[Anonymous November 21, 1996 at 11:42 pm Post count: 93172]

#1058127

John, I was not given anything prior to the RAI. I was given straight
iodine after the thyroid storm, however, I had a reaction to that as well.
I seem to be ultra sensetive to any chemical that enters my body. I am
tolerating the PTU medication very well. I am also on 1600 mg of anti-
inflammatory medication to keep my thyroid from enlarging again and
blocking off my airway. (which happened after the RAI) I have another
DR. appointment in 5 days. If my TSH levels do not increases at all, I am
afraid that I will have to go through the RAI treatment again. However,
I am extremely afraid that my body will react the same way (thyroid strorm)
so I am wondering if surgery is not my best option? Any ideas?

[Anonymous June 13, 1997 at 9:42 pm Post count: 93172]

#1167754

Manders:

Thyroid storm is a condition also known as decompensating thyrotoxicosis. It usually results from long-neglected severe hyperthyroidism. Essentially, your body systems have been in overdrive for a very long time due to the extreme excesses of circulating thyroid hormones and finally reaches a point where they can no longer keep up or compensate for the strain. This results in high-output congestive heart failure (the muscles of your heart can no longer effectively pump blood to your vital organs, resulting in pulmonary edema), a very rapid heart rate even at rest, fever, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, and a host of other symptoms of multi-organ system failure. I spent several days in an ICU until my symptoms could be stabilized. Had to have a central venous catheter in place in my jugular, a pulmonary wedge pressure catheter in my heart to monitor for pump failure and ended up with many other holes in my body that God never intended to be there! Not fun. Had my congestive heart failure not finally started to respond to the aggressive treatment, I would have ended up on a left-ventricular assist pump to prevent complete heart failure. I was 41 years old at the time with no history whatsoever of any cardiac problems. The really sad part of this story is that I am an RN and should have recognized all the symptoms I was having long before they got so far out of control. But as they say, hindsight is 20-20. I went through three thyroid storms before I was finally stabilized, none as severe as the first which led to my diagnosis of GD. Thyroid storms are pretty rare. Most people go to the doctor long before their symptoms of GD get as bad as mine did. This happened two years ago. Have had two rounds of RAI since that time.

Luci

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