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in reply to: Artificial tears and eye makeup #1071904
A dry eye specialist at Mayo Clinic advised me that eye makeup is really bad for people with dry eyes and told me not to use it at all. That was easy for her to say, as she was a beautiful Oriental woman with lovely dark eyelashes. I’m a blue-eyed, light-skinned woman with practically colorless eyelashes. Going without eye makeup isn’t happening, at least not in public. Fortunately for me, I’m retired and can go without most of the time at home.
I know she was right though, as my eyes are much more comfortable when I go without. When I wear it I try to stay away from anything with powders and materials that would flake into the eye, and instead use waterproof makeup that is oil based and stays put. Waterproof makeup is good that way. To take it off, you buy eye makeup remover and use a cotton pad, and it comes off very easily.
in reply to: Being Euthyroid #1071969James, in answer to your question, my brother-in-law did have an antibody test that was negative, but he doesn’t know which antibodies were tested. I suspect that his stimulating antibodies were tested. I will have to ask him again. I know this test was done before he became hypothyroid though.
Lakeview, have your antibodies been tested? I suggest that you talk to your doctor about the usefulness of testing your TPO (thyroid perioxidase) antibodies. Elevated levels are usually predictive of hypothyroidism in the future. That doesn’t mean you won’t develop stimulating antibodies at some point as well. Most people with Graves’ Disease have both kinds. It may not be useful to test your antibodies now since your thyroid levels are normal, but it’s something you could discuss with your doctor. Many people do have elevated TPO antibodies well in advance of the thyroid levels changing.
in reply to: C-Reactive Protein and Graves #1071925I have several autoimmune diseases and my Sed rate and C-reactive protein are always normal. Those tests are strongly associated with generalized inflammation, as you said, and can be associated with heart disease or several autoimmune diseases, such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, but are not specific for any one condition.
Try taking supplements such as Fish Oil capsules and Coenzyme Q10, or any antioxidant. Those are two really good ones. You can get fish oil capsules at Costco that are coated so they are absorbed in the intestine and you don’t get that fishy aftertaste, and you only have to take one a day. They’re called the enteric coated capsules, I believe. I used to get nauseous on the other kind.
More to the point, not everyone with Graves’ Disease has elevated C-Reactive Protein, if that’s what you were asking.
in reply to: Being Euthyroid #1071965My brother-in-law had Euthyroid Graves’ Disease. He had a bad case of TED with normal thyroid levels. Eventually though, he became hypothyroid and now is on thyroid replacement hormone.
What’s known about Euthyroid Graves’ Disease is that it’s a manifestation of the eye disease that occurs separately from the thyroid portion of the disease, but the patient will almost always have the thyroid portion of the disease sometime as well. In my brother-in-law’s case he thinks he may have been hyperthyroid at some point before his eyes were affected but that he just didn’t seek treatment. Then five years or so following treatment for the eye disease, his thyroid began to fail.
I hope this is what you were asking.
in reply to: RAI and cancer risk #1071974Yes, RAI might make TED worse for patients who already have it, but that risk can be eliminated entirely if the patient is given prednisone at the same time. The other significant negative for RAI is that it will certainly make the patient hypothyroid, and some patients don’t ever seem to feel quite as well as they did before, once this happens. The majority will feel fine, so you have no way of knowing beforehand how it will turn out.
in reply to: RAI and cancer risk #1071972I’ve read different studies than Ski, apparently. The largest study done over a long period of time showed that RAI patients had an overall DEcreased cancer risk, but within that they had a slightly increased risk of cancer of the thyroid and small intestine. It wasn’t known if those were caused from the RAI or from something related to Graves’ Disease and hyperthyroidism, however. It was surmised also that the increased risk of thyroid cancer could be eliminated by a higher, ablative dose of RAI.
in reply to: aspartame? #1071988Just my two cents worth: I’m something of a health nut, and don’t consume aspartame, though everything I’ve read about it that’s reputable indicates that it’s harmless. It’s composed of chemicals that really shouldn’t bother anyone. Most of what you read on the internet about it is scientifically impossible, which anyone who had taken basic college chemistry would understand. Still, I prefer plain water.
