Suddenly one morning, when I looked in the mirror, my eyes were swollen, itchy and bugging out of my head. It took 5 doctors, including 3 specialists, a full year to figure out it was Graves and Hyperthyroid. I’ve been on varying doses of Methimazole since last October and have one more blood draw to determine if it’s finally working. It’s made me terribly sick getting used to it, but nausea and stomach cramps seem to have leveled off. I’m terror stricken regarding eye surgery for Graves, and don’t know what I’ll do along those lines. But I have decided on the total thyroidectomy instead of the RAI. I’ve been researching and found that the RAI won’t guarantee that Graves doesn’t return even worse and there’s a chance of gaining weight. When I discussed it with my endocrinologist and an eye surgeon, they confirmed that these are possible outcomes. Good luck with whatever decision you make.
