Geesh, Jeannette. It has to make having Graves all the harder for you and your siblings. It sounds like your mom had Graves hyperthyroidism even before my mom did. I wonder what the diagnostic abilities were at the time. My mom was led a merry chase for many, many months, with horrible symptoms of hyperthyroidism, without the doctors picking up on what it was. This was, oh, 20 years ago. Mine suffered tremors etc. for months. She was sent the rounds of doctors who referred her to other doctors. Finally, when her eyes began to get really bad, an opthamologist picked up on it, and her thyroid hormone levels were nearly toxic at that point. It’s one of the things that made me NAG my doctor when the symptoms occurred in me this summer, and I was getting some of the same merry-go-round treatment by different specialists telling me what it wasn’t, and offering pills. My mom had RAI, has been on synthetic hormone substitute ever since, and doing fine. The only bad effect for her, ultimately, was that by the time she was finally diagnosed, she had lost so much weight, she looked anorexic. And she’s never been able to put it back on. Anyway, just for your information, and that of your siblings, my mom’s message to me is “GET IT TREATED AND YOU’LL BE FINE.” And, yes, she does kind of yell it. : ) I know it helps me to have that message, and keep a more positive attitude.
Anonymous
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