[ewmb]

#1019289

I have been writing about myself and my recent RAI but have a question about my father now. He was diagnosed with Graves in 1998 can’t remember exact month, had RAI and has always had "normal" tsh levels since. In the last year he has had two readings that are a jump from his recent ones. Short history on labs not all of them: all TSH don’t know the lab scales

RAI in early 7/99
8/99 1.79
10/99 .944
3/00 1.29
5/04 1.8
6/05 2.24
3/06 2.29
6/07 2.22
6/08 2.33
4/09 3.49 most recent one

He has of course gotten older (now 78) and attributes things like his naps and foggy memory to age. Doctor thinks he’s becoming an Alzheimer’s patient but my Mom and I don’t think so. He has never taken any synthetic hormone. I think he probably needs to have some replacement hormone now but can’t convince him of it. Please give me your opinions if you have been through this kind of scenario or have heard of someone else in the past going through this. He won’t go see an endo and these labs are just from his Internist. His Vit D. was really low for the past two years and he has been taking whopper doses. He also has osteopenia and takes fosomax. I understand what I read to mean that we always have Graves and don’t ever get rid of that it’s just the hyperthyroidism that goes away with RAI. My mom has Hashimotos and takes synthroid so he knows how easy it is to take……. I just want him to feel better if he can.

Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.

ewmb

[Ski]

#1070603

He should definitely be checked, that’s a lot of change. Perhaps it’ll help him to know that thyroid hormone replacement is not a "drug" in the same way he’s probably thinking. It’s chemically identical to what our thyroid would put out, if it could. It is not processed in the liver, like traditional medications ~ it’s absorbed in the intestine and used in the bloodstream. Without it, the body can undergo a similar level of harm as remaining hyperthyroid long term. It’s certainly possible for his thyroid to have failed completely at this point, if not due to the RAI he had (which is certainly possible, even now), then just because Graves’ patients tend to experience thyroid failure more often than the general population. It produces slow changes, which leads to a sort of denial that something’s going on. There are so many symptoms that go along with being hypothyroid ~ find a list and show it to him. When he recognizes that he’s regularly experiencing several or more of these symptoms, he may open his eyes. Ironically, one of the symptoms of hypothyroidism is "not caring about things." I remember that one vividly. I am someone who cares deeply, about just about everything, and it was really startling to find myself completely apathetic. So you may need to fight that as well, in order to get him treatment.

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