[ewmb]

#1069344

Mike,
My father has Graves. It is true that we women get it more than men but it is out there. A man I work with has just been diagnosed with it as well.

Welcome to the board. One of the facilitators is a man named Jake and is will certainly be able to give you the male perspective on things Graves.

ewmb

[Jake_George]

#1069345

Hi MIke,

Jake here. Yes it is less commen in men but yes we do get Graves’. Keep working with your doctor and have them follow your levels. Ask any questions you may have and I will do my best to answer them. We also have another male facilitator named John. So between us we should be able to help you out with "Guy" stuff.

[Sue_Conard]

#1069346

Just want to say welcome Mike!! My levels have been up and down for almost a year and my Endo dr. is still trying to get me straight, but it’s really nice to know that I’m not crazy either, it’s thyroid related!! Since last October, I’ve had 2 months of normal TSH numbers. I guess out of 9 months, that’s not bad…HA!!

I didn’t start keeping a chart of my bloodwork, meds, etc. until this week. I recommend you start today keeping track of all this since it will assist your dr. in follow-up since everyone is so different!! Good luck on your progress and I’m with Jake, work closely with your dr. to follow your levels.

[ely2009]

#1069347

Hi Mike,

When I strarted my meds (also methimazole and a beta blocker) I noticed improvement after a few weeks and then all of a sudden I felt WORSE again for a few weeks. It was probably after a good 8 or 9 weeks that I really began feeling more normal. Hopefully, you’ll begin to notice small improvements soon. GD teaches us PATIENCE whether we like it or not. ” title=”Smile” />

Emily

[mongo26]

#1019118

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to introduce myself since I’m new to the forum. I’ve had so many of the GD symptoms over the last year or so, but I always made up an excuse for them. I finally went to the doctor and she said I had symptoms (tremors, sore/dry eyes, weight loss (while eating more than normal), always feeling warm, irritable, etc…) of a thryroid problem.

She sent me to the Endocronologist and apparently my numbers were off the charts. My Dr. said he hasn’t seen numbers as high as mine in a while. I currently take 60mgs of Tapazole and 30mgs of Inderal every day. Seemed to help a little at first but now I feel exactly the same again. I have my first follow-up appt on 8/11, so I hope my results get better. : )

If anyone has any questions for me, I’ll be glad to help. I’ll try to help too. It is comforting to see that I’m not going crazy, and that GD is more common than I thought. Although, it’s not very common in men!

Thanks,

Mike

[mongo26]

#1069348

Thanks for the replies. Yeah, from what I’ve read so far, I understand I’ll have to be patient. Grrr. You would think that it wouldn’t take so long to get "things under control", but I guess it’s not an exact science. Luckily I haven’t noticed any side effects from the meds yet. Although I did notice that when I forgot to take the Inderal (beta blocker) I could really feel my heart pounding. I don’t know if it was like that before and I just accepted it as normal or what, but it was a little scary.

[cotton3fields]

#1069349

Hi, Mike,

I am a new user here and I was also diagnosed with GD about a month ago. I have been on thyroid meds for hypo for about 15 years. I started having eye pain about March of this year. I had a regular eye exam and the ophthalmologist said everything was normal except for dry eyes. I started using eye drops. A few days later I woke up a few hours after I had gone to bed with extreme eye pain and fuzzy vision in the right eye. I went to the emergency room and I was told I had a corneal abrasion. Not sure whether this was related to thyroid or not. For the next few months, I had the dry itchy puffy eyes.Then about 2 months ago I started having double vision. At first, the doctor said it was caused by the dry eyes. I was suspicious of that. When the double vision continued, I went in again and had an MRI and blood test, including thyroid. That’s where the low thyroid was discovered as well as an enlarged rectus muscle in the right eye. I was then diagnosed with GD. My regular doctor increased my Levothyroxine from 100 to 150 mcg for a TSH of 10. Thank God normal vision has returned, but the last few days, my right upper part of my face near the hairline has been swollen and hot. I wonder if anyone has had that symptom. I am glad to find this group.

Thanks
Leona

[mongo26]

#1069350

Hi Leona,

I have sore eyes, but it hasn’t affected my vision yet. I’m hoping the Tapazole will prevent any further soreness and dryness. Eyedrops don’t really seem to help me too much.

I’m glad you got your normal vision back!

