[stargirl]

#1018481

Hello. I was just diagnosed with Graves disease last week and I am trying to understand it all. I went to the er for a very painful knot on my neck and they did blood work that was normal. As far as I know it was tsh and all that but then they sent another one out that my family dr hadnt gotten back yet. They also sent me for a Thyroid uptake scan and I saw my family dr who said the scan showed I have Graves Disease. From what I have read it all make sense. Sleep issues, hyperness, tiredness from being so hyper etc etc. But there are a few things I am uncertain of. I have joint pain. My fingers my toes my hip. It comes and goes. I am on naproxen until I see the Endo which isn’t until September. He asked me about heart flutters and I do think I have them but more importantly I get chest pain off and on. So I’m not sure if that is flutters from anxiety or what. He did run more blood work so I am waiting to hear back on that. I don’t understand how my levels could have been normal but yet the thyroid scan show I have Graves Disease. When I was at the er they were talking about hypothyroid but according to the scan I have hyperthyroid. It’s all so cunfusing.

[Kimberly]

#1065167

Hi stargirl – Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, but glad that you found us!

Graves’ Disease is an autoimmune condition. This means that our own immune system — which is *supposed* to be responsible for destroying foreign germs that could make us ill — mistakenly attacks our body’s own healthy tissue. With Graves’ Disease, the body creates antibodies that attack the thyroid (which causes our thyroid to pour out too much thyroid hormone and make us "hyperthyroid"), and sometimes on the muscles behind the eyes (which can cause swelling, dry eyes, and vision problems) and the skin (which can cause lesions, particularly in the shin area).

Trying to keep tabs on all the different tests are confusing at first. It would be helpful if you could get hard copies of all of your test results, which will help you to start making sense of everything. While we can’t specifically interpret your labs on this board as we are not trained medical professionals, we can give you general info on the tests that were done.

There are a couple of antibody tests (TRab and TSI) that are frequently used to help make a diagnosis of Graves’ Disease. The Radioactive Iodine Uptake test is often used if a patient is hyperthyroid, but the antibody tests are not conclusive for Graves’ Disease. The RAIU Uptake & Scan will show if the thyroid gland is taking up a ton of iodine that is evenly spread throughout the thyroid (which can indicate Graves’)…or if there are small nodules that are gobbling up all the iodine. Also, Graves’ patients are *usually* hypERthyroid at diagnosis, which is indicated by levels of Free T3 and Free T4 that are too high. Whether or not you are hypERthyroid at this time will help determine whether you need treatment…or whether your docs will adopt a "wait and see" type of approach.

Feel free to jump into any of the threads or to ask additional questions. This is a great place to get information and support!

[stargirl]

#1065168

Thank you for all of the information. I will see about getting a hard copy of my results. I have made an eye apt for next week to have my eyes checked too.

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