[SueAndHerZoo]

in reply to: Would You Like to Become a Graves’ Forum WARRIOR? #1181018

Yes, that helped a lot, thank you. At some point in the future perhaps I’d be qualified to be a Warrior but since my medication dosage is not stable yet and since I still “need” the forum, this probably isn’t the time.

Thanks for clearing it up…. hope you get lots of eager volunteers!
Sue

[SueAndHerZoo]

in reply to: Would You Like to Become a Graves’ Forum WARRIOR? #1181016

Hi Kimberly.
What are the commitments and obligations of a Warrior? In other words, what’s the difference between being a Warrior and being someone who’s often on the forum sharing experiences and commenting on other’s threads?
Sue

[SueAndHerZoo]

in reply to: Carb Intolerance #1180947

Thanks, Harpy…I know carb intake and metabolism is a VERY complicated topic and I’ve only scratched the surface of pretending to know much about it. But I do know that I feel much better when I limit my carbs and it seems I look better, too.

I’m not being finatical about cutting out carbs (not like I was 9 years ago) but I have substituted vegetables, proteins and healthy fats where I used to live on bread, pasta and white rice. And will I have a slice of bread occasionally? Absolutely, but I will definitely not eat as much of it as I was a week ago. Breakfast has been switched from carbs to eggs and lunch is now still the same healthy sandwich but without the bread. I’ll still have a little chocolate to quiet my sweet tooth but it won’t be an unmonitored amount. Last night I counted myself out 10 peanut butter M&M’s.

My eyes are definitely looking better . . . no idea if it was the carb reduction or if whatever other reason it happened has left, but it’s nice to not look like I just crawled out of a grave.

Thanks for the information….. as with most everything, the answer to carb intake is moderation.
Sue

[SueAndHerZoo]

in reply to: Feeling OK but Looking Horrible #1180843

Hey Lady…. your last note sounds like you’re in a pretty good mood with all this today – hope that’s the case and hope you can keep it! Easier said than done, right?

Very interesting, your theory about whether people reacted differently to you today because of the extra care and attention to make up or if your attitude was different. Very interesting. On days when I feel like I look crappy I most definitely carry myself differently, have different body language, don’t engage in face-to-face conversations as easily, and basically try to avoid people. It’s probably THAT that others sense in us and react to. Geez, just think of the money we waste on make up and concealers when all we really need to do is hold our heads up high and walk with confidence! I think I’ll try going to work bare-faced tomorrow and experiment with that theory. (NOT!)

I’m not sure if I’m hoping that you have melasma or not! I guess it would be good to know what it is but I haven’t read about it so is it something that’s easy to live with?

I’ll tell ya what…. I think I’ve just about had it with all the little extra’s that come with the GD package. I’m not sure who to complain to about this – perhaps my Congressman?

Tomorrow will be better for all of us, right? RIGHT?!?!?!?

Sue

[SueAndHerZoo]

in reply to: Tweaking Meds – Bad Idea, I know #1180976

snelsen wrote:

You sure can! Ask, and push about this. THere should be a way you can sign up for electronic access to you chart. I had a lab drawn this morning at 8, and I already have looked up the results at 10am.

Shirley

Unfortunately, I can’t get the lab results directly. I went to the website as soon as I left Quest Diagnostics (where I get my blood drawn) and they DO have a system where you can get your results and even get them on your SmartPhone! Unfortunately, there are twelve states where that has still not been approved, and Connecticut is one of them.
Sue

[SueAndHerZoo]

in reply to: Feeling OK but Looking Horrible #1180840

It’ll be interesting to see if people react to me differently – I think I’ve got kind of a tired haunted look even on my best day these days so it would be great to improve that. Keep us posted with your experiments!

Well? At least those of us with the sunken, haunted, zombie-looking dark-circled eyes will be in great costume for Halloween! (trying to find some levity in this but that could be because I woke up today thinking my eyes looked a tad better).
Sue

[SueAndHerZoo]

in reply to: How long did you have symptoms before you got the diagnosis? #1180988

You’re probably going to get a wide variety of answers to this but I think the most popular answer will be that there really isn’t one.

