[sueberg]

#1059318

Hi There,

I was just recently found out I have Graves w/a goiter with a few hot nodules. I will be going for surgery over the next few months. Everything I read just makes my head spin. This is all very new to me and any help would be great!

I was diagnosed with Depression and Bi-polar a few years ago, but now after reading all the symptoms of Graves, I am even more confused. I smoke, and the doc is having a fit.. as it can increase the chance of TED.. its killing me – will power sucks. I have always had dry eyes, and I guess I am unsure of what type of symptoms/pain is associated with that – other then popping eyes.

All in all, I am just confused. I feel like crap, as I have for years. My body feels like I’ve been hit by a truck, my hips, shoulder and neck constantly hurt. I don’t sleep well only 2 hrs at a crack, my hair is thinning, my face is breaking out (which could be stress) I’ve lost muscle tone (and who wants to exercise when your in pain?) and the hot flashes are wicked and the hoarse voice and sweats are just the icing on the cake.

HELP..:rolleyes:

[Bobbi]

#1174051

Hi, and Welcome:

The “good” news is that you have a diagnosis right now for at least some of the symptoms that you have been experiencing. Our treatment options DO fix the problems that are caused by being hyperthyroid.

Eye symptoms: think of NOSPECs. NO symptoms. Soft tissue swelling. Protrusion. Exophthalmos (sp??). Compression (of the optic nerve). Having some eye symptoms does not mean that we will inexorably go on to awful eye symptoms and compression of the optic nerve. There’s no way to predict the development. But, as you have been told, people who smoke are at greater risk of developing more eye symptoms than others. It can help to go to an opthamologist for monitoring of your eye condition. Our endos do somewhat basic tests to see if our eye muscles are getting engorged and stiffening (they typically ask you to watch their fingers move around the periphery of your sight), but it is the opthamologists who actually monitor/treat the eye disease.

I used to be a smoker, and the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life is quit. It helped me to recognize that it’s an addiction. A serious addiction. That means that my brain was my worst enemy when it came to quitting, because it was craving the nicotine, and constantly “telling” me that I could have “just one.” Which is not possible with an addictive substance. I told myself that I wasn’t quitting forever — just until I was 75. Perhaps, you could fill in the limit with “until the eye disease has passed,” or something similar. But then, I discovered that once enough time had passed (I don’t remember how much — maybe a month?) it became easier not to smoke at all than it had been not to smoke in all those places where smoking has now been banned. Perhaps that bit of insight will help you, if you decide to well and truly quit.

[Author]

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