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in reply to: Weigh-in (just for fun) #1068686

Moving in my son was easier than we thought. They had lots of helpful older students to help carry things. We were actually done with the carrying from the car in about 20-30 minutes. We did help rearrange the furniture and then took my son to lunch before we left. Went to one store too to get some odds and ends. I felt ok except for my swollen ankle on one leg and my sinus infection which I am taking antibiotic for now. I hope that is some of why I had been feeling so bad lately. Maybe it wasn’t so much the hyper symptoms. The new tapazole has not produced a rash yet so fingers crossed.

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in reply to: Weigh-in (just for fun) #1068682

Lacie,
I understand about the yucky feelings. I just came from the GP. I have a sinus thing going on and he’s e-sending a prescription. I am now leary of having anything with the stuff in that made me have that rash so they will be checking on that for me I hope. Have to tell my husband to check when he picks it up after work. Hope that your blood draw goes well tomorrow. I was never really able to tell my levels from the way I felt when I was on atds. Let us know how it went when you find out. I am off to the dorms tomorrow no matter what. I hate that this disease interferes with everything that is good about being a mom right now.

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in reply to: Weigh-in (just for fun) #1068680

Lacie,
He is going to be a freshman. About an hour and a half away. He goes on Thursday so that day will be long and hard. I hope I don’t have any issues that morning. We are leaving really early. I think the tapazole or something is helping. My period showed up today and I hoping to see a positive change in how long it is. Hopefully it will be a sign that my levels are moving in the right direction. I just hope it’s not only the tapazole and it the RAI working. No way to know yet. We have water in the fridge door so that’s easy. I take a water bottle to work so try to drink all that down by the end of the day.
It’s hard sometimes to remember to drink when you get busy.

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in reply to: Weigh-in (just for fun) #1068677

I tried today just to think about what I put in my mouth. I ate well at breakfast, even went to work for a few hours. I’m still in the process of moving my office. Came home ,took a rest, ate lunch, not too good, too tired to make something I should have. Ate applesauce, just pour it in the bowl and some potato chips, low fat but stilllllllllllll Had another rest after helping my son clean out closet for college on Thursday. I think I am in an emotional roller coaster right now and can’t always eat without emotional triggers. Felt ok after second rest and then asked kids to go to WalMart with me to get those things we all have to get after payday rolls around. Husband at work related dinner so of course we went to Wendys and had a bite. we live way out in the country and when you go all the way to town you make excuses. I had a very small hamburger= ketchup only and shared some of my daughters fries. Had a kid coke. Yes you can ask for the child size of anything at a restaurant. Most of them will sell it to you no matter your age. I am off all aspartame now and I hope it is helping me feel better. Of course juice, milk etc. counts more calories and I can drink water by the glass full when its not with a meal. I just am in the habit of a taste when I eat a meal I guess.

Afternoon went down from there as I talked myself into the fact that it was ok to eat baked cheetoes when I took my tapazole. I take it in the late evening so that I will feel good when I wake up. At least they were baked not the fried ones. I have tried to make little changes over the years in what I bring home. I was the kid who had candy etc. in her closet when my mom went through a health food phase in the 70s. I didn’t want my kids to not have something in the house that the other kids have and I must say that they both make better choices than I do most of the time. Check off one for Mom there.

I guess tomorrow I’ll keep on thinking about what goes in my mouth but it will be harder the closer I get to Thursday and my oldest leaving. I won’t get there in a flash as I didn’t get to where I am in one. It certainly has felt like a really long ride in a swaying boat a lot of the time. Here’s hoping the tapazole is helping and that my levels will turn around soon. RAI was almost 14 weeks ago now.

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in reply to: OMG Pain! #1068644

I had the kind of pain you are talking about when I was on methimazole. I woke up one morning and couldn’t stand. The doctor on call said it was like an overdose and to not take it anymore that weekend then and then they put me on a much smaller dose and I was fine after a while. I have had fibromyalgia and arthritis for a while so I’m not sure how it would have felt if I hadn’t known that pain. I’m sorry for your troubles on the medication. It can be such a good thing to get your levels down but then things like this happen. I had an awful rash on one generic of methimazole and am now on brand name tapazole and seem to be fine. I am on a very low dose right now to get me through my RAI healing.

