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Hello all! I am new to this board – have been looking around for a few weeks since my Endocrinologist diagnosed me with Graves Disease based on my labs from December. Finally so many of my symptoms made sense – except that I didn’t luck out with the skinny symptom of Hyperthyroid *sigh* – and I was told my treatment options.
I was prepared to do the Radioactive Iodine as he indicated when his office called me back he would want to know what treatment choice I decided on. Now, it seems that my labs show that I am slightly ‘hypo’…I guess this is a good thing because now I am going to go on Synthroid to try to level things off. (and I don’t have to isolate myself from my little one while i process the RAI – that is WONDERFUL).
I didn’t get to speak with the dr directly, but i have an appt with my primary care dr next week. I am still having lots of palpitations – which is, of course, unnerving and am trying to understand if this is a symptom of Graves Disease or would this just be considered more ‘anxiety’ based since I am not showing as Hypo???
Sorry I am rambling…Just really trying to wrap my head around this and understand it. In a way I guess I would rather just know I going to be Hypo that to wonder if it would go back and forth…Anyone else experienced this?
I tried to search older posts but didn’t seem to find anything similar in my quest. Thanks in advance for reading and responding.
Hello and welcome! I would definitely mention the heart palps to your doctor next week. The more specific that you can be with your description, the better. How often do they happen? Is there a certain time of day they are more frequent? Do certain foods or activities set them off?
Palps are very common with hyper, but I’ve heard stories from a couple of other patients who had them while hypo. As you noted, anxiety can be a factor as well, so you definitely want your doctor to help you sort out the root cause.
Some patients do seem to have hyper/hypo cycles before going into full-blown Graves’. Also, I don’t know if you received a definitive diagnosis of Graves’ via antibody testing or an uptake/scan – but there is another issue called thyroididits (which can be autoimmune or viral in origin) where patients have an episode of hyper, which eventually turns into hypothyroidism. Either way, that’s good that your doctor is on top of where your levels are and is making sure that you get appropriate treatment.
Take care – and please check back to let us know how you are doing!
Hi Kimberly – thank you:)
It was based on my Uptake results and bloodwork. I didn’t get a copy of my original and latest labs, but definitely want to so that I can try to better understand it myself as well.
I am so glad that I do have the appointment next week – even though it is with PCP. Its amazing how information is just kind of thrust upon you and have to try to process while you are in the Endo office and try to figure out your questions before you leave that half hour appointment. So glad my husband was with me as I had to ask him questions about our appointment an hour after we left as I was still trying to take it in.
Definitely need to make notes on my concerns and questions to take with me.
Very interesting…I had a conversation with my PCP and she finds it hard to believe that I switched to a hypo level this quickly.
She suggested that I call Endo back to discuss my symptoms and have him explain the levels to me in more detail.
She then stated that if I am not satisfied or feel uncomfortable with his resposnes she will give me a referral to another Endo.
Thank goodness!
Although this may seem uncommon to doctors, it is not uncommon to patients such as myself.
Reading your post, I thought I would give you some insight as to what happens between Hashitmotos Thyroiditis (which I was mis-diagnosed with for years) and then Graves’ Disease, which I definitely have right now.
With Hashimotos, one can start out hyper and then the thyroid will dump all excess thyroid hormone into the bloodstream. This can make you very sick. I have gone through this many, many times in the past 15 years. And the endo said I had Hashimotos/Hashitoxicosis, which is the part where you go hyper (Hashitoxicosis). Most of the time, my thyroid was slightly hyp0 or borderline. They thought it was Hashimotos. I was told my thyroid would “die” and I would be on replacement hormone the rest of my living days. Not so!
After several months of hyper, sometimes lying in bed sweating, heart palpitations, anger, nervousness, hair loss and just feeling like ending it all, I would then begin to feel better. The heat I was feeling (like a fever) although my body temp is love (97.1) at all times, I was BURNING UP. Try burning up in the summer time. It’s enough to self-combust. Everything triggers it and at times, it is like having a fever although there is no fever.
I thought I had something very seriously wrong with me, Cancer came to mind many times. But the minute I got to the lab and saw a TSH of about 14.0, I knew I was hyp0. Dumb doctor couldn’t figure it out so he gave me levothyroxine. I would take this and go HYPER!!!!! It usually would take about one month or so. He would poo-poo my symptoms and tell me it was all in my head, but no,I felt hyper again. Weight loss was common at that time. I weigh normally about 93 pounds and I would weigh about 89 and going down no matter what I ate. It was terrifying to see myself just disappear.
The only medicine he gave me was a beta blocker for my erratic heart beat and claimed Tapazole or PTu would not work. He never even tried it.
Once hypo I felt so much better. Palpitations were gone, heat was gone, hair was still falling out, I began to gain back the weight until the next bout with this horrible, rotten disease. It is enough to crack.
Some doctors think symptoms cross over from hypo to hyper and in my personal opinion, I feel it does. Nothing is set in stone. You could be hypo and still have palps. It takes awhile for the body to recoup. And some people with Graves’ can become overweight too. I know a woman that went blind and they couldn’t figure it out until she was diagnosed with Graves.’
Karen
Zoemar wrote:She suggested that I call Endo back to discuss my symptoms and have him explain the levels to me in more detail.She then stated that if I am not satisfied or feel uncomfortable with his resposnes she will give me a referral to another Endo.
Thank goodness!
That’s good that your primary care doc is being so supportive.
Yes, it’s definitely helpful to fully understand the lab results and to ask questions if something doesn’t make sense. Getting hard copies of your labs is important as well. Occasionally, things will get confused between the lab report, the doctor, and the office staff…so definitely don’t be afraid to speak up if you have concerns!
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