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Hyper M – She is hypo???? How was she diagnosed? Thyroiditis has a hyper and hypo state – and I know if Graves goes on long enough without treatment there is a possibility of burning the thyroid out.
My mom had Graves – my sister is hypo. Both are probably autoimmune but minor genetics differences played out as slightly different pathology. She is my only sibling – so in my immediate family, we are at 100% of women. I tease my daughter that – if genetics continues – she and I may grow old taking thyroid replacement hormone together
” title=”Smile” />Oh my! I’m sure there are instances like this, but as far as I know, it’s pretty rare that each sibling would end up with the same condition. She benefits by having you as siblings though ~ it really does help to have somebody around who’s been through it.
When you say that she’s been diagnosed but she’s hypo, that raises some questions. It is true that untreated Graves’ will typically destroy the thyroid on its own ~ the thyroid cells get so overworked that they just die off ~ but that would mean the treatment for her would be as simple as taking thyroid hormone replacement so she would no longer be hypo. That’s relatively easy, compared to what you and her twin have been through! Did she suffer a period where she seemed anxious & shaky, as you did when hyper? It’s pretty odd to have gone through all the hyper without noticing, then be diagnosed after the thyroid’s gone, or mostly gone.
As I’m sure you know, Hashimoto’s is the autoimmune disease that creates hypothyroidism through a different set of antibodies, so if that’s what she’s dealing with, it’s a little more complicated.
Let us know how you’re ALL getting along, my goodness! When do you all get a REST?
” title=”Very Happy” />No kidding! Hashimoto’s is another chronic autoimmune condition (actually, the first that was actually recognized as an autoimmune disease, thank you Wikipedia) where the antibodies destroy thyroid cells through attacks on thyroid enzymes, and the patient becomes hypo. It’s tricky because the antibodies (like Graves’ antibodies) can go active and inactive with no set pattern, so it leads to periods of normal, followed by periods of hypothyroidism, back and forth, and it can be difficult to manage. The patient could take thyroid hormone replacement during periods of hypothyroidism ~ but how much? We all know that takes a while to dial in when circumstances are EASY (like, no thyroid), but when it’s a guessing game about how active the antibodies are and how hypo the patient is, that complicates matters almost impossibly.
I think I’ve painted the picture for you.
” title=”Very Happy” /> We see people here (obviously) more often that have both Graves’ and Hashimoto’s (lucky few), and for them it’s typically a choice between RAI or surgery, because the fluctuations are nearly as harmful to the body as a chronic imbalance on one side or the other, and ATDs can’t manage those two conditions at once.Let us know if you find out what’s going on with your sister! Given her history of being thin and shaky, I’d say it’s still possible that it’s Graves’ she’s talking about, and she’s just come out the other side with a thyroid that’s functioning either at some percentage of normal or not at all. Some people do have Graves’ to a "lesser degree" than others, and she may not have felt the very worst of it when she was hyper.
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