Do you feel like the pain is so bad but you want to move all the time? That’s what I remember. Having to walk around and move even when I was in pain.

Let us know what happens.

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in reply to: Weigh-in (just for fun) #1068670

Hyperm,
I had second thoughts about joining in but think this might help me out. I have done WW before and it worked. At my lowest during hyper I was 135lbs and now am 168lbs. I am 5′ 4 and 3/4" so about your height. I haven’t weighed this much since I was loosing baby weight. I too am supposed to be at my period and have gained about 2 pounds in the last few days. I would like to get back to my WW goal which was 142. I felt comfortable there. I am still hyper on paper but my heart rate has stayed down, so fingers crossed. I really loaded weight when I went hypo on the methimazole during my first round with it. I had no idea I was hypo, wnet to 168, and didn’t really notice I guess since I was feeling better and didn’t want to let it bother me. I lost about 8-10 of that when I was off the methimazole before RAI. After RAI I wasn’t able to maintain. I started tapazole on Friday night and it may have helped me feel better or it could be that my fever is gone now and I think my virus will be all gone tomorrow.

I need to try and not eat everything in sight I guess. I am too tired sometimes to get something other than what’s at the front of the shelf or the fridge. I told Lacie in another post that I bake when I feel bad as it makes me feel productive. I also think that my son leaving home in a few days for university is making me create comfort food memories for him. Tonight for supper we baked bread. I make my mom’s recipe that we call flaxseed, oatmeal, whole wheat , carrot bread. It’s really good and will help a lot with constipation!

I think starting weights should be optional and then just weight lost or maintained etc. would be fine. Some are not as comfortable with the numbers I know. I have been here before and know that I can get down eventually.

Thanks for the nudge.

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in reply to: How do I cope with Graves’ Disease? #1068834

Kit,
My son wants to be an artist now but in his early teenage years became very interested in NASCAR. If you go back to Charlotte you’ll have to take your son out to Concord to the Lowe’s Motorspeedway. That’s out past the university where I grew up on highway 49. My parents live in Davidson which is near Mooresville which has a lot of the big garages. I knew a boy here who went to UNC-Charlotte I think who was interested in the car industry. You might get your son to check out their curriculum or CPCC- which is Central Piedmont Community College. Sounds small but it is a really big college. I wrote you a post about your intestinal issues. Try the coconut cookies and see if they work for you and the acidophilus or other bacteria. I have a theory that the Graves can kill off a lot of the good bacteria as they can’t grow fast enough for some reason and that causes issues. I was also very sensitive to dairy when I was hyper, never had been before, and that all went away too with the things I mentioned.

My brother and his wife live in Manhattan now. I went to LI once for a wedding of a friend from high school, almost 25 years ago now! The area is beautiful.

Keep in touch about your job.

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in reply to: How long did it take? #1068820

Hyperm,
That’s great about your days getting better on the whole. My fever is still here today but I am feeling better. I envy you your maternity leave. We don’t get that kind of time in the US although I was lucky and didn’t have to work when mine were little. My husband was a student at the time and we were so poor anyway it wasn’t worth it for me to continue working. Glad you made it to the park, being outside on a sunny day is good for your Vitamin D levels. Have you had them checked by the way? You can really feel blue if your D levels are too low. My dad, who has Graves, had his so low they had to give him massive doses for a while and he’s still on the low side. I read a paper on this once that Graves patients can have very low levels. Maybe one of the facilitators can ask the Docs to confirm this.

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in reply to: How do I cope with Graves’ Disease? #1068832

Kit,
You might want to read up on some fibromyalgia books and sites about how to help the nerve intrapment. This is quite common in some fibro patients. I have had it for almost 15 years now. My great husband massages me each night and I stretch each morning. It has been hard to not be able to exercise with my hyper state. I remember something about tennis ball massage for this????? I also think that some people respond to ice treatments or to heat or both. I have a rice bag that I can heat up in the microwave. You can make one with two old socks and cheap rice from the grocery. Just don’t put too much rice in the socks before you sew or tie them up. Use a small towel to cover the socks and heat them up slowly until you learn what setting and time on your microwave gives you the desired results. You can put them in the freezer too.

