[genuinruby]

#1067748

It doesn’t seem fair that just when we think we are at the place in our lives that everything is going just right…we get sidelined with an illness we not only didn’t ask for, but we didn’t even see it coming. But it is – what it is. We have the rest of our lives to reach all of our goals and it is important to take care of ourselves now so that reaching those goals will be possible. Any kind of chest pains should be mentioned to your doctor, ASAP. It is best to let the doctors help you get that sorted out. Hang in there….it will get better soon.

[LaurelM]

#1067749

Please consider NOT doing anymore exercise until you have been checked out by your DR. You could be doing your heart irreperable damage. Many of us are put on heart medication (beta blockers) in the early course of treatment to protect our hearts from working too hard.

Laurel

[lalaleyownee]

#1018901

hello board. c:
I was diagnosed with Grave’s Disease about….3 months ago, and started methimazole (under my mother’s decision, since I’m 16) not long after diagnonsis. It took a while of adjusting, but I was supposed to be doing pretty well on my medicine.
One of the things my doctor had told me was that I needed to ‘take it easy’. Yes, yes, like every other doctor on the planet after diagnosis. c: However, I had been on the swim team at my high school for 2-going-on-3 years, and didn’t have any intentions of quitting. I thought the practices were easy enough, I only swam for about two hours every day, nearly nonstop. I had a chance at beating the record held for nearly 30 years at my school.
Now, lately, things have been getting worse. My doctor noted that I should’ve been taken off my introductory dose by now, but the results from my blood tests just aren’t low enough. The tremors in my hands are still pretty bad, and due to the significantly sized goiter in my thyroid, breathing is almost asthmatic after only 300 meters of swimming. My muscles take days, nearly a weak to stop being sore.
I have two questions I hoped you guys might be able to answer:
1. What are the long term consequences of me continuing to swim at the pace I do now? (Varsity Swimming at the High School level)
2. I’ve started having chest pains, especially in the morning before or after practice. They’re started increasing in frequency and duration. Should I be worried that this is a consequence of my choice to continue straining myself? Or is this something else?

[enough3]

#1067750

Hey There.

You need to take it easy until your labs are in normal range, then you can start your workouts in moderation. I would encourage you to 1)tell your dr. about chest pains, 2)buy a H2O proof heart monitor and wear it while you swim. (that will give you, your mother:), dr, and swim coach some peace of mind & it will let you know if your heart rate is too high.

Remember that you have lost a lot of muscle. It could take up to a year to regain the muscle you have lost. You could be experiencing muscle pain and weakness from Graves and the side effects of being on a ADT (anti-thyroid drug). I work out a lot, not the extreme like you, but enough to know that graves really effects your workouts.

If you want to break the record, I say talk with you dr. If you are 16 right now, you are probably a Junior…right? You STILL have another year to break that record, and I believe you will be feeling great in a few months when you get regulated.

Hang in there, eat well, stay hydrated, and enjoy light swimming ” title=”Wink” />

[Bobbi]

#1067751

You’ve gotten some really good comments back, lalaleyownee. It might help you to understand some of what is going on if I explain some of the effects of too much thyroid hormone. Thyroid is used just about everywhere in your body, so when the levels are out-of-whack absolutely no part of your body is working properly. The biggest problem with excess levels of thyroid hormone is its impact on the muscles and the heart. We actually lose muscle, especially the long muscles in the legs and arms. This muscle comes back when we are at controlled normal levels of hormone. From your post, you aren’t there yet. So, you are experiencing some muscle loss. Not only that, one of the things I noticed was that the ability of muscle to rebound after constricting (for physical activity) seemed to be impaired — i.e. it took longer for my muscles to be able to do repetitive activity. You can put your musculature under severe stress if you demand too much of it while hyperthyroid. And, sadly, the heart is muscle. It is already being asked (by the excess levels of thyroid hormone) to pump too fast. There is a more dangerous problem in that excess hormone messes up the rhythm of the heart beat occasionally.

So, all in all, the reason that your doctor told you to take it easy is because it is truly dangerous to demand high levels of exercise of yourself until you are controlled at normal levels of hormone.

It might help you to keep in mind that all of this is temporary. The treatments do work to give us back our health, stamina and ability to exercise. Waiting a few months when you have goals like yours can be tremendously frustrating, I know. But there are Olympic athletes who have developed Graves, and gone back to competition in the next Olympics. The debilitation is temporary.

You need to trust your doctor’s advice, and really listen to your body. Part of what goes in to making a competitive athlete is the ability to use will to override the body’s sense of fatigue, and to work through pain. That is an advantage for you most of the time. But right now, it is making things harder for your body, not better.

I do wish you normal levels of hormone soon, and a return to health and competition.

[Author]

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