[lammie]

#1018106

Greetings from Australia! So this is me trying to be positive and overcoming anxiety but boy is it tough!!! It’s been 3 weeks since my RAI and I am taking propanolol but it doesn’t completely block my anxiety coming out. How does everyone else deal with it? Why does my mind all of a sudden just think about something and it triggers it?

Also I have gone through so many embarrassing situations and I haven’t really read anyone else who’s got my personal issue. So I’m quite regular but when I’m at work I’m more nervous and so I do seem to go to the toilet a bit more when I’m here. So I guess you can say I do nervous poos. When I do feel gassy, it makes me anxious because I don’t know if I can hold it and so majority of the time when I am anxious I can kind of overcome it, BUT, if I am gassy at all or need to go to the toilet then I basically cannot control my body whatsoever and therefore it can go wrong. So is something wrong with me here?

And one last thing, I don’t have weight loss as one of my symptoms so when I reach hypo stage would I be likely to gain because I’ve been reading about the weight loss people have but it isn’t good weight loss since it’s the muscles but if I haven’t lost that muscle or tissue then will I still be gaining weight?

[Kimberly]

#1062728

Hi Lammie – Both anxiety *and* frequent bowel movements are symptoms of hypERthyroidism. Hopefully, others who have had RAI can chime in and give you an idea of how long it took before they finally felt some relief of their hypER symptoms. If these issues persist, you might visit your General Practitioner just to make sure you aren’t dealing with any separate issues.

One other thought might be to keep a food journal and see if you can identify any patterns with your digestive issues. For example, does it occur more often when you consume gluten, dairy, etc.?

The weight issue is very individual. You will find patients on this board who did *not* gain weight with RAI…and others who have struggled with weight issues. I am on anti-thyroid drugs, and I have been in a constant battle to keep my weight down ever since I was diagnosed three years ago. The best thing you can do for yourself is to focus on whole, unprocessed, nutrient-dense foods. A food journal might be helpful as well to track your intake from day to day.

Take care and keep us posted on how you are doing!

[lammie]

#1062729

Thank you so much for your reply. I am definitely considering changing my food intake. I do notice I feel discomfort when eating dairy products so I have been avoiding coffee, yoghurts & breakfast drinks but I do eat a lot of cheese on a regular basis. So maybe my digestive system doesn’t agree to them. I just noticed more lately that when I start to feel uncomfortable, that’s when anxiety appears for me which makes it harder to control.

I guess I will tackle the weight issue when it happens, I’m not overweight at the moment but I notice with exercise I’m basically just maintaining my weight. So I just hope it won’t be impossible to lose any when I turn hypo. Fingers crossed I guess.

I am so sick of these hyper symtoms…it’s exactly 3 weeks today and I hope things will change real soon for me! Anxiety is kililng me!!! arghhh

[snelsen]

#1062730

Hi lammie,
Kimberly’s thoughts pretty much echo mine. I am sure hoping that with each passing day, this dump of thyroid hormone goes away, and that hyPER symptoms you are having now disappear with it, and the whole darn thing becomes a non-issue!

If the bowel thing doesn’t go away when you are not hyper anymore, then your idea of trying to figure out which foods, if any, fight with your GI tract, and either eat less of them of be very judicious about eating them, is a good plan.

I think you will be very happy, and revert to your "old self" as you get yourself regulated on thyroid hormone. Remember, everything about this darn Graves’ takes much longer that we want it to take to get where we want to be!!!
Best, Shirley

[Elise33]

