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in reply to: Phew I made! I am now thyroid free and home! #1069453

Glad you made it through alright and are home now. Hope you feel better already.

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in reply to: im afraid to. . . . #1069477

It’s not a medicine as such it’s a replacement hormone for what you aren’t making anymore. You need it. You can do this.

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in reply to: My big day! RAI tomorrow #1069607

Julie,
I had blood work at three weeks and my tsh was normalizing. At 6 weeks I felt so bad I went to my GP here in town and had blood work. My tsh had dropped to .009 hyper levels. I had an appt. with endo this past tuesday around 10.5 weeks and that’s the blood work I’m waiting for now. My endo ( more than an hour away ) had no explanation about why my tsh had dropped again. If my levels haven’t improved I am going to ask about whether to do a second dose of the radiation. I had 15 millicuries, which seemed like a high dose to the nuclear med folks.

Sounds like you need to just do the RAI as early as you can with your doctor’s urgency to help you get better. I would go ahead and call now and try to schedule things before too long since there is a chance that the i131 will take longer to get to them than planned. They can always hold onto it a little longer but it would be bad not to have it available. I’ve read that there can be a shortage of the isotope at times when the reactor in Canada is off line for a while.

I’ll post when I get my new numbers. Hopeful had her’s around the same time I did and she’s gone hypo after about 10 weeks. She is a lot younger than I am.

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in reply to: My big day! RAI tomorrow #1069605

Julie,
I can tell you that everyone seems to react differently to the RAI. I had it 11 weeks ago and am feeling worse now than I did the week after. I am waiting to see if I am still hyper or have gone hypo. I hope the doctor will call this morning. I may end up being one of those who has to have a second dose. I really hope not but we’ll see. I’d try and schedule the procedure on a Friday if possible if your work week is M-F. This way you might be able to squeeze a few more days off from the weekend. I felt a lot better after a week but as I said everyone is different. I would plan on some time off at first to give yourself a break. If you feel better the second week could you go back to work and save the second week for later? I guess it all depends on how your vacation time is done and if you can carry it over to the fall.

Glad that you have been able to find a doctor who is helping you. I know what you mean about the beta blockers. I don’t want to go back on that. I got very constipated and my legs hurt and I guess I was taking on water. If my heart rate will calm down I will feel better no matter if I’m hyper again or hypo.

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in reply to: Unemployed, no insurance – meds running low… #1069489

Mickey,
I’m sorry to hear about your job. My mom buys some of her drugs without a co-pay on medicare because it’s cheaper. She calls around to all the local drug stores to get their prices and the one that she likes to go to matches the price. You might ask if buying a 60 or 90 day supply would be cheaper per tablet. I know that some pharmacists don’t recommend mail order for synthroid because of it sitting in huge temperature changes. I work at a pharmacy school so I ask a lot of questions.

Hope this helps some. Glad to know that you are feeling fine.

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in reply to: And the verdict is. Drum roll please…… #1069506

Hopeful,
Congratulations! I am really happy for you. I think you will do well. Being scared is normal so just meditate on the future and how it will be better. Your classes are set and now you will be able to go on with your life. I don’t think you’ll be allergic to this hormone. There are several manufacturers so if you do have a reaction you can change brands. I think that most people probably have a reaction to the fillers and others things in the medication that aren’t hormone.

Good luck and let us know how you are feeling in a few days. My GP told me that he’s had patients who felt so much better in just three days. They weren’t euthyroid of course but they were getting back to normal and it really did start to help.

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in reply to: My big day! RAI tomorrow #1069602

runlacie,
We didn’t have much rain just a lot of fuss…… Anyway, my HR was 100 when I went to bed and 100 when I got up. Go figure huh. I do hope to get some answers today but I am beginning to be afraid that the RAI didn’t work. Thanks for telling me about what your endo said about menopause. I really think that is part of my problem too. Remember that your thyroid will take up most of the radiation soon but that the isotope will take longer to decay once it’s in your thyroid. You won’t be a danger to anyone once it’s all in your thryoid. The half life of the isotope is about 8 days so it takes about 10 cycles for it to all break down or about 80 days. My husband is a scientist and I have had fun playing with his geiger counter. My thryoid is still putting out radiation but it is a lot less than what it was the first few days. I’ve had visions of my thyroid being a demon and that it’s angry that I tried to kill it and now it’s fighting back. I guess I need to get a new battle plan.

