[genuinruby]

#1067845

I just want you to know that you have come to a great place to get support. I assure you that you are not "losing your mind"…do try to keep the stress levels to a low roar, and know that this part of the illness is temporary. Hang in there.
~Ruby

[Bobbi]

#1067846

Hi, and welcome to our board:

Excessive levels of thyroid hormone do indeed interfere with concentration, as well as memory and mood. And just about every other body function. Thyroid hormone is used throughout the body, in perhaps ALL cells, for cell metabolism and when things are out of whack absolutely nothing works quite properly. So, having come through thyroid storm, you can expect to be "off" for a while: you were hit by the metabolic equivalent of a semi truck.

I would recommend that you keep that image in mind when you contemplate your list of "shoulds" for the next few weeks. I.e., ask yourself, "If I had been run over by a truck, would I expect myself to do X? If the answer is "No," or "Do you think I’m crazy???" then you should pull back and resist the temptation to over do. It’s temporary. We do get well again. And we get well faster, typically, if we take steps to reduce activities and pressures in proportion to how we really feel.

Wishing you much better days, and soon.

[Lynda]

#1067847

You certainly do feel like it takes you a very long time to complete simple tasks. i do the books for our business and remember taking forever to input payroll, now i do it within just a few minutes again. i am also on PTU. i had started on methimazole but had a whole body rash reaction to it and was taken off and put on PTU 2 weeks later. PTU seems to take a lot longer to lower the thyroid levels but causes less adverse reactions for me anyway than the methimazole. I also felt like i had no patience and was constantly nervous and tense-which equated to me barely sleeping. i have been on PTU now about 6 or 7 months and my thyroid Free T4 is now below normal after having been off the charts(extremely high). Over time they will reduce the PTU so try not to stress about the dose and concentrate on eating healthy and attempting to get more rest and reduce stress. Believe me this is a slow process to change your lifestyle to help get well but you CAN do it. I would tell you to try to remain calm but the hormones won’t allow this right now but you will feel better and be able to function again in time. Try to find some fun things to do to help take your mind off of it(i know this is hard but it helps). I am also a mom and know how frustrating and scary this can be especially when you have small children. Hang in there, it’ll get better. My oldest son who is 12 understand what is wrong with me and has also gone to the support group with me and as young as he is has been a great source of support. So if your kids are old enough to understand let them know what is going on and let them help you also. This affects the whole family so they all need to be involved in your recovery.

[hyperm]

#1067848

Hi,

I am so sorry you have been so unwell.. I am a fellow survivor of a TS and believe me I appreciate everything you are going through. If you look at my posts you will see that you are "normal"… I really thought I was going off my head too and I was so aggitated – I was a monster! I had a great endo who was very sympathetic but realistic with me and told me yes I was going off my head as my levels were sky high and out of control.

It did take some time for my levels to come down and also the aggitation/anger/confusion/emotions to settle. My life line was this forum! I couldn’t have got through it without the people on here. I also was on a high dose of valium.

I can’t write too much today and yet I want to offer you so much support having been in your shoes but my kids are unwell at the moment. Please PM me if you need to vent/cry or just ask questions…it hasn’t been an easy journey for me but I have survived and came through it… I had the op at the end of July as meds were no longer controlling my GD. Best decision I ever made.

In the meantime try to rest and use any support channel you have.

Lots of love, hugs and prayers

M xx

[momof4]

#1018916

On September 2nd I was admitted to a local ICU with a Thyroid Storm. I don’t remember the first 24 hours and since the cardiologist did not want anyone upsetting me I was given very little information. I’m really just starting to do some of my own research. I’ve been told I am an unusual case. I did not have any symptoms of being hyper before the storm (including no weight loss!) and I still have very few (if any) phyiscal symptoms of Grave’s. I’m on 800 mg of PTU daily which scares me a bit, but my levels are comming down. Has anyone else been put on that much PTU?

The endo wanted to do RAI but I received a CT with contrast (containing iodine) in the ER before they diagnosed the thyroid storm so RAI has to wait for at least 5-6 months until that iodine clears my system. He said that we cannot even do an ultrasound to see what is going on and to confirm there is not something more going on until that time. That also makes me nervous. There is no known history of autoimmune disease in my family back as far as my great-great grandparents.

While the physical symptoms do not seem to be a problelm right now I am having a lot of trouble concentrating and communicating my thoughts at times. One moment I am fine and the next minute I have trouble putting thoughts into sentences. I have not been working as I am a medical transcriptionist and need my memory and reasoning skills to work correctly in order to work. I am also easily irritated and angered. Prior to this I was easy going and patient and this is driving me crazy. I have called the endo to see if this is part of Grave’s or a side effect of the medication and am waiting for them to call back and thought I would ask here if others have had similar problems and what their endo suggested. There is only one endocrinologist within a 90 mile radius so a second opinion is difficult to obtain, but would not be impossible to get if these symptoms are really out of the ordinary.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Author]

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