No matter how careful we are with what we consume, we’re exposed to horribly toxic chemicals daily that we aren’t even aware of: in our food, in the air, from our carpets, furniture, dishes, and clothing. Most of it, if we only knew, would make aspartame look like mother’s milk.
in reply to: My Daughter’s Weight Gain #1072742Catsmum,
Block & replace can be used to help stabilize levels, and it might not be the treatment that’s causing your daughter’s problems but the amount of thyroid replacement your daughter is receiving that is causing her trouble. If she is receiving too little then she will feel hypothyroid just as someone who has had RAI and isn’t receiving enough thyroid replacement hormone. Feeling tired and gaining some weight can be symptoms of hypothyroidism. Sometimes patients feel better if the amount of thyroid hormone is raised a little even within the normal range, so talk to her doctor about whether that might help her.
If he thinks she’s on an adequate dose of thyroid hormone and tells you that’s not what’s causing her to feel the way she is or tries to dismiss her symptoms, then ask him to find out what IS causing her to have these problems. Don’t let him get away with pretending she’s okay when she’s not. If what he’s doing isn’t working, make certain he tries something else, in other words.
All the best to you both, Dianne
in reply to: Weigth Gain & Radioactive Iodine #1071981Another comment on weight gain following RAI: A PubMed search will show that there have been many studies done on the relationship of weight gain to treatment for Graves’ Disease, and the results of study after study are that patients who have become hypothyroid following their treatment for GD and are on replacement hormone gain significant amounts of weight compared to people of the same age who still have functioning thyroid glands. So while excess weight gain isn’t completely inevitable, it’s likely.
I have been successful at taking off the 30+ pounds I gained following RAI, but was difficult, and isn’t easy to maintain. To be successful I have to skip meals entirely, NEVER snack except on fruits and veggies, and seldom eat goodies. This isn’t the way it was for me when I had a thyroid, though I have always had to be somewhat careful.
We have three treatment options: Antithyroid drugs, radioactive iodine, and thyroidectomy. Antithyroid drugs give you a chance of having a remission from hyperthyroidism. The usual protocol is to take them for 12-18 months (by then, most patients are on a very low dose) and then gradually stop. Approximately half of patients will be in remission at that point. For about 20% of cases (depending on the source of statistics) this remission is permanent, although some of these eventually become hypothyroid anyway.
When considering their options some patients want to do everything possible to be in this minority who have a permanent remission and will opt for antithyroid drug treatment. Even if a patient doesn’t have a remission or has a relapse following remission, it’s possible to take antithyroid drugs long-term, so theoretically any patient who doesn’t have a problem taking antithyroid drugs and can control hyperthyroidism on a small dose could use this treatment indefinitely, if a doctor would agree to provide it. Some doctors are worried about the risk of side effects over time, but a recent (2006) study in the European Journal of Endocrinology compared the cost and safety of long-term (10-year) methimazole treatment to the cost and safety of radioactive iodine treatment and found no significant difference. Still, there are a few patients who can’t tolerate antithyroid drugs, and when side effects do occur they can be serious, so that’s a consideration when making a treatment choice. Also, not everyone is motivated to do the monitoring of blood work involved, which can be more frequent initially than with the other treatments. For long-term treatment it might not be, though.
Radioactive iodine may be the safest treatment choice, but the goal is to make patients hypothyroid, so replacement hormone for life is to be expected. Most people do well, but some have a difficult period for six months to a year while thyroid levels are fluctuating, and some don’t ever feel quite right on thyroid replacement hormone.
Surgery to remove most of the thyroid is usually the fastest way to eliminate hyperthyroidism and restore normal thyroid levels. The disadvantages are that surgery is more expensive and that there’s a small risk of damage to the nerve to the vocal cords (causing hoarseness) or to the parathyroid glands, which results in patients needing to take calcium the rest of their lives. These complications are rare with experienced surgeons.
Most people can choose among the three treatment options, though many doctors recommend RAI for their patients simply because of the safety and ease of administration. Those factors may not be the only issues patients care about, however; so it should be a personal decision that the patient makes, not the doctor.