Have a good day. I am being kind to myself and staying home from work. Just can’t see myself being any good at the staff meeting today.

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in reply to: My big day! RAI tomorrow #1069600

runlacie,
My dose was 15 millicuries. They thought that should be enough to kill it but I guess they might be wrong. My first uptake a year ago was over 70% but this time is was around 35-40%. I had been on atds before the first uptake test and scan. I had been off them for almost a year when I had the second test before my RAI. The only thing that my doctor and I can think of is that I am going into menopause right now and that may be complicating things. When the numbers come back we’ll see what he says then. He says that he has seen it take up to six months for the radiation to have its effect and that I may just be one of the longer ones. I hope the numbers will show that I am going the right way. If not I’ll have to decide how to bring up the possibility of a second dose. I really don’t want to do that again but if that’s what it will take…….I had such a hard time the first time with the doctors at the hospital not believing that I needed it when my endo and I said I did. They were of the sort that didn’t believe that I had enough symptoms etc..

I keep hoping things will abate but am going to bed with a heart rate around 100. Bad weather coming through tonight and that always affects me too.

Sleep well.

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in reply to: seriously…. #1069520

Thanks for screaming for me too. I had a lovely spinach and bacon sandwich for supper. Eat something that you like that’s nutritious too and you’ll feel like you did something good for yourself. I am waiting for a phone call tomorrow too about my levels. How is your schedule coming for fall classes?

I am sending my oldest off to college in August. I know he will be fine but wonder what the stress will do to me especially if I haven’t gone hypo or at least normalized some.

Take care tonight.

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in reply to: My big day! RAI tomorrow #1069596

runlacie,
I was told that the "dumping" of the hormones would be around two weeks but I am still hyper ten weeks out. I posted a question about this for myself since I was reading normal at 3 weeks out and at 6 weeks was very hyper and just had blood work yesterday so am waiting. My endo seemed confused that I had these strange numbers. Anyway I think it is very individual so be prepared for anything until you are definitely hypo at some point. My Dad had RAI 10+ years ago and has never gone hyper but he’s unusual.

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in reply to: personal question #1069673

Hope things went well! Enjoy your rest as your healing begins.

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in reply to: I dropped in on my local DVRS office today #1069529

Sorry you’re having such a bad time lately. Don’t have any great advice but just wanted to say been there done that and things will get better.

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in reply to: TSH numbers after RAI up and down #1070344

Funny you should mention Rocky. We heard that movie theme in the movie theater on Sunday and my daughter commented "on no"! I am feeling very slug like and depressed tonight on one level and worried on another level. When I worry I eat so that’s not good since I am taking on water. I’ll certainly let you know how the results turn out. How are you feeling? Any better than last week?

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in reply to: TSH numbers after RAI up and down #1070342

Followup to my original post here: had blood work done at 3 weeks TSH and Free T-4 normal. Just had blood work at 6 weeks and TSH is hyper range again and Free T-4 is normal.

Went to my endo today 10 weeks post RAI. He was at a loss to explain the TSH going hyper again after being normal three weeks out. The tsh numbers were 1.45 at three weeks and .0098 at six weeks. He told me that from my symptoms of heart rate going up again and other things that I’m probably still hyper now. Lab results in two days hopefully. My endo has been pretty good. He is head of large university hospital department but even at age 74 he seemed really surprised to see my tsh patterns after RAI.

My quandry now is whether or not to take low dose of methimazole again if I’m still hyper. He suggested that to help me feel some better but I don’t want to interfere with the RAI doing its work. Anyone else had this happen?

Oh, btw, I haven’t been on methimazole for over a year. I was in remission before I went hyper for the second time and elected to do RAI.

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in reply to: Gardasil Vaccine and Graves Disease #1069557

Where did you get information on the vaccine and Graves? That might give you a clue as to it’s accuracy. Sounds like you are in Australia? I only say that because of the glandular fever reference. That’s what my aunt in NSW called her beginnings of thyroid problems.

The vaccine maker should have a web site that may report side effects. In the US I know there is a government agency that collects this information. Can’t get my memory to recall the name of it.

Sounds like she was really really stricken quickly. Glad you were able to figure it out even though it took a while.

I know what you feel about the guilt. I have a child with autism and have always wondered what I might have done when I am feeling guilty. When my academic side takes over I realize that I probably didn’t do anything and it was just chance that things happened the way they did. We love her just the same. This is also the way I have to deal with my Graves or the anxiety and pity start to take over me.

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