[Bobbi]

#1065529

Congradulations on graduation!! You’ve accomplished a lot having been so ill.

As for the chronic "illness" business. We all deal with that idea in different ways. Mine is this: I play with "semantics." How can I be "ill" when I feel so good? So I think of it more as a chronic "condition" which requires a daily "pep talk."
Wishing you good days.

[waitman192]

#1018531

Hi everyone,
Sooo I posted about 7 weeks ago saying I just had radioactive iodine, and had a subsequent freak out post about being extra hyperthyroid afterwards, haha. I was doing well for 7 weeks, and people are saying I actually look healthy again (which I take as "you’re putting weight back on and don’t look like an anorexic freak with your eyes bulging out anymore"). I got blood at 5 weeks with T4 at 1.3 (down from 20) and my TSH still at <0.006. After falling asleep standing up this weekend, I got some bloodwork yesterday — 7 weeks, so just 2 weeks later — and my TSH was up 26! So whammo, I went hypothyroid. Y’all said it was pretty sudden, and it’s not that I didn’t believe you, but wow, I didn’t think I’d go from going 120 miles per hour to about 0.05 miles per hour in the matter of what I felt like was a couple hours, especially since I’m so Type A.

Today I bought my first prescription of synthroid, and imagined it’d be nothing as I’ve bought a bunch of medicine before for different things that have gone on in my life; things that get fixed — sinus infections, allergies, pain meds, etc. But it was different. It’s the first time I’ve bought a medication for what is a chronic disease. And it’s my chronic disease. At 28 years old. I’m know I am more than lucky that I made it 28 years as a healthy young guy, and this is but a minor speed bump. I came out of the gates swinging with radioactive iodine pledging to kill my thyroid and rid myself of Graves as it’s something so curable. And yeah, it is curable, as evidenced by my bloodwork. But now, I’m left with something I think that’s bigger, something that isn’t curable. Sure, it’s just a pill (that, what? I need to take 1 hour before I eat, and with a full glass of water and no antacids?) but for some reason, and I don’t know why, it just feels bigger. Maybe this is just all the emotional roller coaster caused by the little bit of tissue in our necks, that may, or may not be there.

And to continue with the emotional roller coaster, it’s graduation this weekend! Wooo. I just wish I wasn’t wiped out for all the fun events.

[snelsen]

#1065530

HI WAITMAN, THANK YOU FOR THE RESPONSE, WHICH IS MOST APPRECIATED.
I have worked in health care for 50 years (only retired as per diem in the recovery room, cause my diplopia was so severe with the upward gaze when I looked at the moniter), so the more medicalese the better!
I don’t have an endocrinologist who is indifferent to how I feel. He’s fine. He does have concrerns @ the cardiac implications of maintaining a very low TSH. As people age, maintaining a hyper state does increase the incidence of a-fib. Also osteoporosis. To expand on that, I have had a BOATLOAD of chemo and radiation, r/t a very aggressive breast cancer 10 years ago.
LABS
May-TSH .036(free thyroxine is 1.1,( range .6-1.2) Last TSH .036(.4-5)
January, TSH .036, free thyroxine 1.0
IF say I am done with reducing, he is fine with that. I want to give it a good chance first, and when/if I get tired of being cold, I will say I have had enough. I actually am gaining energy now. (Remember I love in Seattle, where the sun has been gone since October, and now it is BACK!)
I wish you luck with your med management, I am sure it will get better, but as with this darn disease, everything is so so slow!
I think I am ready for strabismus surgery next month. Then I will not have to hyperextend my head and neck, I hope, and will be able to look straight ahead, and maybe even up a little bit. I have constant spasms in my scalp, neck and shoulders because of this.
and yep, I know that increasing age can be another darn variable with this disease……
Shirley

[snelsen]

#1065531

Sorry, Waitman, I got my response mixed up! I was trying to respond to YOUR response about my post! I really did appreciated hearing from you..

I am sure that you will revert to a normal person, neither hyper, or hypo. I take Synthroid 1/2 hour before food c a glass of water, then have COFFEE with cream. I have learned, over the many years, if I am consistent in what I do, that is the most important thing, and one hour vs 1/2 hours does not make any difference!

I hope the Synthroid kicks in, and you will begin to notice a change. You already know for all who post here, theat everything takes way too long when all we want is to be back to our normail self, neither hypo or hyper. ITI WILL HAPPEN.
Best wishes to you, and this site is a lifesaver, isn’t it?
Shirley

[Author]

Posts