[Anonymous December 24, 1996 at 6:06 pm Post count: 93172]

#1166292

Dear Jessica, sorry to hear of you diagnosis. When i was diagnosed my levels were very high. I wanted to fast and the endo allowed me to do so. If you are not taking in any iodene, your levels may go down a bit. Unfortunately, the lab lost my subsequent blood work. we wanted to see what my fasting and previous to that, raw food diet had done. Obviously you need a doctor’s oversight for your journey. But maybe this will encourage you to ask yours. Best wishes.
Jeannette

[Anonymous December 24, 1996 at 6:39 pm Post count: 93172]

#1057566

Hi,
I was diganoised with Graves Disease about two or three weeks ago. I have
not had an appointment with my internal med. md, the one who made the diagnoses, it seems to be a bad time of year to be sick.
I am trying to get in with an endocredilogist(sp). At first she, internist,
thought i was just anxious because of rapid heart beat, etc ekg….
But the blood tests showed other wise and the radioactive scans
confirmed Graves Disease. I’ve enjoyed reading different messages
from different individuals. I have read materials on G.D. and what I’ve
been able to find on the internet, etc. I am also a noivice at using
computers and e mail etc so……
I hope that ya’ll have a good holiday and better health. I am not
Christian, in fact am Muslim (maybe not a good one) but I do have a
question that maybe someone could address. We have a month of
fasting from predawn to sunset – no food, no liguids. Has anyone had
any experience with having to eat at certain times etc or will I be able to
fast? Sorry if this doesnt make sense.
I will try to figure out my e mail address and how to get back here at a
future date/ time.
Thank you.
Jessica

[Anonymous December 24, 1996 at 8:29 pm Post count: 93172]

#1166293

Dear Jessica,
You’ve got a good start at educating yourself. Since you have to make the treatment decision, it is well to understand as much as possible. Since everything speeds up including the speed that food travels thru your GI (gastro-intestinal) tract, proper nutrition is absolutely a must,since everything goes thru you too fast, your body doesn’t have the change to get the nurishment. I would say that you should make it a rule not to lose weight fast, if possible, that is any more than 1 1/2 pounds a week, and that with supplements, B complex and C. I think you will have to make the call at Ramadan: when I was losing weight too fast, I added some bodybuilding drinks to my food, you might be able to do some liquids like that? If you cannot handle the full fast, would it be possible to make the spiritual commitment in another way? I’m sure there are rules for Ramadan for very ill people..? When you lose weight, you lose muscle, and with your heart rate up, you don’t want to compromise heart muscle. But then I am ahead of myself. You may already be under treatment by then, and circumstances could be different. As far as this BB, if our names are underlined, you can email us by clicking on our names. At the top of this page are other destinations, click and choose for a few days, read as many old notes as you can stand, and take a day off of GD once in a while. Dianne did this by not getting so caught up in the holiday stress that none of us need. My holiday has been downsized, too, but amazingly enough, not diminished (semantics!).

My lg and muscles aches have diminished just today, have been on PTU an on PTU for 4 weeks now, and did a hard workout at the gym today. I hope you can read this part, since my message board is invisible, this prodigyy beat net access is a pain. Well, to all, a quiet, sweet Christmas Love and Peace, Karen

[Anonymous December 26, 1996 at 1:05 am Post count: 93172]

#1166294

Thank you for your response. What type of fasting were you doing?
I have not seen a md about treatment and of course will ask about
fasting. I am already on welbutron(sp) and debacot(sp) so I have to
remember to tell the md about present meds tooooo.
Hope you had a good day.
Jessica

[Anonymous December 26, 1996 at 9:05 am Post count: 93172]

#1166295

Jessica,

Welcome!!! I would suggest you get with yor cleric and see what the Koran
says about the fast. You will need to take your meds and water will be a
must for them. I used to have Muslem friends when I lived in Germany and
If I remember right one was diabetic and had to eat and it was OK. She had
to do something else for atonement but it was OK. I really like the idea of
a spiritual fast. I do it twice a year as part of an Indian thing. We do
hard labor in service to others, eat Very very very scant meals and maintain
silence from the night before until sundown the following day. Now I am hypo-
glycemic as well and have to eat more often and it is OK.

Welcome again and I wish you peace.