Some doctors recommend that their patients take antithyroid drugs initially, both to try for a remission and so that if that fails, the patient has a chance to consider the other options while thyroid levels are normal and brain and emotional function is better. It’s difficult to make sound decisions under pressure when one is really ill. I think this is a really good plan.
I know when you’re first diagnosed it’s scary to decide what to do. You don’t have to decide on anything right now that’s permanent if you want to take antithyroid drugs for now and see how that goes. Ask your doctor if he will support you in that plan for the time being, if that’s what you want to do, at least while you have a chance to be sure about doing the radioactive iodine.
in reply to: Graves disease in Males #1073326Dear Aravindh,
I’m so sorry this has to be so difficult. Most people don’t have the nausea, but a few seem to. How much methimazole are you taking each day now? I think it will help when you’re able to reduce to a very small dose (5 mg per day or so).
in reply to: having a rubbish day need a wee bit support. #1072026Good idea, Rhonda. Like I said, from the perspective of a MIL that’s what I’d want to be told. It’s really nice to know that you’re able to help your kids when they need it, but knowing HOW to help is a different story sometimes. XO!
in reply to: graves is a psychosomatic disease #1072114Dear Kam,
I can see the dilemma you are in. For awhile I was somewhat the way your wife was. It took some time for me to realize how much the hyperthyroidism affected my relationships, and I think if someone else had tried to tell me that I might have felt that they were using that to minimize their own part in the real issues that existed. Yet now I think that had I been normal I might have even stayed in my first marriage, even though there were some really difficult problems. Everything is magnified when we are hyperthyroid, but divorce or splitting up a long-term relationship is a very drastic solution. I did both; yet found out the hard way the statement, "wherever you go, there you are" is the truth. I’ve talked to a number of hyperthyroid patients who nearly divorced their husbands and were so sorry as time went on. (You said your wife’s levels have been normal for some time, but it took me several years to get over the worst emotional effects.)
You’re correct that it’s difficult to find professional help that really understands this disease. We know a psychiatrist and psychologist who do, Cy and Marsha Worby, who facilitate the patient and family groups at the conferences. It’s too bad your wife isn’t amenable towards attending. You’re welcome to attend without her.
If your wife doesn’t want the problems of your marriage pinned on her Graves’ Disease then it might be important for her that you leave that alone for awhile when addressing the issues that need to be talked about. Try listening to her perspective of what might be lacking in your marriage or what occurred to cause her pain, and whether she thinks GD is an issue at all.
in reply to: having a rubbish day need a wee bit support. #1072024Hi Hyperm,
Your post is probably good for me, as we often visit our kids who live out of state and when we do, I often feel helpless, not quite knowing how to help when that’s what we went there to do. I’m afraid then that our visit has caused more work than if we’d simply stayed home. What I want from my daughter-in-law at those times is REAL INFORMATION on what I can do that will actually be of help to her. I assume your MIL would appreciate that from you as well. So you might try asking her for help tidying up the house. Let her know that you get distressed when it’s messy. Give her positive feedback any time she does any tiny thing in that direction.
Those visits we’ve had with the kids have been special times that give us an opportunity to bond with them on a level not possible if we weren’t staying in the same house. I so appreciate that opportunity. Of course, when you’re feeling so ill your first consideration is just making it through, not facilitating happy family time, and that must be respected. If your in-laws aren’t actually helping you, then they should wait until you’re feeling better to visit you. Talk with your husband and perhaps he can help with this.
in reply to: Graves disease in Males #1073324Dear Aravindh,
Thank you for giving us more information about the history of your background and your illness. That helps.
You want to know whether an elevated BP and some chest pains are to be expected when your thyroid levels have just been brought to just below normal range. That’s a question best answered by your doctor, but I can tell you that people in your situation have asked me this question literally hundreds of times, so perhaps your answer is there?
in reply to: blood pressure #1072050Dear Aravindh,
I wrote another post to you on this subject, but it’s probably going to take time for you. You’ve been hyperthyroid for months and you will need time to heal from the effects of that. Read the response under the topic "Graves’ Disease in Males". Dianne
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