Shirley,
I am actually not new to the site, but have been okay for a while and haven’t visited.
My story… I found out about my Graves in August of 2008. I was severely hyper, TSH being unrecognizable. I had lost a lot of weight, but was not unhappy about that and thought I had finally lost my baby weight.
Anyway… was put on tapazole and beta blockers and have the poke marks left from the many, many level checks – monthly, then bimonthly, trimonthly and now I am at my six month wait to see if I make remission. I have enough anxiety and depression and irritability to be put on happy pills, which may or may not be the result of the Graves. My life is full of stress filled surprises. Probably why I am Graves to begin with. Whatever the reason, I need them to keep me sane still.
I have had eye issues, TED, but not severe enough to have surgery, mostly severe vision changes from near to far sighted and back again with horrible watering and dryness. I did have bulging early after diagnosis.
All in all I have probably been sick for at least 5 years, only knowing since summer 2008.
I have had one nodule since the beginning. I can see them in my neck. My butterfly is greatly diminished from what it was and I can see at least one more nodule.
How do I feel now? Fine, I suppose. I have struggled with who I was/am. I do remember laughing again for the first time just this past year. That was odd. I try not to linger on the Graves. God knows I have plenty more i n my little world to distract me. Once in a while something will be physically different and familiar, like sneaking up on me, and I will think "Is this a symptom? Am I starting this again?" I don’t like that feeling. It makes me lean toward being all done and having RAI if (ever) I need to make that decision. But that scares me too.
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