Mike

[Sue_Conard]

#1069351

Hello Leona – I’m so happy that your vision went back to normal. I’ve had double vision since last August, it’s AWFUL!! I’m hoping, at some point, to have surgery and realign my eyes. I’m currently at a 20 prism with my right hypertrophia (not fun). Some mornings I wake up and all I see is the white of my eye…that’s scary!! I just put a patch over it and keep on going so it doesn’t freak other people out too. ” title=”Sad” />

[runlacie]

#1069352

Hi Mike! Sorry you have the diagnosis, but this board is full of wonderful people and great support, so you’ve found a good place here! I also thought I was going crazy as I have had anxiety issues in the past. My heart beat too fast and my hands were shaking and I blamed anxiety and told myself to get over it. I’m a runner and ended up unable to run so finally went to the doctor. I did rai last week and am feeling the beginnings of improvement. I hope you are feeling better now that you are on meds. Take care!

[mongo26]

#1069353

I wasn’t able to sleep at all last night and barely the night before. For some reason my heart was pounding like crazy. I took an extra beta blocker and it didn’t help. I am only supposed to take 10mg 3 times a day, and I’m afraid of taking more than prescribed since it affects my heart.

Does anyone else have this problem? I feel a little better today. I wonder why it was like that at bedtime the past two nights but not really that bad in the daytime? Hopefully it doesn’t happen again tonight.

[ewmb]

#1069354

Hi,
I had the same thing while I was so sick. I would be fine in the day, or I should say tolerable and then at night while I slept my heart would race. No one ever told me why that happened. I am dealing with the heart rate thing again right now as I hope my RAI is working to kill my thyroid. I sometimes hate going to bed because I will feel so bad in the morning. I never took as much beta blocker as you are. I would call your doctor and ask if you can try another beta blocker. The one I was on was just once a day. Maybe that would help instead of having one where the level goes up and down so much during the day if you have to take three a day. You need to get a BP monitor for home if you can. I could never really count fast enough to just use a clock to take my pulse rate. The monitor helped me out with figuring out if I was feeling my heart beat hard or if it was fast and hard or just fast. Your top number on your BP can be really high with Graves and the bottom number can be normal. I was told that this is why you get the palpitations or the heavy beating. Your heart is pumping it out faster than you are taking blood in or is it the other way round?

Anyway, hope that you can find a way to help yourself at night. I am on methimazole again now and this time, after a year off of it, I am taking my dose in the evening so that I will be in the middle of the dose swing when I wake up. It seems to have helped my heart rate a little. I am trying not to go back on the beta blockers. I didn’t like the way they made me feel foggy etc.. and take on water.

ewmb

[hyperm]

#1069355

Hey,

Yes my heart used to really thud at night! Infact it would be so fast and beating so hard that my pj top would vibrate with each beat. At night your body starts to release other hormones too so I can imagine that only adds to the whole effect.

I would lie with the fans on as high as possible – ice cold water with ice in it to try and cool my system down and read/have tv on the lot to take my mind of the worrying thudding of my heart! Just be careful with taking extra beta blockers they can put your BP way down and you may come around on the floor ” title=”Wink” /> ” title=”Wink” />

Hopefully once the meds start to take effect your heart rate etc,, should slow down.

When I was first diagnosed I would lie in bed for about an hour and have a resting heart rate of 120 – that really frightened me. By the time my surgery was coming last week I was so used to a resting HR of 120/130 I took it in my stride – even though it felt awful I just had to take my mind off it! Most of the time I would have to take a diazepam which would then allow me to get to sleep.

In the book I recommended "self help for your nerves" there is a really interesting part where she discusses tachycardia (due to stress etc..) and reassures the reader that the heart can beat like that for weeks and you will be ok. I am not saying its healthy but it has certainly helped me throughout the periods where my HR was in the 170’s ” title=”Wink” />

In the meantime feet up, cold drinks, keep your body temp down and try to relax and take your mind off it

xxx

[Hopeful23]

#1069356

mongo26** Okay so just my story. I was on propan and had the same problem. There is a time release capsule available in this drug and i think it would be great for you to ask your dr for your refill if you could try this. It really worked for me. I ended up switching to atenolol and took 100 when i woke up and 100 around bed time. This was my savior dose. Everyone is different but my heart rate and tremors were my main complaint when i was hyper. Hope you find relief this is very important your heart cant take the stress like this.

[paloma]

#1069357

Hey Mike! Welcome to NGDF.
To cotton3fields: You said you experienced a "hot" sensation on your face. I have a weird sensation, too, but not on the face.
I used to have really cold feet and hands, now they feel blazing hot, all of the time! I also have the palpitations, heat intolerance, tremors, confusion, dry eyes, etc., etc…
Mike, I just want you to know that this is the best place to get answers about anything having to do with Graves’.
I truly appreciate the support I’ve received. All of my questions have generated some very interesting feedback! I love this place! ” title=”Very Happy” />
Later!
Anita

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