[hockey]

#1068101

elf wrote:… And in that case, RAI helps. With my thyroid gone (like a mean monster alien sitting inside of me), my capacity for anger fizzled.

Well, tomorrow it will be 5 weeks post RAI & the anger seems to be gone. Yippee!! Elf, your description above re: mean monster being gone describes me to a ‘T’ = my husband said someone wrote that?! He was surprised you were able to nail down the change in my behaviour/feelings – and perhaps too that someone else had reacted similarily when hyper.

I’m glad the anger is gone … there are other things post-RAI that aren’t as good (headaches, sore throat – still!), tightness in my chest that I never noticed before even when I was first diagnosed 5.5 yrs ago (at that time my T4 was 49 – they didn’t test for T3 the first time, so not sure where that number would have been), and shortness of breath. My husband said he’s sorry I have the other symptoms, but is very relieved the anger is gone.

Thanks … it helped when I was deciding to do RAI or not that I wasn’t the only one who was angry or short on patience. I still have some moments of frustration, but who doesn’t – maybe as my numbers come down (they are at the same, or higher from pre-RAI), I’ll end up with even more patience.

[elf]

#1068102

That is nice to hear, hockey!! Already, in 5 weeks, you are feeling the difference. In some people, thyroid affects their mental health in this way (making them angry and impatient and prone to rages), while in others it comes out as anxiety and inability to do routine tasks (driving, shopping, budgeting).

4 years after RAI, I would say I still have the basic personality traits that led to Graves (could be uptight, ), – but the capability to sustain anger is gone.

[hockey]

#1068103

Hello again!

As I posted before I took the RAI, I was bothered by frustration, impatience, anger etc. and then it seemed to fizzle after I took the RAI. I had no drive/fight left in me, it felt like the RAI sucked it all out of me. However, gradually, I’ve become more and more impatient – the impatience seemed to return around Christmas (aprx. 3 mths post-rai, about 1 week before (I think), if not the same week or the week after I started taking Synthroid). I am now VERY short on patience with many things, sometimes trivial things, but it ALL bothers me. All I seem to want is quiet and space.

Has the same happened to anyone else who has taken RAI? Did the anger come back? Was it due to being hyper caused by over-medication?

I was told to get a blood test the 2nd week of Feb … that would make it 6wks after starting replacement. I am seriously thinking of getting tested early to see if that is the potential cause.

Any ideas as to what’s happening/happened to you, would be great!
Thanks,
hockey

[Bobbi]

#1068104

I suppose the most important thing for you to understand, hockey, is that getting tested too early does not, in the long run, get you back to health quicker. That probably goes contrary to what you think — after all if you don’t wait, and you need a change, then it seems like getting tested earlier than suggested would be a good thing.

It would, IF the test results were an accurate reflection of your thyroid hormone status. They might be. But if they are not then whatever adjustment is made will either be too much, or too little. If it’s too little, you are prolonging the agony. If it is too much, you are back to square one, starting over again. In the experience of the endos, waiting six weeks to three months (and my endo prefers the three months) gives a more accurate view of the patient’s overall thyroid levels, and therefore is the quickest way to get to stable levels of replacement.

As for what to do about the anger and impatience? It might help if you sit down and try to analyze when it happens. Are you in the middle of trying to do too much? Are you pushing too hard? It has been suggested that Graves people are often "Type A" personalities. I know I am. So, if you are, if you are pushing too hard, you CAN (and I speak from experience) figure out how to ease your load. I stopped doing things that made me feel pressured, made me feel fatigued, unless they were something I wanted — or absolutely needed — to do. There are laundromats, dry cleaners, ready made packages of food. There are paper plates and plastic eating utensils. I think you get my drift. When you feel pressure build up, sit down and do some controlled, deep breathing in a quiet place. Go for a short walk. Put some music on that soothes you. Don’t try to clump all the "necessary" activities together, but space them out a bit, giving yourself time to relax. You notice I’m not talking about changes to other people. That’s a short walk to a dead end. The only person you have the ability to change is yourself. If you are feeling tense, frustrated, impatient, and angry find a constructive way to ease your load. Cathycm is training to be a wellness coach, and she put out a long list of good ideas for taking care of ourselves today. If you haven’t read them yet, go look at them.

