issues which I believe is the activity left in my thyroid gland. I want to get a second round of RAI or have surgery to take it out. I’m so tired of the roller coaster ride I’ve been on for the last almost two years. I want to get my life back and my weight up. I look so sick. Thanks for listening.

Blue0909

[runlacie]

#1062393

Hi Blue,

I feel a lot like you do. Had rai in July 2009. I did slowly go hyper but had wicked ups and downs and even though I am on replacement (though not a full dose, so my thyroid still must have some function) I still have them. It’s feels like either my thyroid is slowly dying and releasing extra hormones as it dies, or else whatever damaged tissue remains acts erratically. The anxiety is terrible and makes it hard to figure out what is real and imagined as far as symptoms go. I just don’t feel "even" and often wonder if my thyroid were just removed totally if that would help. There have been short periods of weeks to a month where I did feel "better" and didn’t have the hyper feelings as much. My anxiety would almost disappear during those times, so I definitely think it’s all related.

I also suffer from the gastro problems. Had some testing done even before the Graves’ and they said it was ibs. The anxiety makes it all the worse.

I hope that the zoloft helps you feel better. You’re not alone here. Keep me posted.
Heidi

[erica]

#1062394

Blue,

Wow, your symptoms sound like you have hyper, even though the paper shows not. how many tests did you do? maybe they are not doing a full work up? I remember my frustration with waiting to see my endo, do a test, wait again, yuck! I felt like I wasn’t getting the help I needed. My advice is to see another doctor, I did a lot of switching, which I realize can be hard with insurance, but it is worth it in the end. I was offered prescriptions like Zoloft as well, but were too scarred to take them. I did get massage, which sounds pricey, but it wasn’t, I kept using the introductory offer prices at different places, some were as low as 35 dollars. I had doctors try to tell me my anxiety was from something else. Now maybe yours it, but I knew mine wasn’t. Don’t let them try to make you feel it is something wrong with “you” and not the disease. It is a symptom, not part of who you are. I had seen some lazy doctors that preferred to write a script than to research my case and be a super sleuth. I even saw one doctor that I nearly slapped in the face, when he told me he felt like my symptoms were just in my head, because the paper showed my levels were “fine”. I kept taking the thyroid medicine, I took : Propylthiouracil-even when my results were “normal”. All I knew was I didn’t feel “normal” and I kept taking them until I felt like me again. The doctor I kept let me do this as long as I didn’t have high white blood count or go hypo.

By reading other people’s stories it is evident that the tests they do can’t show everything. Have you checked out the link on this website : http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010 … yroid.html I watched each person and it is clear that the tests can be normal, but still produce symptoms, it just shows the medical community still has much to learn here.

i really hope you feel better soon!!!
Erica

[bloomlife]

#1062395

Hey Blue,

I am new to the board and just stumbled across this thread and i thought I would let you know that Zoloft is considered a pretty safe and effective drug. Although I never believe you should look at a medication as a stop gap per say, this is a good shirt term fix until you and your physician are able to figure out a more accurate diagnosis of anything else that could be going on. Even if you have some kind of cheap health insurance[/url:3k55qin9] you should be able to get it for a pretty low price.

[ely2009]

#1062396

[/quote][/quote]I am also suffering with equilibrium problems and have been seeing a ophthalmologist for the mild TED that I have. I can’t really describe it as the room is spinning but it feels like my brain has to catch up to what my eyes are looking at. This worries me too. I’ve explained all of the anxiety problems to my endo and he thinks that my thyroid is shooting out burst of hormone every once in a while and this is what causes the anxiety.

Quote:

This describes me perfectly!! My levels (T3, T4, TSH) are all normal. But this is one symptom that I cannot shake. It’s hard to explain…not dizziness, not light-headedness. I also am having difficulty sleeping and some stomach issues. I had anxiety issues when I was first diagnosed, mostly because it took a while to get the correct diagnosis. I did use Zoloft for a few months then (spring 2009). It helped tremendously. I am generally against taking meds…never had to before and didn;t want to…but I wanted to feel better. I tried to take itt again earlier this summer when my anxiety returned, but had HORRIBLE side effects. So I’ve since started St. John’s Wort. Hopefully, it’ll help. I’ve had a complete physical and things are "fine."

Anxiety is NO FUN…..I didn’t have it until Graves either…good luck.

Emily

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