[DianaorEd]

#1067077

I was diagnosed with Graves’ Disease 3/09

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heart rate of 185 and a 50 lb. weight loss! Was put on Methimozole and Atenelol and for 6 mos. I finaly got over my "Mad/Crazy Woman" symptoms! It is a roller coaster up/down and yes, very irritating for my family

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cared less if I talked to my kiddies who live in TX and OR and pretty much ignored my husband. The trembling and rapid heart rate was horrid

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the atenolol did reduce my heart rate in 7 days; I would get in my car and thinking I was driving 55 mph and was at 90 mph!!!!! By Aug. was pretty much stable, however the labs showed the Methimozole was damaging my liver

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so OFF the methimozole and everything returned!!!!! Another HUGE roller coaster ride and then RAI treatment mid-Oct. Did isolate myself in my bedroom for 4 days, as recommended. Was still shaky/trembling, so started a low dose of Methimozole and Atenelol for 10 days until the thyroid gland died

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I am highly allergic to iodine, so pre-treated with large doses of Prednisone 12 hrs. before the RAI—-within 7 days, my BP went out of control, so now have steroid induced high BP. I am presently on HUGE doses of 3 different BP meds and FINALLY the BP is stabilizing. Started Synthyroid last week and can already tell that I am feeling better

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my body thermostat is returning to normal

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I simply froze for 3 wks. and could NEVER get warm! I will continue with labs every 2 mos. and a visit to my Endo after the labs to see if the Synthroid dose is controlling my now hypothyroidism! A disease involving the endocrine system is very tricky to control and getting the correct dosage of Synthroid is the key. I so nor regret the RAI, but thankful the Radiologist warned me that I may need a low dose of Methimozole for a few weeks, until the thyroid gland died. I am 63 so far tooooooooo old for this disease ” title=”Smile” /> however, I did conquer it and consider myself cured—-now simply dealing with the steroid induced high BP and regulating the Synthroid. BEST thing I did

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purchase a BP cuff with heart rate and can up/lower my BP meds as needed. Without the home monitoring the BP readings, don’t really know how I could have coped! Good luck with this tricky disease and be patient with your husband

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you may want to sit in on one of his Endo appts. and READ/READ/READ about this disease. Also, I had a very low Vit. D lab (probably the meds caused this) and take 50,000 units of Vit. D once weekly.

[James]

#1067078

Kavya,

Firstly I applaud your effort and maturity in assisting your husband and trying to gain a better understanding of his condition. From a personal experience perspective, if you have been married for any length of time you probably have a fairly good understanding of your spouse. You understand each others strengths; weaknesses, idiosyncrasies and recognize when a certain behavior is out of the norm. Sometimes a spouse may recognize erratic behavior long before the spouse with Graves’ does. The goal is to help your husband understand the times he is out of character. When I acted erratically, my wife gently pointed out the behavior and suggested that I get my thyroid levels checked. Although this was said out of love, I found the suggestion pretty offensive at first, but in time I recognized that she was right all along. Your husband has to recognize that GD can cause this behavioral changes and that he has to take responsibility to ensure that his levels are in check. It would be helpful for both you and your husband to attend Dr’s. visits so that the Dr. has a better picture of what is occurring. If it isn’t thyroid imbalance at play, you have to work with your Dr. to determine what is. Graves’ can be a complicated disease, but isn’t necessarily always complicated, things can and will return to some normalcy with proper monitoring and treatment. Your support during these difficult periods is great start. I’m always encouraged to read posts such as yours from supportive spouses. I hope that you are able to make some headway as a team (You, your husband and your Dr.) working together.

Wishing you all the best!

James

[DianaorEd]

#1067079

I was also told by many medical folks that Graves’ Disease/hyperthyroidism is almsot an epidemic in the last 2 yrs????? Also, my dogs Vet said the number of cats he has treated has jumped by 50%

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I am now trying to piece together what is causing this mass outbreak of this disease

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comparing locations of residents, water systems and environmental causes? Can anyone help with this? Most all sites do say it can be hereditary and that precluding the diagnosis, most have had recurrent/long lasting sinus infections

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I had 3 that lasted 6-8 weeks each in the prior year to diagnosis. Is very puzzling as to why folks are being diagnosed

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the oldest person that I have heard of is a 92 yr. old lady who lives nearby me; her first symptom: woke up one morning and had no idea who/where she was and had forgotten everyone from her past. She was immediately treated with Atenolol and her heart rate decreased from 165

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she is now doing better, but no other meds were added, as she refused medical treatment; had never seen a Dr. in her 92 yrs. and was NOT starting now! Her memory started returning in 7 days ” title=”Smile” />

[Anonymous]

#1018781

Hi,

My husband suffers from graves disease. After experimenting with the methimazole levels for sometime his doctor decided that he is not responding well to changes in medication levels and he needs a stable dose. Past few years he has been having a stable dose of medication and he seems to be normal. I have a few questions. I would like to get the perspective of somebody who is suffering from thyroid issues.