My GP had been telling me for 30 years (during my yearly physical) that I had a goiter and “One of these days, that thing is going to go kaplooey on you!” He would run blood work every year and send me for scans every few years but I was always in “normal” range. It finally went Kaplooey 7 years ago and yes, my symptoms were much worse for the few months before that. I went into remission a couple years ago but started feeling lousy in January. I thought it was because I had lots of stressful things going on but, come to find out, I was out of remission.

Now that I’ve had a TT and have been through several different levels in the past 8 weeks I’m getting really good at feeling when I’m in range and when I’m not and hopefully won’t have to suffer as long as I used to before getting treatment. Also, now that I have experienced what I’m SUPPOSED to feel like at a normal level, I really think this thyroid has affected me negatively for at least 20 years. So many of the things I’ve felt (bad ones) most of my life were gone during the few weeks recently when I felt good.

So in summary, I think you can suffer with symptoms for decades, and some people may be lucky enough to catch it in months. I guess it depends on how severely it hits you when it hits.
Sue

[SueAndHerZoo]

in reply to: I walked a 5K today! #1180998

Hello Fellow Blerchers. (I think I love that term!)

I think one of the hardest parts for us is knowing when we need to kick ourselves in the butt to be functional and when it’s truly not going to work and would be better for our minds and bodies if we give in and stay home. It seems with me that about 70% of the time if I can get through the rough part of forcing myself to go to work or to an outing I will start feeling “OK” as the day wears on, but there are those 30% where I feel like I am white-knuckling it through the whole thing and wishing I had listened to my inner voice to stay in bed. “Sometimes it works – sometimes it doesn’t.”

Even though I have been fighting Graves for many, many years, it still amazes me how many systems in our bodies it screws up. Is nothing safe or sacred from this GD thing???? (GDGD – God Damned Graves Disease!)
Sue

[SueAndHerZoo]

in reply to: Back to hyperT? #1180980

Hi there, me again.
I got up this morning (REALLY struggled to get out of bed because it wasn’t a good night’s sleep – welcome back, hyper-ness!) and proceeded to go about my morning routine to get out of the house. I was like a furnace and was miserable trying to get dressed. Even with the AC blowing directly on me I felt like I needed another shower. I can’t believe I lived like that for so long because I was so distraught with it today even though I know (or at least hope) it’s temporary. What a miserable way to try to function! My digestive tract also reminded me that things were going too fast, and my anxiety symptoms are in full gear.

I headed to the lab and found that, unfortunately, Connecticut is not one of the states where the lab will provide blood results directly to the patient so I guess I’m at the doc’s mercy to call me in a few days. I certainly hope he’s not on vacation!

Regarding what you can do to make your “riding it out” easier, do you have any anti-anxiety meds you can take for the time being? Or beta blockers? It’s miserable enough we have to go through this but to not have anything to turn to for a little relief is s helpless / hopeless feeling.

I’m still going to call a new endo today to see about meeting her in the near future. It would be nice to know how liberal or conservative she is in regards to listening to symptoms rather than just numbers.

Hope you’re doing OK today…. keep us posted or feel free to PM me or e-mail me.
Sue

[SueAndHerZoo]

in reply to: Back to hyperT? #1180978

Sorry you’re feeling lousy. I don’t have any advice for you (except maybe to shop around for a new endo in case yours continues to make you suffer longer than necessary).

I had a TT on July 16 and have had my ups and down for the past 8 weeks but lately I’ve felt good most of the time. However, I’m feeling hyper symptoms creeping back in and it depresses the hell out of me. I was so relieved to get rid of those nasty symptoms and I’m already reminded how miserable they can make you.

I’m going to have blood drawn tomorrow (even though I’m not due for over another week) and hope I don’t have to argue with my endo to let me change my dosage. And I fear pretty much what you’re experiencing…. having the levels be within “normal” range and having the doc tell me to ride it out. Easier said than done. Life would be much easier for us patients if our doctors had some first hand experience with Graves. I’m not wishing them ill, but they just have no idea what this can do to our lives and “waiting it out” is sometimes enough to make you jump off a bridge.

