[LaurelM]

in reply to: TT 8/8 #1180569

Oh my gosh it has been a couple of weeks since I checked in. I have been really busy with the start of school. Also with the start of school is my first cold of the season. Blech. Not quite at 100% stamina but still improving. The incision is looking better and better. My surgeon said to massage it a few times a day and to be sure to protect it from the sun. One tiny suprise is that I will be going to a speech therapist. I seem to be missing my very high range and am prone to voice fatigue and trouble shouting. My kids don’t seem to mind that last one. My ENT surgeon scoped my vocal chords and they are working OK but the muscles looked tight. The therapy should do the trick.

Laurel

P.S. Sorry Iminlou2! I didn’t see that you had posted a question until now.

t

[LaurelM]

in reply to: I walked a 5K today! #1181000

Yay Amy! You, Shirley, and I should meet up for coffee sometime. It would be fun to put faces to names.

[LaurelM]

in reply to: Feeling OK but Looking Horrible #1180841

Definitely cosmetic, docs claim they can’t even see it. I normally have super-pale white skin, so the tan color is quite odd. It first appeared on the skin right below the eyebrow toward the outside over the bone. To my knowledge there’s no eye muscles or soft tissue there, just skin right over the bone – it’s crazy! It looks almost exactly like I got some slightly darker flesh toned eye shadow and smoothed it evenly over. [/quote]

Raspberry,
What you are describing sounds like it could be Melasma. It happened to me my first experience with Graves’. It is more frequently known as the Mask of Pregnancy but also occurs with thyroid patients. Like we needed something else associated with thyroid patients, right?! If that is what it is, then sun protection is your best defense. Mine eventally faded.

Laurel.

[LaurelM]

in reply to: TT 8/8 #1180566

Thanks for the good wishes everyone! Right now I am sitting on my 2/3 complete patio enjoying a cup of coffee. The edgers and stepping stones are still sitting on pallets but it will get done….eventually. I am feeling really good but am at 1/2 stamina. I am comfortably doing low effort activities for a few hours before needing some rest. We even took the kids out for dinner and a movie a couple of days ago.

The incision is healing well and it only feels a little tight and a gentle pull when turning my head. I have fairly close to full range of motion. Look way up is the most limited. This has been a rapid improvement. The first few days I really didn’t want to move my neck.

I started my replacement dose the day after getting home. I am on 112mg of the levothyroxine. I will do labs and see my endo in Oct unless if I am feeling Ok or sooner if symptoms of hyper/hypo become noticeable. The most suprising thing is that I no longer ache all over. I believe it was the PTU making me ache but it must have been gradual enough onset that that I had just gotten used to feeling that way.

Thanks again for this wonderful forum and all the support. It has really helped me through this journey.

Laurel

I

[LaurelM]

in reply to: TT 8/8 #1180562

Sleeping in my own bed without something waking me up every 2 hours felt great. Must have slept almost 10 hours. Just some discomfort at the site that Tylenol is taking care of. Feeling better than I expected but of course I say that while I am comfortably ensconsed in a big soft chair getting waited on. I plan to stay here all day.

[LaurelM]

in reply to: TT 8/8 #1180560

Just a quick note as I am waiting for discharge. All went well. Ended up with 2 drains but those are out now. Calcium levels are good. Needed a little potassium. Swallowing was tough for the first day but rapidly improving. Only needing tylenol since last night. Tired but feeling good. More later.

[LaurelM]

in reply to: Having a baby? #1180142

Hi,
My laptop harddrive died so I hadn’t checked the forum for a few days. I am typung onmy tablet and much prefer a real keyboard so ignore any typos.

I was on methimazole for several months during my first round of Graves and then developed hives and at the same time we discovered were pregnant with our second so for both reasons I was switched to PTU.

Our baby is now a happy and healthy 6 year old. I have written some lengthy posts about my experience. You can search on my user name if you would like to read more, and I would be happy to answer any questions I can about my experience.