Have you had a bone ( DEXA) scan done yet? I would think you would do that before any kind of bone replacement real or artificial. I found out just a few months ago that I have osteoporosis already in my spine and osteopenia in my hip. I am waiting to do something medication wise about it after I am stabilized on my thyroid. That was another reason that I decided on RAI over drug therapy. I am not yet menopausal, heading that way for sure, and my gyn told me that my osteo was certainly a result of my Graves.

Hope tomorrow is better for you.

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in reply to: Very frustrated today! #1068813

Kit,
I had issues such as yours but got things under control by taking acidophilus tablets everyday ( I still take these and I like the Nature Made Brand as it has a really large number of bacteria in it. You’ll need to keep it in the fridge. ) and eating one coconut macaroon each day I was having trouble. I learned about the cookies from the People’s Pharmacy. The coconut worked for me. I rarely have any issues now. I buy them from the grocery store ( Archer’s brand in a red package ) but don’t know if you have that in NY. I don’t like immodium since it dries everything out for me. Sorry about your reunion being ruined.

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in reply to: Weight Gain – Oh NO!!! #1068885

I’d like to join in but since I’m not hypo yet after RAI and haven’t been put on replacement I’ve not been trying to do more than just take a short walk. I really don’t know if it’s a good idea to start trying to loose weight when you’re not well yet so I’ll just look in on everyone else’s successes for now. I have had massive weight swings in the past two years so I really do want to stabilize someday. I am now overweight and uncomfortable…… I guess you all know the feeling.

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in reply to: How long did it take? #1068817

Hyperm,
I know how you feel about wanting the illness to go away and get on with things. I am still not feeling that much better after my RAI on May 8. Yesterday I woke up with fever, headache, etc.. and thought why this on top of everything else. Had to cancel plans to travel too. This morning I felt some better but have already taken one nap. Nancy’s right about the impatient patients. I feel like this is going to be my life forever some days and then others I get a glimpse of hope. Maybe you’re just worn out from being able to do so much last week. That would put a positive spin on things.

Hope tomorrow is a little brighter for you.

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in reply to: How do I cope with Graves’ Disease? #1068829

Kit,
I grew up in Charlotte and my parents still live in the area. I don’t know about employment opportunities but the Charlotte Mecklenburg School system is the largest in the state. Charlotte is one of the big banking centers too. Bank of America started out as North Carolina National Bank years ago. Wachovia was here too. Don’t know how that’s all going now. The newspaper in Charlotte that would have want ads and housing ads would be the Charlotte Observer. I’m sure they are on line. When we were moving back to NC from the west coast we used things like the REMAX home finder on line to see about what was available. I grew up on the other side of the city near UNC-Charlotte, the university. My dad was a professor there. The GDF conference will be in Charlotte in October. You can find out more information about that on the home page. Click on the top green section here.

Where do you live in NY? My sister in law is from the Astoria and my step- mother in law is from upstate. My brother and his family live in the city now.

How are you feeling today? There are several large hospitals in the Charlotte area. I don’t know about Graves endos but you could probably search on some of the endocrinology society web sites. I live closest to UNC-Chapel Hill area. My endo is head of the endocrinology dept. there at the hospital. I have to go about 1.5 hours to get to him. There are others that are a bit closer I’m sure. We live out in the country. I knew that he treated Graves patients so I tried him. He’s not perfect but I have become so much more informed from this BB that I ask a lot of questions. I just had RAI in May and am still waiting for a big change. There are lots of transplants from up north here in the Raleigh area. What does your son want to study? My oldest is headed off to college next week.

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in reply to: Checking in #1068842

Cathy,
I haven’t been lucky enough to experience that yet but it seems to me that the same things that are on the books for insomnia would make things easier on you too. I.e. going to bed at the same time each night, getting up at the same time each day even on the weekend, not doing work in bed etc.. These things helped me when I was having issues with my fibromyalgia many moons ago. My body learned to wake up even when I didn’t want to.

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in reply to: How do I cope with Graves’ Disease? #1068826

Kit,
I know from working in the schools that they will miss you terribly if you have to go. With the economy the way it is I’m sure you need your job but maybe they would be willing to work with you on scheduling or fewer hours to keep you so you could have more flexibility with your health until it gets under control. Have you used the search engine here to look for past posts on benefits, being out of work or phrases like that? I know lots of people have written on it in the past.

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