I know hyperthyrodism causes lot of emotional problems making the sufferer easily upset and irritatable. My husband has physically and verbally abused me during those periods and behaved extremely erratically. He is normally a very mature and calm person. I saw a dramatic turnaround in his behavior after he was put back on the right medication level. Though he is stable for the past 2 years there have been periods when he has abused me despite his thyroxine levels being under control.

I feel depressed, angry, helpless, humiliated and sometimes just plain unlucky whenever I think of those periods. So I am not able to sign off all of his abuse because of his thyroid condition. However I might be just acting out of ignorace and his thyroid issue might still be causing issues for him. But bottom line having seen him suffer I feel compassionate towards him and I still love him a lot. So I want to help him out.

The medication does not cure his condition and might just be supressing the problem. Can somebody who is suffering from the problem give me more perspective. How does it feel like to live through this disorder. I know you have heat intolerance, palpitations, fast heart rate and mood swings. I don’t get much information from my husband. So I really don’t know what he is going through. How do we support somebody who is going through this condition? Both me and my husband are very much into yoga and meditation and this has tremendrously helped us. We have also changed into vegetarians.

Any information is very much appreciated. I would like to extend a helping hand to my husband and do the best I can support him as a wife. Please share your input.

Regards, Kavya.

[Ski]

#1067080

We know a few things about the causes of Graves’ Disease, but it’s not much. We know that there is a hereditary component for ALL autoimmune diseases ~ it is a common genetic defect between all patients of autoimmune disease. Some people have the defect and no autoimmune disease, but every autoimmune disease patient has the defect. So that is essential for the development of Graves’ Disease. After that, we know there are some "environmental triggers," but they are different for everyone. You will find that many Graves’ Disease patients suffered from an extreme period of stress just prior to their diagnosis, so something about stress can obviously serve as a trigger. We do know that, of all the autoimmune diseases we know about right now, Graves’ is the most prevalent. I’m not sure whether diagnoses are actually rising because disease instance is rising, or because we are now smarter about testing for Graves’ Disease. For all we know, there are millions of patients over many years who have been treated for other diseases with similar symptoms and never even knew they had Graves’ Disease. It does mimic many other conditions, and unfortunately has not been well known or studied by doctors.

Now, for your elderly lady friend ~ I realize she’s probably feeling better by taking a beta blocker, but it is not addressing the issue in the least, and she can still suffer terribly from the hyperthyroidism. Beta blockers only minimize the symptoms and protect the heart from the arrhythmias that can be caused by hyperthyroidism. If her blood test still reads hyperthyroid, she is suffering muscle loss, bone loss, and continued tissue damage in other parts of her body (everyone’s different as far as the other tissues that are affected). Remember, her heart is a muscle. Muscle wasting affects that as well. It is POSSIBLE for people to have transient hyperthyroidism that typically resolves within six weeks (which is NOT Graves’ Disease), and it’s also possible for Graves’ Disease patients to have periods of antibody activity that also wane, producing normal thyroid hormone levels for a period of time. If her blood tests show she is NOT hyperthyroid, she would need to simply be vigilant and understand that symptoms may return. If her blood tests show she IS hyperthyroid, it’s a very dangerous condition, and she should educate herself and find a doctor to work with so that she can have the best quality of life possible. Being hyperthyroid is debilitating, and just continues to make things worse if left untreated.

[elf]

#1067081

itslaksh wrote:I know hyperthyrodism causes lot of emotional problems making the sufferer easily upset and irritatable. My husband has physically and verbally abused me during those periods and behaved extremely erratically. He is normally a very mature and calm person….I feel depressed, angry, helpless, humiliated and sometimes just plain unlucky whenever I think of those periods.

Unfortunately, your words describe what happened in my life and my mental state in a couple of years leading up to my Graves diagnosis and a time after that, — until my thyroid was removed. Yes, I was verbally and physically abusive to my husband. He must have felt "plain unlucky" then, too. How did it feel? A lot of anger at the "stupid" behavior of my husband, a lot of intolerance, and the amplitude of anger going above and beyond of any humanly reasonable level. I couldn’t stop myself, I didn’t even think of stopping since I was "defending my right to be right", even though things were broken in the process.

Medications helped me to get my thyroid levels and my heart rate in the ranges, — however they did nothing to my mental state. It’s curious how in some people ATDs help to get the hormones AND the mental issues under control, and in others – not. The mental/emotional manifestations appear on a scale even among Graves patients, and even within the Graves community I feel like many people can’t understand me as their anger never did go to the extreme levels, like abuse. Some people have it as a mild anger, when a gentle reminder of a spouse is enough, – some have it as anxiety, as in inability to drive and fear of crowds. Some get fearless and careless and abusive, – like I was.

