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in reply to: seasonal allergies and TED #1172846
Your personal physician is the best source on this issue, but I don’t believe antihistamines are a problem, even for those of us who still have our thyroids. Cold medicines — which typically contain chemical “uppers” are what we are warned about while hyperthyroid. But the best thing to do is check with your doctor. Failing that, a pharmacist might be able to provide the necessary information for you.
Hi, Angelamercy:
The information that we have about smoking — which includes ever having smoked — is that it increases the risk of getting the eye disease and also the severity of the eye disease when we get it. I assume that you are asking because you smoke. Talking with your doctor about smoking cessation might be helpful, especially about which method to use. When I quit smoking for the last time (I had quit many, many times) I used the drug — Zyban/Wellbutrin. I found it very helpful.
As for why your eyes are not better for having had your thyroid removed, it does not work that way, unfortunately. People who have never had wonky thyroids (i.e. either hyperthyroid problems or hypothyroid problems) have developed significant eye disease. Usually the thyroid problems and the eye problems occur together. But a treatment for the thyroid problems does not affect the eye disease. I wish they did.
The dose of replacement hormone that we will need is — originally — a guess. It’s an educated guess, but a guess nonetheless. It takes a few months typically to calibrate the dose that any one person needs. You can help quicken the time frame by taking your meds first thing in the morning on an empty stomach and waiting 45 minutes or so before eating anything. I typically take mine with a cup of coffee. The issue is consistency. If you take them in exactly the same way every day you eliminate the possibility that variations in your behavior are having an effect on the amount of the pill that gets absorbed into the blood stream. Also, do not take vitamin or mineral supplements of any kind within four hours of taking your replacement hormone pill.
Typically “some” thyroid cells are left behind after either RAI or surgery. If you have thyroid cells you need “some” iodine for them to function normally. But if you live in the U.S. you don’t need to worry about iodine. It is in just about everything we eat that has been processed prior to our buying it. (Like bread, or cereals, or soups, etc.)
Once you have recovered sufficiently to go back to your normal activities, you weight issues should normalize. It may not be the exact same weight that you carried before, but even folks without thyroid problems are finding it hard to take weight off and keep it off these days. But like everyone else, you need to get adequate exercise for the amount of food you are eating, in order to be your optimal weight.
in reply to: Crying Fits…Is this normal #1172807catstuart7 wrote:So hang in there, I think it is just rough for a while and keep holding on to an “observer” in your brain who can help calm you down while the rest of your brain runs off to crazy-town.LOL, catstuart7! A great way of putting things.
in reply to: 2nd remission #1172812Hi, Claire:
Remissions are — by definition — temporary. It is possible for someone to die of something else before a remission goes away, but generally, people who have remissions lapse back into illness at some point down the line.
Second remissions are significantly rarer than first remissions. At least that was the information available when I was first diagnosed, about 15 years ago. The information then was that approximately 20%-30% of people experienced a first remission, but that only 10% of them experienced a second one.
We do have a fellow who looks in periodically on this board — named James — and I believe that he has experienced more than one remission, and possibly two.
My own decision to do RAI was based on the fact that I did not want to be 10 or so years older, and experiencing hyperthyroidism again. It was too hard the first time to contemplate enduring it again when I was close to 70 years old.
in reply to: TED … who gets it? #1172767Some people’s eyes protrude, without their having TED.
As to who gets TED, there was an article long ago in the newsletter of the American Thyroid Foundation, that speculated that it is possible that all of us, 100% of those of us who have Graves, get “some” eye muscle changes associated with TED. With the advent of soft tissue imaging techniques — like sonagrams, MRIs, etc. — our doctors were finding that an awful lot of us had TED type muscle involvment, even though we were asymptomatic for TED.
The point is that many of us do get the eye changes. Getting “some” eye involvement, however, does NOT mean that we go on to develop horrid TED eye problems. A very small percentage of us develop the horrible eye problems associated with TED. Yes, if you smoke, or if you ever have smoked at some point in your life, your risks of developing more serious eye symptoms increases. Even then, you may not get horrific eye disease. But there are also folks who did not smoke, who develop significant TED.
My point? Don’t panic. You may indeed see eye changes. It is quite likely if you are looking for them, you will find some. Don’t panic, but also do not take things for granted if you are not a smoker. Start seeing an opthamologist and learn how to properly care for the changes in tear quality and other aspects of the disease that can have an affect on the health of your eyes.
in reply to: New To Forum #1172745Hi, Joe, and welcome to our board.
