To find out what is causing your problem, you need a doctor’s diagnosis. Sometimes redness, bloodshot-looking eyes, can be caused by something other than thyroid disease. But. If your problem is caused by the autoimmune disorder (TED):
Typically there is a “hot” phase, where symptoms develop over a period of 18 months to 3 years. This is followed by a “cold” phase where the symptoms remit somewhat, and the disease essentially goes dormant. Our doctors typically wait and watch during the hot phase, and are reluctant to intervene unless our optic nerve becomes threatened (pinched) by expanding eye muscles. The reason to watch and wait is due to the fact that the side effects of treatment possibilities (like IV steroids) are significant, and common; and a lot of the time we can avoid those side effects completely, if our vision is not jeapardized. (Because once the hot phase subsides, our symptoms remit somewhat, if not completely.)
Protrusion can be a sign of TED but sometimes we have lid retraction instead. You can sort of tell if there is actual protrusion if you can see the white portion of the eyes underneath the colored portion of the eye. If all you are seeing is white at the top of the colored portion of the eye, it might be that what you are calling protrusion is more precisely “lid retraction.” Lid retraction occurs when we are hyperthyroid, and the muscles of the upper eyelid pull tight. We get an open-wide stare look about us, which, like true protrusion, opens more of the eye to the air and causes it to become more dry. But it is not caused by the expansion of muscles behind the eyeball — it is caused, instead by muscles in the lid of the eyes.
Red veins in the whites of the eyes are not commonly associated with TED to my knowledge. I know folks who have had similar problems who have no TED or thyroid disease, at all. I think it is really important that you get yourself to an opthamologist sooner, rather than later, so that you actually know what is going on. All we can do here is provide guesswork, which isn’t totally helpful. And, if the wait for an opthamologist is “months long” then perhaps you could consult an optometrist in the interim? Some of them are well-enough trained to provide help of a temporary nature.