#1062731

Hello there. After my RAI treatment I started gaining weight (I was SUPER underweight) but only gained enough to not look like a toothpick lol. To this day I’m not able to gain any weight at all. Believe me, I’ve tried. So it really does depend on the individual. Eating healthy, as they’ve already said, is key to keeping your body healthy and at a nice weight as well as regular exercise. As for the anxiety, as far as I know and as far as I’ve seen (I’ve been diagnosed for 9 years) doesn’t go away until YOU learn to control it. I still have some anxiety to this day but I’m pretty sure that’s because I didn’t realize I had any problems and therefore didn’t try to change it. But I’m now a part time student as well as working part time and I’m able to control it 99% of the time. I really think they key to remember is that while you might be more susceptible to stress because of hyperthyroidism, it’s not the reason you have it. Hyperthyroidism doesn’t control YOU. It may control the hormones and whatnot but ultimately you are in control. So, if you don’t want to have anxiety, then change it. One thing that worked for me was realizing that if I freaked out there would be consequences, like losing my job or having to drop out of school. And now when i feel an attack coming along I just think about that and take deep breaths. Hope this helps ” title=”Smile” />
Elise

[FindingMe]

#1062732

Are you in enjoying your summer weather?? We in the US can’t wait for spring!!!

Honestly, the anxiety part really sucks. I have twin boys 19 and daughter 21 (two are in college.) I drive my kids and my husband crazy! My husband is the only one who will tollerate me in the passenger seat of the car! I’ve had my anxiety since the onset and don’t see any relief soon.

I take deep breaths and consider whether or not I am over reacting. One night I did a locator on my son’s cell phone because he didn’t answer and made my husband drive around at midnight until 3am but couldn’t find him. He left his phone in his car and fell asleep at his friends house. Grrrrrrr!

The best advise I can give is just to relax and take time to get to know yourself again. When all else fails, read a really good book and have a glass of wine! lol

[lammie]

#1062733

Thanks guys, all your comments are really helping me. I’m so over the summer actually LOL but I guess once I hit hypo symptoms and feel the cold, it’ll probably be winter by then and I’ll be waiting for summer!

I think I started realising a few weeks back that I was going to have to fight the anxiety myself. I really thought the beta blocker did most of the work though but after 2 weeks, I realised that I can’t rely on them to fix my anxiety. It is a mind thing and I think I’m getting there with taking control of it. On friday, when I felt something coming on while I was on the bus I got real angry at myself because I was getting sick of feeling it and I was able to shake it off. And this morning’s bus ride I felt something come on again but I kept chanting to myself shake it off, shake it off and it worked! So I think I have to do some mind tricks but gee it is hard work and I just get annoyed that I have to do this because how can my mind take over like that?

I’ve decided to reduce eating foods with dairy and at work I’m going to avoid my usual lunches I get, so I hope this will help with my other problem.

[lammie]

#1062734

Hello to anyone interested…

So it’s been nearly 6 weeks since i’ve had RAI and I was battling with very bad anxiety and I thought I would let people know that I am feeling so much stronger. Things are finally looking up for me and it feels great to go to work every day hardly feeling any anxiety. I had a really bad day 2 weeks ago when I had 2 meetings and a farewell lunch and plenty of anxiety. I blame some of it on the heat though, it has been over 30degrees over here continuously. I basically had to leave the meeting twice and it was a full struggle sitting there. I also decided to just stop catching the bus which has eliminated that stress every morning & arvo so because that’s gone I start the day not having felt any anxiety.

I’ve also decided to say to myself "whatever, if I need to leave the meeting, who cares and just leave the meeting"…it worked for me twice now and I was able to cope with 2 different work meetings and stayed put! I just make sure I’m near the door or I stand further back to others. I’m eating better but I do let loose on the weekends! It’s not like I’ve eliminated the feeling of being gassy but I am able to control it better which therefore means I’m not afraid anymore and hence anxiety is not there.

Yesterday I did get caught in traffic because my suburb had a thunderstorm where trees & signs fell down so I felt quite suffocated and freaked out for a second but I decided to turn around and go home a different route which I got caught up again but I was more familiar with this area and was able to keep calm. So if I had to go through this a few weeks ago, I definitely know I wouldn’t have been able to cope as well as I did yesterday.

So for those who are struggling…it will get better as the weeks go by! Oh and my endo said the RAI is definitely working when he read my blood results to me so yay!!!

[Kimberly]

#1062735

Wow, sounds like you have made a ton of progress. Thanks for sharing this great news!

[Author]

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