Hang in there…. hope you get relief soon.
Sue

[SueAndHerZoo]

in reply to: I walked a 5K today! #1180994

Way to go, Amy! thanks for the pep talk and wisdom. Yes, it’s so much easier to crawl into a hole (or back into bed or onto the couch) but we can’t realistically do that forever so some days we have to dust ourselves off and forge ahead even if we don’t think we can possibly do it.

Most days it will work, some days it won’t. Today I woke up feeling like a blerch but had a family commitment (child’s birthday party) that I had to attend. I seriously contemplated copping out but forced myself to go anyway. I didn’t really feel any better while there and most of the time I was looking at the clock counting the minutes until I could leave but it wasn’t horrible, either. I was just in a “blerchy” mood all day and only wanted to lie on a couch and lose myself in a movie or two. I’m sure I wasn’t the life of the party but I didn’t bring anyone down with me so I’m glad I went.

Congrats on pushing yourself to walk, but don’t forget that some days we totally deserve to blerch out.
Sue

[SueAndHerZoo]

in reply to: Feeling OK but Looking Horrible #1180838

Thanks, Ski. Even though some of those stats were frightening and discouraging it’s always better to know the truth and be prepared for what we may have to deal with.

I was also very curious to get an answer about whether or not my ophthalmologist would have been able to see a problem with GED without specifically looking for GED. I think my eyes are ok right now but if I feel them acting up in any way I will go back in, tell him what I may be dealing with, and get some baseline tests done.

My eyes look better today after 3 days of cutting out carbs. Coincidence? Too soon to tell but I’m guessing there is a connection.

Sue

[SueAndHerZoo]

in reply to: Tweaking Meds – Bad Idea, I know #1180974

Thanks, everyone. I needed a kick in the pants to do the sensible thing. But as you all know too well, when you don’t feel good and you’re looking at weeks (sometimes months!) before you get relief, it’s enough to make you do something drastic.

Yes, I realize the lab results are usually available in 24 hours or less and I think they sit on my doc’s desk until an hour before I see him. So I will definitely call and nag starting Tuesday afternoon.

I can get my own results without hearing them from a doc???? That would be so awesome! I’ll look into that first thing in the morning or will ask about it when I go get blood drawn.

Yes, Amy, I recall lecturing you about not doing what I was tempted to do…. was hoping you’d see the humor in it.

Very good to hear that sometimes we can feel relief within days, not weeks. I can handle this stuff if I know there’s a light at the end of a short tunnel, but the longer the tunnel gets, the harder it is to stay positive.

Thanks all.
Sue

[SueAndHerZoo]

in reply to: Feeling OK but Looking Horrible #1180835

Wow, Raspberry…. hadn’t heard of that one yet. Is it more like thousands of tiny freckles making the area look dark or is it a streak of color? In other words, individual spots or large areas? How frustrating, especially in addition to the circles and puffiness. Have any of your doctors ever had any input about these eye issues, or do they just dismiss them as a trivial, cosmetic thing?

I guess my eyes could be a delayed reaction, but nothing for 6 weeks and then BAM – one day I wake up looking horrible and it hasn’t let up for almost two weeks. I know what you mean about people looking at you differently. I so miss having people tell me how “vibrant and healthy” I look. But I’m feeling positive at this moment so I’m planning on looking that way again, damn it!

Now if only we could get your tan discoloration to place itself strategically to look like well-placed eye shadow… some women would pay to have that!
Sue

[SueAndHerZoo]

in reply to: Feeling OK but Looking Horrible #1180833

Possible Great Concealer:

When I was discussing my “sickly eyes” with a co-thyroid patient at the office she told me she had (and still has) the same problem but I always thought her eyes looked fine. The next day she brought me in her concealer to show me and even though I only tried it on the back of my hand, I liked the texture and thickness.

I got online and ordered myself one and it just came in. I haven’t had a lot of time to practice and play with it yet but I think I’m going to like it: Smashbox High Definition concealer. It’s got really great reviews, especially for under eye circles, and I think the most challenging part would be picking the correct shade online. Probably better off to go buy it somewhere in person but I didn’t have time this week so gambled with a shade online.

After a few days of learning how to use it, I’ll let you know. From the little I’ve read, you should dab it on, let it dry for a minute or two, and then blend.

Sue

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