Andrea: I’m going to wait on the PTU and hope for remission. My doctor’s seem to think
that by the time my baby is a year old (April) I should be able to come off the PTU. I’m leaving
RAI as an absolute last resort. At this point, I’d rather give anti-thyroid drugs a longer
time to control things, even if it means ups and downs as far as feeling well. The permanency of
RAI holds me back on it. Someone once told me that although they can try to kill off
only part of your thyroid it is “like shooting a bazooka at a mosquito.” You just never know
how much will be destroyed (or how little).
I’ve had some majorly irritable periods. I don’t think I’ve had much trouble with
fits of rage. Severe anxiety and panic were my big problems…waking up in the
middle of the night feeling abject terror, my thoughts racing so face I was sure
I was going insane. I couldn’t concentrate. When I read aloud, my mind went faster
than my mouth and I either stuttered or said the words all out of order. That’s why clinging to
2 Timothy 1:7 was so very important to me. That and “He will keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on Him.” Gradually, these symptoms were receding while on the PTU,
but the Inderal has helped dramatically and I feel human again (most of the time)!
In January I go to first my Internist, then my Endo. I’m sure more bloodwork is
on order, but I might beg for just a little more PTU to push things along the way. I
e-mailed my Endo and hinted, but he seems to think that I can wait. Patience has never
been one of my best virtues and this disease has taught me a bit more about that than I cared
to learn! (Not something I pray for either, as things tend to happen to MAKE me patient).
What have been your most problematic symptoms? What was your time on anti-thyroid meds like?
Glynis