Jake

[Anonymous December 26, 1996 at 9:53 pm Post count: 93172]

#1166296

Dear Jessica, Hi again. You asked what type of fasting I was doing, I ate raw foods only for several weeks then only darank potato both, herb tea carrot juice and one fruit juice. However, in my area there is a fasting clinic with an M.D. and various other health practitioners trained in Australia who were willing to take me in for a three week water fast ( with my graves in mind). I think you should have water because everything is happening so fast in you you could get really toxic. I don’t know how long your observances are, but remember the last thing your body needs is stress. fasting docs say that fasting is not stressful ( but it can be hard) but they want you to drink lots of water. Well, pray about it all, the Creator of All KNOWS what you are facing. Wishing you well, Jeannette

[Anonymous January 14, 1997 at 6:34 pm Post count: 93172]

#1166297

I was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism last week. The doc doesn’t know yet
if it is from thyroiditis or Graves Disease. I will be having a thyroid scan
next week. My blood work is as follows: T3 level: 568, T4 greater than
20 and my TSH is less than 0.1. I have all the sypmtoms of Graves except
the skin problems. It took 6 weeks to find out what I had because
the local family doctor kept telling me that I had the “flu”. I finally went
to an internist and he made the diagnosis. My heart rate is stilll 110 to 120.
I am taking Inderal for the heart and Tapazole for the thyroid. I feel 50%
better since taking the Tapazole. I’ve only taken 3 doses. What is my
life going to be like in the future? Will this go away?
What is the treatment for Graves Disease?
Any info will help. Thank you.

[Anonymous January 14, 1997 at 8:18 pm Post count: 93172]

#1166298

Welcome to the message board! I suggest that the first step is to check out the National Graves’ Disease Foundation home page by clicking on the icon for it at the top of the main page here. There is a list of FAQs there to check out and may provide some answers (and more questions).

Also there is a list of informative bulletins available from the NGDF.

Reading back thru some of the older postings here can also be real interesting and you will find many of your quetions answered.

One caution tho is that many of us here on the message board are among the 10% or so of Graves’ people that have more problems than normal with the disease. Most people are very successfully treated as “textbook” cases.

Best wishes, Bruce

[Anonymous January 15, 1997 at 1:32 am Post count: 93172]

#1166299

Hi there, First I think it’s important that you get a deffinte diagnosis. Once you do you can research the best treatment for you. This is a great place to start! Also, contact the Thyroid Foundation (in Mass.) they’re really helpful. And, of course, once you know if it’s graves, contact the Graves foundation… all the info to do that is on this home page etc. at the top of this screen. We’ve all been there, just like you, which is a BIG help for you, right now, to know. Keep us informed. Good Luck!

[Anonymous January 15, 1997 at 1:38 am Post count: 93172]

#1166300

Bruce
Thanks for the info.

[Anonymous January 15, 1997 at 2:17 am Post count: 93172]

#1166301

Thanks for your info. After reading all of these messages, I have
more anxiety than before I found the web site. I have all the symptoms
of Graves and I’ll
find out for sure next week. How long have you had the
disease? I’m really interested in comparing my labs with others.
They are listed on my previous bulletin board. My numbers are way off
they seem extreme!

[Anonymous January 19, 1997 at 2:21 pm Post count: 93172]

#1166302

Hi, I’ve been diagnosed with Graves which at the time I took as a relief. I truly felt I was losing my mind at times. I’d forget simple things and couldn’t find the right words when speaking. I had lost quite a few pounds but I was crediting myself with reducing fat intake. I also had excrutiating muscle cramps on and off for about 3 years.

Now that the initial relief has been spent I’m beginning to wonder what I’m in for. I am currently taking 300 mg PTU daily in preparation for RAI? treatment. I have one eye that protudes, kind of a cyclops effect. Does that ever return to normal by itself? I guess those are my first questions.

In the last 4 years I’ve had advanced breast cancer, a bone marrow transplant, additional surgery and congestive heart failure…..and actually I consider myself in pretty good shape. From what I’ve read on this BB it sounds lousy.
Susan

[Anonymous January 19, 1997 at 2:49 pm Post count: 93172]

#1166303

Susan, it’s hard to hear everything you’ve been through with your health, and now GD too! Hopefully you can be one of those who has relatively few problems with management of Graves’.

Your eye may improve some on its own, or the other eye may also be affected, or just about anything can happen, and I don’t think there is any way to predict it. Read all the posts on this BB and you might get a better idea what others have experienced. Welcome to this support group, and I hope you stick around!
Dianne N

[Anonymous January 20, 1997 at 7:31 am Post count: 93172]

#1166304

Hi Susan! It sounds like you went a long time without treatment
as I did. I also had excrutiating muscle cramps and after
treatment have presently constant joint pain. I to use to go to
the kitchen forget what I was going for. I to, would know what
I wanted to say but could find only 50% of the words to say it. You
did not say your eyes have been check out by an opthamologist. My
have been protruding for over a year now and at first it was only
one eye but shortly both protruded. Hope this helps. Margie

[Anonymous January 20, 1997 at 11:32 am Post count: 93172]

#1166305

Thanks for the information. This Thursday I will be competing for a job promotion through an oral exam. Picture this, my arms and legs tremor, my voice tremors, both my protruding eye and non-protruding eye are red and irritated, and on top of those charming charateristics I have trouble remembering things. I’m confident I’m going to make a very strong impression!! When it rains it pours!!

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