I do hope you are feeling much better, soon.

[enough3]

#1068105

Hockey,

I just started my replacement last week. It will do you NO good getting your labs done early. You have to wait a Minimum of 6 weeks to get an accurate reading. Wish there was a way to speed it up..but it does not work that way.

After reading many of your posts, I too, can relate to a lot of what you said. I was also angry and frustrated with everything in the beginning. Graves only has power over you IF you let it. What I mean in this is that if you allow Graves to control all your thoughts and emotions…I can promise you will stay angry, frustrated, and miserable. It took a lot of work on my part to deal with these emotions, but I came to a place of Acceptance. Until you accept that you have this, you will not get better.
When you accept that this is the cards you have been dealt, you can approach graves with a better attitude and you get your power back from it. Don’t let graves or anything else in your life take "your power". The reality of your situation and mine, is that we can willfully take the steps to be who we want to be with Graves. It takes self-control, caring for our bodies, and positive reinforcement on our behalf.

Listen, it could be a lot worse. Thank God that we don’t have to go through thyroid cancer. It is horrible. I watched my grandmother go through it. With her treatment, she lost ALL her taste buds. Now, that would make me angry not EVER being able to taste food:( I thank God everyday that it not as bad of a situation than what millions have on a daily basis. Graves is controlable and millions and millions of people have had it and had success stories. If it wasn’t Graves, rest assured that it would be another trial.

Lastly, I do not at all say these thing to undermine what you are feeling or going through. Your feelings are valid and justified. Try to hang in there and take your power back from Graves. It will give it back.

[Madame_X]

#1068106

For me it came at a horrific time: 3 months after I lost my job.

At that point, I was uninsured a month and the company I worked for never bothered to send me a Cobra letter — I had to fight them to get it, starting 2 days after I was discharged from the hospital: that was where they discovered the Graves.

I’m currently on the Cobra subsidy extension. It’s like a Sword of Damocles alone for me regarding that, plus I’m still trying to find a full time job — the stress is beyond awful and life’s not real great right now for me.

[amybou]

#1068107

I’ve lived with Graves now for about 17 years. I was diagnosed at age 22 and had RAI. I had hoped to have the treatment to bring my thryoid down to a more functional level however it was basically anihalted, hardly any scar tissue remains. So what I have learned SO FAR is this. I didn’t feel "normal" for years. It did take me a LONG time to get regulated proberly and part of that was my fault as I wasn’t 100% in taking my replacement hormone as I didn’t take it as seriously as I should have when I was younger. Ultimately what has helped me are a couple things; 1st was when I learned what a new "normal" was for me. When I truly forget how I used to feel before my symptoms started followed by treatment. Once I quit comparing how I should feel, to how I do feel I learned to accept that to be my new normal. My struggle lessened some at that points as I realized I wasn’t going to be able to "go back" to how I generally felt before treatment.
2nd Realizing I have an illness that is manageable. I personally look at similiar to diabetes. It has to be managed or damage can be done. But it can be managed. It makes you stay focused on your health as if you don’t there’s a price to pay. But, its one that I can pretty mucy do everything I did before and with a little effort on my part not prevent me from taking on any adventure I choose to. There have been complications along the way because of this illness some heartbreaking, BUT I learned from every event and try to understand my body better. I FINALLY gave into allowing myself to rest in the afternoons after work for 30 minutes or so as my body is screaming at me to do so. But mentally I had a hard time doing this as I knew all the other things I felt I should be doing. Fact of the matter is I can’t do those things well if I don’t do what I need to do for my body at that time. This works for me, my spouse didn’t get it for awhile; now he just knows its my routine and that’s that. Then there’s sometimes, out of the blue, my levels really fluctuate and I can become very hypothyroid rapidly even though I’d been faithful my replacement hormone. I haven’t been able to identify specific reasons for this but I have learned those symptoms and then check in with my doctor then. Anger is normal, especially early on, maybe even a year, just don’t get stuck there. It will only make the illness bigger than it needs to be. It is what it is and will be OK if accept it and learn what yo need to do to lessen its impact on your daily life. H Good Luck to you.

[Author]

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