The artificial hormone IS thyroid hormone, so if you are on an incorrect dose of it you can experience symptoms of either hypO or hypER. The heart irregularities and heat intolerance can be a sign of too much. But if you have had your levels checked regularly, then perhaps those symptoms are caused by something else. If you haven’t had them checked recently, or, if you are at one end of the so-called normal zone, you might talk with your doctor about “tweaking” the dose to settle you into a level of replacement that eliminates the symptoms. I am on a “split” dose taking one dose size five days a week, and a different dose size two days a week. This dosing was at my doctor’s suggestion because on the lower dose I was — according to her — to close to the hypo end of things. Anyway, it is an idea for you to discuss with your doctor should you choose to.
in reply to: Diagnosed today…confused #1172730Hi, and welcome to our board.
The “bright stare” your doctor referred to may be a wide-eyed look that we often get when we are hyperthyroid. Some folks have this type of look without having Graves. But those of us who are hyperthyroid often get it because the upper eye lid muscles tighten in response to the thyroid levels. It typically goes away once our thyroid levels are returned to normal.
I think some folks refer to the thyroid peroxidase antibodies as TPO.
I chose RAI long ago, and it made me well again. Wishing you the same.
in reply to: Eye problems #1172656While hyperthyroid (but on meds) I had an intense reaction to the “novacaine” or whatever was given to numb the pain for a dental procedure. The dentist was on the verge of calling 911. That had never happened before. From then on, the dentist gave me a different type of numbing chemical that didn’t contain the “upper” that the previous one contained. So you might ask about that when you go in for your procedure.
in reply to: Newly diagnosed and scared #1172652AmyG: Don’t expect the drug (methimazole) to make you feel instantly better. The thyroid not only makes hormone, it also stores it for future needs. The drug will interfere with the production of “new” hormone, but won’t affect the stored supplies. Until they are used up, we typically don’t see much of a difference in how we feel. It usually takes a week or two for the real effects of the drug to start to be noticed.
in reply to: Eye Symptoms #1172669Try “artificial tears” instead of the “allergy” eye drops. When we have thyroid disease, the quality — the chemical composition — of our tears can change dramatically. The tears become watery. I know that sounds stupid: tears are supposed to be watery right? No. And I didn’t know it until it happened to me, either. Normal tears are — for want of a better word — gooey. I think the technical term is “viscous.” They are actually present all the time, sitting on the eyeball, providing lubrication. They don’t “run” all the time. We only noticed them before when they ran.
So, with the more watery tears, they do not sit on the eyeball, lubricating it. They just run. And the eyes become drier and drier, and the tears run more and more trying to compensate. By using artificial tears eye drops, you add a thicker tear to your eye, which helps to keep it from drying out. It is extremely important to keep our eyes well-lubricated. Otherwise we can get scratches on the cornea, which take forever to heal, and can leave scarring.
Our opthamologists tell us to buy the artificial tears in preservative free form, because we use them so often that preservatives can cause us additional problems. So, the packets to use — at least until you can see an eye doctor — are the single use packets.
The product you need to look for are the “artificial tears,” not the “get the red out” or the anti-allergy eye drops. They come in a daytime solution and a night time one (more like the consistency of petroleum jelly).
in reply to: IVF and Lab results #1172661It is my belief that any degree of “hyper” regarding thyroid hormone adds unnecessarily wear and tear to our bodies. It is good that you feel OK with these levels, but you should expect to feel better, over time, with the slightly higher levels that will be better, over all , for your health.
in reply to: Hyper/Hypo Symptoms #1172610Some folks gain weight while hyperthyroid. A more typical presentation is for people to lose weight, due primarily to muscle loss, but gaining weight is not unheard of.
in reply to: Return to work release form #1172605It would seem that whatever business you work at has a “Return to Work” release form. Is there a Human Resources/Personnel department at your company? That would probably be where you would find such a form.
in reply to: thyroid belly?? #1172592I haven’t ever heard that term before, so I’m clueless.
As to diet tips. You absolutely need a balanced nutritional diet. Your body right now craves nutrition. If you want to be pro-active about weight gain, ruthlessly eliminate “empty calories” for a while. Those are foods that contain little or no nutritional value, but pack a bunch of calories. Candies, cookies, cakes, fried greasy whatevers.
I also have been seeing research lately that suggests that artificial sweeteners stimulate appetite. So, you might well consider giving them up, as well. According to my Consumers Report health guide, there are no studies showing that using artificial sweeteners causes weight loss. So, if you crave something sweet, have a piece of fruit. I substituted fruit for “sweet” a year ago, and have lost a good amount of weight without really feeling like I’m on a “diet.”
in reply to: Hello … I’m new #1172575Hi, Caro, and welcome to our forum.
Of course you are scared. Being hyperthyroid makes us feel awful. Please know, though, that we DO get well again. Our doctors can treat the hyperthyroid condition whether it is caused by Graves or not. Most of the time, it is caused by Graves. But even then, the treatments work to return us to normal levels of thyroid hormone. Then, after a few months you will start to feel normal again, too. Our bodies do need time “at” normal levels of thyroid hormone in order to heal.
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