[3bauerboys]

#1060238

I have been sick since May. Tired, insomnia, depressed, crying spells, shaking, anxiety. My PCP prescribed me 50 mg of zoloft. She did a TSH on me and it was 1.05 at that time. My son has Hashimotos and was diagnosed when he was 8 years old. My Grandmother also has Hasimotos and my aunt has Graves. She had a TT many years ago. In May I just went along with the depression/anxiety diagnosis. I felt better after 4 weeks. Then in July I started to feel all the symptoms again. I was increased to 75 of zoloft. It took 4 weeks for me to feel human again. That only lasted a few days. The first week of September I started the symptoms again. I was increased to 100 mg of zoloft by a psych doctor. I requested my thyroid to be tested again. My TSH was .001 and my Free T 4 was 1.8, my Free T 3 was 5.2 I was sent to an endo who started me on propanolol and methimazole at 10 mg each. She stated I had Graves disease. I went for a second opinion. He agreed with Graves and doubled both of the meds. 7-8 days I started to have a clear mind. I wasn’t depressed or crying, I was sleeping, and the shaking and anxiety stopped. I also took a 3 week leave of absence at this time. On the 11th days of taking the meds my hands and feet became itchy. The next morning I was swollen and had rashes all over my body. I was admitted to the hospital. I was told I could not take methimzole and that I was not permitted to try PTU with the 50% chance of an allergic reaction. I was told to pick between TT and RAI. Since I have reactions to everything my husband and I made an appt with surgeon. She said that she would do the TT but I would have to make a decision quickly before I turned hyper again. She said it would be dangerous to be under for surgery while hyper. My TSH was .04 my Free T 4 was 1.1 and my Total T 3 was 84. I saw the dermatologist that day and she did a biopsy on the rash to make sure it was from the methimazole. While we were waiting for the results I decided to see a holistic nutritionist/chiro. He has a special interest in autoimmune and thyroid. He asked me to go gluten free and let him work with me for 1-2 weeks which was as long as I thought I had before surgery. I was taking supplements as well as propanolol. He was having labs done quite frequently to make sure things didn’t get hyper fast. on 10/17/13 my T4 Calculated was 2.14, T4Total was 7.4, my T3 uptake was 28.9 T4 Free 1.1 and T3Total was 81 with my TSH being 0.2. I asked my endo if we could wait another week since things were looking better. I was on 10 mg of prednisone at that time and 20 5 days before that. I went back down to 5 mg of pred on 10/18 which is my usual dose for my RA. The Endo said he thought the numbers looks good due to the steroids and the holistic doctor said it could be either but he thought it was the diet etc. Regardless I could not have a TT with my numbers looking better. I had labs done again yesterday. They are T4 calculated 1.72, T4 Total 6.4, T3 Uptake 26.9, TSH .23 T4 free 0.9 and T3 total is 79. It seems to me like I am heading to Hashimotos. I feel tired, didn’t go to work today and very emotional. I have sore hips and shoulders… or at least the muscles in the area. I couldn’t lift my arm at all yesterday. My endo is not returning my phone calls to any of my questions. He wants me to make a decision now regarding TT or RAI. I am scared to make a permanent decision. I also feel horrible. Should I keep trying the natural thing or is it going to end up in a TT in the long run. I am reading some of the posts regarding the troubles for 6-12 months after TT and I don’t know if I can handle that right now. I have already been feeling horrible for 6 months. I would love any advice.

[Kimberly]

#1181454

Hello and welcome! We’re fellow patients here, not doctors, but you can read more about the three treatment options and the GDATF’s position on alternative therapies in the “Treatment Options” thread in the announcements section of this forum. We recommend one of the three conventional treatment options (anti-thyroid drugs, RAI, surgery), as there are no alternative therapies that have been proven to be both safe and effective. The “treatment options” thread has two links that go through the pros and cons of each of the conventional treatment options.

When looking at your labs, it’s helpful if you can get a hard copy of the results, so you can see for yourself what the “normal” range is for each test. Different labs can use slightly different ranges, so the actual results are really only useful in the context of *your* lab’s normal range.

There are a small numer of people who have both Graves’ and Hashimotos’, but the more common scenario for someone who goes hypo a few weeks into therapy with anti-thyroid drugs is that their thyroid levels need to be checked and the dose adjusted accordingly.

Wishing you all the best as you make this difficult decision!

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