[sharilynk]

in reply to: Possible relapse but bloods only just off #1170930

Hi there Beauty2010 ~ I’m new here too. I went hyper four different times before finally having rai treatment and in each subsequent time after the initial episode, I could feel it coming and started having symptoms before my numbers went out of range. I would feel it coming, go in for labs, they would be normal but higher than the previous ones. So my doc wouldn’t do anything but tell me to come back in three months for another check. Each time on the second check my numbers were out of range and he started me back on methimazole. So I spent the intervening three months feeling terrible with symptoms. Once a doc told me that maybe I was having anxiety from life stress and would I like him to prescribe an anti-depressant, and I was incredulous that he would jump to that conclusion rather than pay attention to the stack of previous labs he had showing my history of hyperthyroidism. I refused the antidepressant, and the labs from that same visit came back showing my thyroid to be very hyper and he never again told me I was just having anxiety from life. It sounds like your doc took your reports of symptoms seriously so that’s good. If you have a doc who listens to you and thinks about what you say rather than just having his or her nose glued to the lab reports, then stick with that doc.
Best wishes~

[sharilynk]

in reply to: Wife want divorce and family in shambles #1170259

Hi there. I’m a woman who’s been down the hyperthyroid road like your wife at about the same age, and, although I never cheated on my husband, I can see how it could happen. I certainly went through a long period of being very difficult to live with. I was sure that, after all my years “sacrificing” for my family, none of them appreciated me and why should I continue caring so much about their needs instead of my own needs. Long story made short, I became totally self absorbed and angry about everything. I’m glad they put up with me and that I didn’t go so far off the deep end and destroy my family. But I can see how easily it could have happened. I don’t know where I’d be without my husband of 33 years and my two wonderful adult kids. I used to work in medicine and the docs used to tell our patients when they gave them certain medications that could alter their reasoning abilities, “Don’t make any important decisions while you’re on this medication”. Well, thyroid docs should tell that to hyperthyroid patients. Reasoning goes out the window and onto the street. Sadly, many endocrinologists don’t do a very good job of managing the patient. They want to do lab work and prescribe and not see you for three or six months. It’s hard to find one that really understands the full effects of the disease. Managed care has made things much worse because the docs have to see a lot of patients in order to pay their bills.
You said your wife had a low white count on the methimazole. Was she still on 15 mgs? For me, I am a small frame person, and my doc started me out on 20 mg but quickly dropped me to 10 mg and then to 5 mg. My white counts went low too, but after I went down to 5 mg. my blood counts returned to normal and I was able to maintain normal thyroid numbers on that low dose.
I eventually went hyper again after being on the meds for two years and then trying to go off. I was off meds for over a year before I went hyper again, so last July had rai treatment. It’s been a tough row to hoe. It’s been so long since I felt normal I don’t know what normal feels like. I went low and gained a bunch of weight before my doc started me on synthroid. Now my numbers are back in range and I do feel better but still have heart palpitations and trouble sleeping through the night. My muscles cramp and my skin has changed a lot. I have about 20 pounds to lose.
My point is, while rai stops the overactive part and some of what goes with that, there will be a whole new set of physical issues to deal with. Too much thyroid followed by rai followed by low thyroid followed by medication does a terrible number on a person physically and recovery takes a while. Sometimes I feel like I’ve been through chemo and the effects are ongoing.
So hang in there and I hope your wife will too. Hopefully the crisis will come under control and she will look back at some point and appreciate that you and the girls stuck with her. It takes a lot to do that. Best wishes.

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