[scanders]

#1060389

So after thinking I would quickly have this thing licked back in December, I now find myself hyper again, and feeling it almost as much as when first diagnosed. The MMI was increased a little (3.75mg to 5mg), and I appreciate the endo being conservative so as not to send me back to hypo. (Been there, done that, didn’t like that, either.) So now I’m wondering how long I might expect to wait to feel some effect from this increase? Obviously everyone is different, but in general–a week or two? Days? Just curious.
I’m also trying to understand why, if the thyroid part and the eye disease run separate courses, my eyes seem to change (not in a good way) every time my thyroid levels trend up or down any noticeable amount? Maybe something to do with the antibodies? It feels a bit like a double-whammy–hyper, with sore, burning eyes…

[Kimberly]

#1182360

Hello – The connection between thyroid and eye involvement with Graves’ isn’t fully understood. Yes, they do operate independently; people with Graves’ can actually have eye involvement with no thyroid issues at all! However, being either hyper or hypo does increase the risk for TED. There is also some relationship between antibody levels and symptoms, although it’s *not* a perfect correlation.

Methimazole has a much shorter half-life than does thyroid hormone replacement. Assuming that your doc caught this fairly quickly, a week or two at the new dose seems a reasonable amount of time to see a change in your symptoms. For someone who has been hyper long enough for excess stores of thyroid hormone to build up in the body, those stores need to be burned off before symptoms start to alleviate, which can take extra time.

[scanders]

#1182361

Thanks Kimberly! So far, a week at the new dose with no detectable change in symptoms. I follow up with the endo on Friday.

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