It is a lot to think about.

Best wishes,
Laurel

[LaurelM]

in reply to: Had My Consult – Bring on the Surgery! #1179851

I did! Glad I aware of that possibility. Thanks for the heads-up. It certainly is interesting to be able to see your own vocal chords. Everything looked good and they think I’m a good canidate for TT. This was with a Dr that my PCP (a UW doc) referred me to affiliated with UW ENT medicine.

Techinically, this was a 2nd opinion visit even though I ended up seeing them first.

I have an appointment next week with the surgeon my endo referred me to at another facility. Part of me is tempted to cancel and just follow-up with the UW but on the other hand, I also trust (but will verify) my endo’s recommendation too.

So much to consider.

Laurel

[LaurelM]

in reply to: Had My Consult – Bring on the Surgery! #1179843

Yay! I’m sure it must feel good to have that done with.

I have a consult tomorrow and a 2nd opinion next Thursday. I’m feeling really ready for progress.

Laurel

[LaurelM]

in reply to: Anti inflammatory diet #1178797

A friend recently offered me some Kombucha tea which has become pretty popular. I was suprised to learn that it was kelp based. I couldn’t find any good information about if it also had the high iodine content from the kelp but I said ‘no thanks’ just in case.

[LaurelM]

in reply to: Causes #1179741

Hi Suzzanne,

Treating our immune systems would be ideal. Unfortunately, we do not have any good options to do that yet but researchers are working on it. Think about the other auto-immue diseases out there like MS, Psoriasis, Lupus, etc. They too do not yet have fabulous treatment options that fix the immune system. Many of the immune system treatments available only supress the immune system while you are taking the medication and carry serious risks. Hopefully someday…

In the meantime, we have to treat the result of the immune system dysfunction – the elevated thyroid hormone using ATDs, RAI or surgery.

I personally don’t like any of the options and wish like you that we could treat the root of the problem but I am thankful that there treatment options that will keep me from being sick from being hyper.

Take care,
Laurel

[LaurelM]

in reply to: Dear Thyroid… #1179717

Thank you for your kind words everyone. I am happy to report that I have left my pity party and headed to mildly annoyed resignation. Since I am waiting for my endo’s letter to the surgeon I went ahead and made an appointment to see my PCP Friday to see who she would recommend.

Thanks for the link Kimberly – there was some good info. I was suprised to see only one surgeon on that list for our state. I assume that we have many, many more qualified surgeons in our area since we have a well ranked medical school here.

Laurel

[LaurelM]

in reply to: Anyone get pregnant while on ADT’s? #1179558

Hi again-

Just doing another quick check-in inbetween running around with end of school year kid activities. Have you had a chance to use the Search Posts feature? If you put in pregnancy or breastfeeding, you will get a long list of posts to read from several different posters.

Laurel

[LaurelM]

in reply to: Newly Diagnosed, Reacting to MMI and Starting PTU #1179575

For my first bout with GD, I was on Methimazole for nearly a year before I had a reaction. We had also just conceived so I would have been switched anyway to PTU. I was taken off just a few weeks into the pregancy. I stayed in remission after delivery.

Fast forward about 6 years and I relapsed. I restarted PTU and have been taking it for a year. It has been fine. I personally liked the Methimazole a bit better because I only had to take it once a day and I think I felt just a bit better on it but I imagine that is a very individual assessement. It is very likely that I am just that much older this time and the GD is being a bit peskier to manage. I don’t think the PTU has been a significant difference.

Take care,
Laurel

[LaurelM]

in reply to: Anyone get pregnant while on ADT’s? #1179555

Hi NikkiK,

I don’t have a lot of time right now (busy with kid related stuff:))but if you search by my user name, you can read several lengthy posts I have written about my experiences with post-partum onset and getting pregnant on ATDs. I would be happy to answer any additional questions you might have.

Welcome to the board and take care.

Laurel

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