[Anonymous]

#1022810

What does Graves have to do with the moons on our fingernails? When I first went to my doctor, I had on nail polish and she told me that just by looking at my nails is another sigh of Graves, but because of the polish, she couldn’t. When I got home I cleaned up my nails, and sure enough, no moons. Has anyone else had this problem and why?
Thanks, Janet

[Anonymous]

#1083835

Usually when we are hyper with Graves Disease are nails near the tip may pull away from the nail bed. This may be what your endo was looking for. I know that happen to mine, even on my big toes. They did return to normal and I haven’t had problems since. Maybe this is why you don’t have moons on the bottom of your nails.

Diane B On-Line Facilitator

[Anonymous]

#1083836

I haven’t been here for awhile because really I am feeling pretty good.

I do know that I am still on the hyper side, but it’s been under control enough that I think my muscles have fully recovered. I feel just as strong as I did before I started getting sick. But I still can’t drink more than one cup of coffee before feeling very jittery. I used to drink 2 or 3 very strong cups of coffee in the morning. I can’t do that now. Although my heart rate is good now without the beta blockers (in the 60s), I do still have palpitations and occassionally irregular heart beat that might last 1/2 or so.

My last tests at the end of August indicated my T4 was near the low end of normal, yet my TSH was still at .01 (indicating hyper) so I have stayed on the same dosage of PTU and go for more blood tests at the end of this month.

I’m thinking probably no one can give an explanation to some strange observations, but here goes anyway.

Somewhere about a month or so into my treatment (300 mg PTU per day) not only did I quickly feel better, but in addition to my hair quality improving my nails were suddenly stronger and healthier than they have ever been my entire adult life. Bonus!

Then I saw an endocrinologist for the first time, and because I was doing so well she lowered my PTU to 200 mg per day to avoid me becoming hypo.

This may be coincidence, but I felt like maybe I wasn’t doing as well on the lower dosage, yet I was eventually able to be weaned off beta blockers and did continue to improve physically and emotionally.

However, although the health of my hair had briefly taken a turn for the worst, it then improved again and has been pretty good since.

BUT the health of my nails over the past month has steadily declined. They have never ever been this bad!!! I have had to cut them down so short that it hurts, because they have become so weak and are pealing like crazy. I put nail hardeners (ie Sally Hanson Miracle Growth) on them every other day to keep them from peeling and in hopes that it will help strengthen them. But I don’t know if it is making any difference.

I got the ok from my doctor a month ago to start taking calcium suppliments, but it is not making any difference.

So is this an indication that I am in fact not as healthy as I feel? Why would my nails have become so very strong in the beginning of treatment, yet now that I’m feeling better than I have in a long time my nails are worst than ever in my life?

Should I be concerned about an occassional irregular heartbeat, even though there is no pain? Or is this a normal indication of still having excess thyroid hormones? Note that I did have my heart checked out (EKG) when I was being diagnosed back in June and my heart is good and healthy.

I will be seeing my doctor at the end of the month after my next blood tests and haven’t been too concerned about these things, but should I be?

Thanks for being here and thanks for your help.

Sandy

[Anonymous]

#1083837

Hair and nails are usually the last things to recover from a severe illness.

You might ask someone who knows (and I’m not that person) whether the formula you are putting on your fingernails is gentle or not. Some of them contain a chemical that is harsh, and those of us whose nails have been stressed out by disease in the first place can make matters worse by using this type of product. I wish I could remember what I was told — a friend who is in the business warned me this summer — but I cannot: I just stopped using all the products for a while, and my nails are better.

Bobbi – NGDF Online Facilitator

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