[Kimberly]

#1066020

Hello and welcome to the boards! Yes, Graves’ Disease does predominantly affect women. Hopefully, James or Jake (two of our facilitators who are also Graves’ patients) will jump in here so you won’t feel completely outnumbered! ” title=”Very Happy” />

Thyroid nodules are actually fairly common — many people go their whole lives with nodules and never know it. They only become problematic if they turn cancerous or if they become "hot" and start pouring out extra thyroid hormone on their own. It sounds like you have been tested for both of these issues, so hopefully, you won’t have further problems.

Feel free to post questions here or jump in on any of the other discussion threads!

[waitman192]

#1018614

Ok, ok, I’ll post.
So I’m 28 years old, and pretty much a textbook case of Graves, except that I’m male. It all started in October with a rash on legs. Lots of itching and skin thickening over my shins. With November, came some weight loss. Having a "few" extra pounds, 10, 15, 20 pounds didn’t seem all that bad. When my sister asked me what the heck is wrong with my eyes, I blew her off thinking my sister was just out there to chide me. Life continued, and the weight loss continued, and in January, I knew something was wrong. An OR nurse asked if I was surprised about something. Friends were starting to confront me asking if I was doing adderall, or cocaine, or some stimulant cause my eye’s looked "crazy." February hit, and the weight loss was at 35 pounds. And then I asked my mom, and low and behold, she had Graves.

What followed was a month long journey. It started with student health. TSH: 0.005. T4 19.8 or something. Abs in the thousands. Appts with the endocrinologist, the ophthalmologist, visual fields testing, and then, this last week. As a fourth year medical student, this week was supposed to be fun-filled with anticipation and excitement as it was "Match Day" where we find out where we are going to be residents. My week was much more of a super roller coaster. It started Monday with my thyroid uptake scan. At 2hrs, it was 75%. At 4 hours, it was 88%. And at 24h it was 80%. And then they found a cold spot on the scan. (Cold generally is not good.) An ultrasound later, the radiologist, the nuclear medicine doctors, and my endocrinologist decided it was benign, and then 29 hours ago, I got 10m of radioactive iodine, and started my 5 week course of prednisone for my ophthalomopathy, which is a word I cannot pronounce for the life of me. And now, I’m sitting in my apartment, in my isolation, perusing the boards. Definitely some great info out there.

One question: Anyone else with thyroid nodules? ie: should I actually be worried?

Also, for me the radioablation was a no-decision for me. (Maybe I’ll be regretting this decision in 6-12 weeks when I go hypothyroid.) If you have questions about it, I am totally willing to answer. In theory, I have some knowledge on the subject both as a sufferer, and someone less than 2 months from graduating medical school.

[Bobbi]

#1066021

First of all, Waitman192, CONGRADULATIONS on your graduation from med school, and good luck with your residency.

Nodules. Hot nodules are typically not a problem, but cold nodules are sometimes malignant. My husband is at risk for thyroid cancer, having had his thymus irradiated when he was a baby. He turned up with several cold nodules a few years ago, and had a needle biopsy done of them. At the time, we were told that a small percentage of cold nodules have been shown to be malignant, and that his history made it more likely that they could be malignant. But his chance of them actually BEING malignant was only about 30% or so, even with that history — or so we were told. You could possibly find out more about the issue on the thyroid cancer survivor’s website: ThyCa is the name of the group. They have good info there about the issues more typical for thyroid cancer.

[waitman192]

#1066022

Thanks for the replies. I guess I’ll just keep an eye on it.

So another question. I’m 3 days out from RAI and was wondering if other people had an increase in symptoms right after therapy? Last night I couldn’t fall asleep, and today I couldn’t get cold, I couldn’t stop sweating, my hands couldn’t stop shaking, my eyes were really blurry and my heart was about to beat it’s self silly. I took an extra 40mg of propranolol (which I’m on 60mg twice a day as it is) and that helped minimally, but I couldn’t just calm down all day. And then, my thyroid actually hurt when I coughed or applied any pressure on it. Has anyone else experienced these kind of things? One of my friends said it was psychosomatic… I’m not crazy, right?? :” title=”Question” /> :” title=”Question” /> I’m debating going into my doctor tomorrow to try and get this stuff under control. The last thing I want is to go into a thyroid storm.

[Bobbi]

#1066023

Approximately one week after RAI you will be more hyper than normal. Our doctors sometimes forget to warn us about this period of time. When thyroid cells are dying off (as a result of the RAI) they release their stored supplies of thyroid hormone into the body all at once. (We call this episode "dumping" on this board because any hormone stored in the dying thyroid cells is dumped all at once into the body.) Unlike storm, these cells are no longer making NEW hormone so the amount of hormone being released is limited. Any stored T3, which has a half life of three-quarters of one day, is over pretty quickly. But, T3 is the super-potent form of thyroid hormone, so it is unpleasant to experience any extreme excess of it. T4 lingers for almost a week, in half-life terms, but is a "pro-hormone" inasmuch as it has to be converted to T3 in peripheral parts of the body before it can be used, so it is a bit "gentler". But, yes, you can expect to be more hyper than usual for a few days. The "good news" about all this is that it shows that the RAI is "working." And you are not hypochondriachal — the symptoms are definitely not psychcosomatic!

My endo told me to double up on MY dose (whatever that was long ago) of propanolol during this period of time. You might want to check with your doctor about what amount of increase, if any, would be appropriate for you.

As for the sore thyroid: Thyroid cells are being destroyed, chemically, and a soreness in that area of the throat is very normal. There can be inflammation associated with it, etc. I think because the RAI procedure is non-invasive, we tend to think that there will be no soreness associated with it. But there is "some." Some people here have reported to the board about needing some pain killers during this period of time. The soreness did not last very long for me.

I do hope you are feeling much better soon.

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