[Leafy]

#1059969

Hi,

Just been diagnosed with graves but asymptomatic and picked up by chance eight months after having a baby. My tsh is extremely low, thyroid hormones normal and antibodies are high. Seen an endo and since my right eye is affected its GD.

I have loads of questions but main ones are once on medication (starting once I wean on the drug that’s ok for pregnancy) will I be less fertile than before? Please no scare stories as coming to terms with a new diagnosis.

I’m also freaked out about the eye disease as I wear contacts and hate wearing glasses. Wish I’d gotten laser done years ago now as guess I’m no longer a candidate. I feel no eye symptoms and always had loads of tears (my optician commented on it and had to get one tear duct opened as theyre so small).

One last query relates to diet, I’m lactose intolerant and drink loads of soy milk (one latte per day and in maybe three cups of tea). I’m thinking of paying for food tests as my mum has RArthritis and controlled symptoms through diet. I know there is no evidence and although I work in healthcare and know this I’m willing to try anything. Found evidence that 200mg selenium helps and want t o start some supplements as when I was pregnant and postnatal I found they made me feel great and anytime I stopped I got a cold so feel I need a boost as back to work next week.

Any help would be appreciated!

[Kimberly]

#1179223

Hello and welcome! I’ve not heard any issues from patients who had fertility problems because of taking anti-thyroid drugs. *However*, being either hyper or hypo can affect fertility (and can increase the risk of complications with a pregnancy), so you definitely want to get your levels to a place where they are normal and stable before trying to conceive.

The good news is that the vast majority of patients do not get the worst of the eye disease, including bulging and double vision. Less severe symptoms are fairly common, though, and can include dryness, grittiness, swelling, and light sensitivity. If you ever start to experience these issues, it would be a good idea to get a baseline evaluation done by an experienced ophthalmologist.

Soy is more of a concern for patients who are hypo, as it can affect the absorption of replacement hormone. However, there is a lot of conflicting research out there about the risks/benefits of soy in general, and I haven’t seen any research specific to Graves’.

The major medical associations devoted to allergy research generally do not recognize blood testing for “delayed” food allergies as beneficial, but there are certainly anecdotal cases (like from your mom) where patients believe that eliminating certain foods has brought about symptom relief. If you want to go through the expense of testing and deal with a fairly high-maintenance food plan during the elimination phase, there’s probably no harm in trying…although you will definitely want to consult with your doctor about the results before cutting any major nutrients out of your diet.

Take care – and please check back to let us know how you are doing!

[Boomer]

#1179224

I’m going to let the more experienced and therefore more knowledgable folks answer your questions as I am newly dignosed as well and learning myself.

I will suggest that a GREAT alternative to soy milk is Almond milk. It comes in Unsweetened (my favorite!), sweetened, vanilla, and chocolate. Give it a try- if you like soy milk you’ll love it!

I’m glad to hear that you are asymtomatic. Keep talking like that and I’m gonna start to pout. Again… Nah just teasing you- I’m happy for you!

Stick around- the folks here are great. I mean they haven’t run me off yet so that speaks very highly of them

Glad you found us and I look forward to getting to know you a little better.

I hope you feel better right away

Peace to you and yours,

Boomer

[LaurelM]

#1179225

Hi Leafy,

Welcome fo the forum! My first bout of GD was diagnosed when I was 8 months postpartum. I was started on a fairly high dose of Methimazole and then taped down pretty rapidly. I was still breastfeeding but was encouraged to continue by my endo and my baby’s doc checked with the pediatric endos at our children’s hospital who also encouraged continued breastfeeding. We just had to do a regular thyroid check for our baby just to be extra sure things were fine (her always was OK).

I was on Methimazole for almost a year when we conceived again (and I developed hives) so I was switched to PTU. I was on PTU for about 6 weeks into the pregnancy – what I could keep down that is:rolleyes:

We all expected GD to return postpartum but I luckily experienced a 6 year remission. I have now been back on PTU for a year.

It was stressful to worry about GD returning during my second pregnancy because I was so sick after my first one. It was really had being a new mother and not being physically able to do much and an emotional wreck to boot.

You can look up some other of my posts and responses regarding pregnancy and read more my experiences. Adenture has also posted quite a bit. She ended up with a thyroidecomy. If you have any other questions about my experience, I would be happy to answer them.

Take care!
Laurel

[Author]

Posts