[hockey]

#1018944

This is such a good site for asking questions .. hopefully you aren’t getting sick of me yet! (I say this with fingers crossed that you will keep ‘helping’ me, Please ” title=”Very Happy” /> ). Thank you!

– This post might look a bit like another one of mine, but it is shorter and more to the point. Sorry. –

>> dumping’s effect on weight gain (up or down?) and how quickly .. weight gain is an issue for me … my hubby said he’s fine if I’m 250lbs (double my weight!), very supportive – BUT – I sure am NOT fine with a huge amount of gain …. I’ve looked at the weigh-in posts and it looks as though EVERYONE has gained some weight and that it’s hard weight to come off

>> dumping’s effect on mood and when does the ‘dump’ typically happen (2 weeks later – I think that looks to be what I’ve read, if so – I should have planned this differently as I have 3 birthday parties to plan/host and they will happen within 3 weeks of having RAI). Suggestions on managing stress for them especially seeing as how I am a perfectionist – trying to be Martha Stewart (never a store bought b-day cake, and always has a theme, this year Dora & I think Biscuit (the dogs from the books) – PLUS – 90% of the people invited will be strangers and (in person, less so here) I am shy & reserved, so just another stressor added on top (like the cherry on an ice cream sundae!).

>> how tired does one get? The Alabama song from a long time ago "I’m in a hurry" is totally me. I am on the run from morning to night taking kids to different activities, chores around the house (and we just moved to a bigger house, so the workload has just increased!). Am I going to be able to keep doing it, pushing myself – staying up late to get things done?

>> Exercising – not that I’ve been able to get into any kind of regular routine since I had kids – but – what about playing high-intensity sports (hockey for instance)? I’ve never not played b/c of thyroid problems. Has anyone every had problems wearing contact lenses afterwards?

[Bobbi]

#1067997

Im not sure I can remember all the questions!

Dumping lasts a very short time — relatively speaking. No, it won’t seem short at the time, but it really doesn’t last long. Essentially, when thyroid cells are destroyed, their stored supplies of hormone are released into the body all at once. The most potent form of thyroid hormone — T3 — has a half-life of three-quarters of one day (18 hours). At the end of 18 hours, half of it is gone. After five half-lives a substance is considered to be "gone", the remaining parts are so negligible, so that means after 3 and 3/4 days that potent, extraT3 is essentially gone. That goes well with my memory of things. My doctor told me to double up on my dose of beta blocker as needed during the dumping period. I took the double dose for two days. T4 has to be broken down in the body to form T3, and has a longer half-life (just shy of a week). So, while the excessive T4 lingers around longer, my memory of things is that after the T3 problem was eliminated there was a gradual dwindling of hyper symptoms over the 5 weeks after RAI.

You should not be pushing yourself now, to answer another one of your questions. You have been diagnosed with a serious illness and you need to be taking good care of yourself. It is temporary. We do get our health back. But if you want to "hurry" things along, so that you can get back to whatever it is you need to do, you need to step back during this treatment time and allow your body some breathing room and time to get about the business of healing. Buying a ready-made birthday cake is not the end of the world. Just this one year. I will give you a real life experience of my own. I had RAI the week before Thanksgiving! Talk about bad times to be out of commission! Anyway, Thanksgiving, I made the turkey and bought absolutely every other item for the family dinner from a gourmet grocery store — ready made. Even at Christmas I was still feeling run down. I got some friends to string the lights on the tree for me. I did not bake cookies or anything else. I put out some decorations and played Christmas music. And I enjoyed my children. My oldest daughter, after the holidays said to me one day, "You know, Mom, you really went all out this Christmas. It was really nice." My jaw dropped! ALL OUT??? It was a beautiful life lesson from my oldest: All those "things" that I had done all those years, all those "special" touches that I felt were so necessary were not. What had been special that Christmas right after my RAI was spending quality time with my kids and enjoying them.

So, cut yourself lots and lots of slack. If your best friend, or your child, felt the way you do, would you demand of him/her that she decorate a birthday cake (or whatever else you think you absolutely "must" be doing)? If the answer is "no" or even a grudging "well, maybe not," don’t you do it either. Treat yourself the way you would want your best friend/child to be treated during this healing time.

I wish you really good luck and good health soon.

[elf]

#1067998

My experience was, I didn’t get my dump until 3 months after RAI. Or what I think was a "dump", — a hyperish feeling, hands slightly shaking, eyes more bothered than usual. Before that, I didn’t feel any different than before RAI. Drank my fluid through the straw, got up, went out. The people were still sitting in the waiting area. I felt no different. Got in the elevator, still no different. 1 hour later, no different. The night, the next morning, etc – no different. (I took 1/2 dose of pre-RAI PTU for a couple of weeks, then nothing). There was no difference for 3 months. No rapid heartbeat, neither. Everything was laying low and "normal" (the labs were normal, too). Then that hyperish feeling 3 months later, that lasted for 5 days or so. Then nothing again. 5 months later, the labs showed hypo, finally, but I didn’t feel it.

So for me personally, the life wasn’t any different for the 5 months after RAI, from any time before Graves. Of course I was listening to myself more than normal ("What’s happening to me?"), and that was the only difference.

[Author]

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