I did a three months course of ATDs after my diagnosis, and I knew it was not helping me mentally, though physiologically it had helped. Whatever was disturbed mentally in me, kept staying disturbed. So I opted for RAI. I was able to recover mentally only over months after RAI, as my thyroid was dying off. Some people feel normal selves being on ATDs, but for others it’s not enough. It can be frustrating sometimes to be talking even within the Graves community, especially with the ardent ATD followers, who have no idea how destructive a mental condition can be.

In short, I sense that your husband has an extreme mental case of Graves, and all I can offer is my own story, that only getting rid of my thyroid helped my mental and emotional state, – but of course the decision is yours.

I will send you a private message with a website that talks to family members of Graves disease patients, explaining what it is like.

[Anonymous]

#1067082

@elf,
Can you please resend the PM. I did not receive it because of some issues with my account.

Folks,

Thanks for your response. I really appreciate your input. Unfortunately my husband had a bout of uncontrolled hyperthyroid just after I delivered my baby. And the result was disastrous. I ended up with postpartum depression and have just not been able to get over the abuse. Two of us having hormonal imbalances at the same time causes total imbalance in the house. In my anger I have also lashed verbally at him and told him bad things. We have tried counseling and a range of other things like yoga and meditation. But the healing is still slow. I need to understand that it is the disease and not the person. However what angers me the most is that he continued to be abusive even when his thyroid condition was under control with meds. Is that a problem caused by the disease or the personality? It is one question that lingers on in my mind. I would like to know what techniques couples used specifically to cope and support each other. Has alternative medicine been helpful? We tried homeopathy and it did not work. Right now we are trying ayurveda. We do yoga and meditation everyday and that has put our life in the proper direction. Please do share your input.

Regards,
Kavya.

[elf]

#1067083

Wow, what is going on with your account? ” title=”Very Happy” /> I sent the message twice. I’ll post the link here:

http://home.rica.net/deecee/information.htm

[Kimberly]

#1067084

Kavya – I think that most of us on this board have experienced what we call "Graves’ Rage" — but this is generally more along the lines of having inappropriate emotional outbursts, rather than lashing out physically. And it usually occurs when our thyroid hormones are out of balance.

You should *not* have to endure physical abuse, no matter where your spouse’s thyroid levels are. Please keep us posted.

[Bobbi]

#1067085

There is no excuse for abuse. As an adult, I realized that I was more emotionally volatile while I was suffering from the thyroid hormone imbalance. I found ways to control myself. I realized that my emotions were no longer a good guide to behavior because they were so up and down all the time. So I learned, quickly, not to act on the emotions. Other people posting here have had similar experiences with learning to control those emotions. I remember Jake writing one time that when anger hit him one time, he yelled at his family that he was angry but he loved them!

[susandemarco]

#1067086

Hi,
I am going to have RAI on the 8th of January, and would like to know what precautions I have to take regarding my family. I live in a house with
my husband, elderly mother-in-law and her caregiver. Do I have to wear gloves around the house and when I cook? How long do I have to be in
different room that them. I also have eight grandchildren, who I babysit for very frequently. I was thinking , as far as my grandchildren, two weeks
should be enough.

My endo didn’t seem to think it was a problem for me to sleep in the same room as my husband. She said the only people I definitely cannot be around
are small children and pregnant woman for about three days.

I would like to hear what some of you guys did during this time.

Thanks,
Susan

[Ski]

#1067087

Hi Susan,

I just sent you a private message with some details ~ the bottom line is that doctors have varying levels of precautions, because they each have different opinions about what is necessary, and some of us had RAI when precautions were extremely strict, others not so, and in addition to that, the dose you’re given can change some doctors’ opinions over the precautions that are necessary. I sent you the text from a former message of mine (not sure how to link it here, something I really must learn) that gives you the overall reasons for the precautions, so you can discuss the entire thing with your doctor and decide what you are comfortable with.

[susandemarco]

#1067088

Hi Ski,
I am so sorry, but I am not that computer literate and I have no idea how to get into the private message you sent me. If you have a chance,
maybe you can give me instructions as to how to get it.

Thanks,
Susan

[Ski]

#1067089

When you’re logged in to the bulletin board, you should see, on the screen under the Board Index header in green, another green banner below it that says "User Control Panel," followed by the text (1 new messages). Just hover over that text and it’ll turn a different color, then click and it’ll open your private mail box so you can see your messages.

[susandemarco]

#1067090

Thank you Ski for all that information. My endo seems to be a little liberal when it comes to this. I guess she knows best. But I will go over it
with the raiologist.

Thanks again for all of your quick help and patience.

Susan

[Author]

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