[SueAndHerZoo]

in reply to: Endo Appointment – surgery is now on the table #1179364

Hey Karen!
Thanks for the words of wisdom. I really DO already feel a sense of relief…. I am 80% sure I want to do this (well, I would rather not have to do this, but given the three options, this one definitely seems the best for me). Last time I mentioned it to my endo he said he wasn’t sure the surgeons would do it since my levels aren’t that bad, but when I explained to him today that from an Endo’s point of view my levels may not look that bad but when they set off some of my other conditions, they are NOT acceptable to me. He understood and said that if I explain it like that to the surgeons they would probably agree to do surgery.

I have already “rehearsed” the whole scenario in my head many times. The night before surgery I may be restless but will go to bed early since I probably have to be at the hospital early. The next morning will be the hard part: I can’t function without coffee and I can’t just jump up and get ready to go out… I need to wake up slowly. So I will pretty much stagger to the car, have my husband drive me, and hopefully after that I will be knocked out soon. The next thing I’ll know about is waking up in recovery, probably being very groggy (which would be a welcome relief) and then getting instructions and being released the next day. Then I will spend two weeks home from work and enjoy being pampered by my husband.

I will expect to feel pretty good the first week or two and then will TRY to be prepared to have ups and downs as my body adjusts.

OK, first snag: I take a lot of meds when I first wake up in the morning and it wouldn’t be wise for me to skip some of them. What do we do about meds the morning of surgery? I don’t think I’ll be able to swallow them AFTER surgery, right?

Geez, I hope I’m less controlling and organized and obsessive AFTER the surgery. I haven’t even spoken to a surgeon yet and I’ve got my prep and recuperation laid out, hurdles included!

Thanks for the support – I will be following you closely and sending positive thoughts and energy. I’m sure you will be fine – you sound more than ready.
Sue

[SueAndHerZoo]

in reply to: Endo Appointment – surgery is now on the table #1179362

Thanks, Amy….. I will start my list today. I write them in an app on my cell phone and I jot down or “speech to text” the answers right then and there when I go to any doctor’s office. Impressive surgery track record AND a good personality? Hell, can I go for good-looking, too?????

Thanks, Boomer. Your kind words just gave me the boost of confidence that I almost lost (fatigue will do that to you) and you’re right….. I can continue to let this happen to me, or I can take charge and mandate what happens to me.

It’s a shame that more people don’t write on the internet about their POSITIVE experiences….. all I’ve been reading today are horror stories. I’m taking them with a grain of salt, though, and the more I think about it, the more I want this thing OUTTA HERE.

Thanks for the support.
Signed,
Smart Cookie

[SueAndHerZoo]

in reply to: My total thyroidectomy journal #1178825

Sorry about the setback but glad it seems to be easily “fixable”. I’m following this thread with interest since I hope to be having a TT in the future so thank you for doing this.

What scares me is when I hear of post TT patients having high anxiety. The major symptom that is driving me towards surgery is the hope that this anxiety will come down…. not go up! I’m guessing it’s temporary, but everyone’s body is different so who knows what results I will have. I can only hope the anxiety will be less, not more. Doesn’t make any medical or scientific sense that I would be more anxious without a thyroid, right?

Good luck, and thanks again for journaling.
Sue

[SueAndHerZoo]

in reply to: Endo Appointment – surgery is now on the table #1179359

Thanks for the well wishes….. it’s not exactly great news to hear you may be going in for surgery but it’s certainly great news to be offered the option.

I was going to get the surgeons opinions on whether I should do this or not but now I wonder… are thyroid surgeons any good at determining whether we should or not, or are they only good at doing it? Well, I guess I’ll find out.

Of course now I’m going to have to battle all the naysayers (family, co-workers) who think it’s ridiculous to optionally cut out a body part, but unless they’ve walked in these shoes, they don’t get a vote.

Any recommendations on what I should ask these surgeons, besides “how many have you done?” Do I care more about how much I like him or how experienced he is? I’m guessing I will only meet him once or twice so “liking him” is probably not important.

Of course I’m worrying about gaining weight because I always work very hard to stay fit and trim but at this point “fat and happy” doesn’t sound so bad.
Sue

[SueAndHerZoo]

in reply to: Drop in energy like a sugar drop, normal GD symptom? #1179353

I had the blood sugar crash a few times in the past month, too! I of course Googled it and I did find one article that stated something about Graves messing with our blood sugar levels.

I’ve always been kind of a reactive hypoglycemic so I am very good about making sure I always have protein and fiber with any carbs and sugar. One day after work a few weeks ago I was driving to an errand, knew it had been a couple hours since I’d eaten, so I popped open my can of almonds and munched on them. By the time I got to where I was going I was in severe sugar level crash ….. the shakes, the sweats, feeling faint….. actually had a hard time walking. It passed after about 15 minutes but it happened again two more times in the next week. I have no idea what that was all about, especially since my snack was almonds!

That’s just one more thing I hate about this disease…. the unpredictability. I can handle just about anything if I know what I’m dealing with but when strange and new symptoms pop up out of nowhere it really discourages and depresses me.
Sue

[SueAndHerZoo]

in reply to: Diagnosed @ 49 y/o #1179155

Hey B-Man.

Sucks, doesn’t it? I think what you’re going through is normal, but there’s also a chance that you really ARE coming down with something?

Every time I start methimazole or even increase the dosage, it takes about 10 days to 2 weeks before I feel improvement and DURING those days I feel worse. Normally what happens (and I’m not sure why) is the first day on a new dose I feel pretty good. Then the second day and for a week or two I am extremely anxious, wired, sleepy, hot, irritable, sad, explosive, upset stomach, etc.

I believe the methimazole starts working right away to slow down or stop the release of hormones but the ones that are still kicking around in your system need to get flushed out. I’m not sure why you’ve felt good for 10 days, though, and got hit hard tonight. It’s very possible you did pick up a bug or flu… just because our thyroids are out of whack doesn’t mean we can’t get other illnesses (lucky us).

Sorry you’re feeling so lousy, physically and emotionally. Try not to worry about it, go to bed, and hopefully tomorrow will bring relief.

I know what you mean about the doc appointment feeling too far off. Mine was supposed to be May 31st but I called last week, told them that I was crawling out of my skin and wanted my levels checked sooner, and I go tomorrow morning instead.

Welcome to the rollercoaster. And I agree, I can’t take this indefinitely. Even if I do go into remission again, do I want to go through this when I come out? I’m tired of chasing the curve.

Let us know how you feel later or tomorrow, K?
Sue

[SueAndHerZoo]

in reply to: A Cyclist’s Two Days until TT #1179307

Hi there, and welcome.
I will anxiously be following your progress as I, too, am sick of dealing with the ups and downs of Graves and plan to tell my endo tomorrow that I want the names of some surgeons that I can consult with. My endo is pushing RAI, I have several reasons I don’t want to go that route. I’d rather do “once and done”.

Sounds like I grew up in the same family as you. I grew up with a mother who screeched and whined that whatever it is I wanted to do would somehow hurt or kill me. No sports, no amusement parks, no trips, etc. Gee, wonder why I’m an anxious person.

I don’t think you would be human if you weren’t starting to get nervous and second guess your decision. And I’ll bet you almost wish that the surgery was medically mandatory so you could be relieved of the burden of having made this decision of your own free will.

I’m sure it’s going to be fine… I’ve read so many success stories about TT that I am starting to look forward to the future process but I’m sure if I get an appointment I will start to get nervous a week or two beforehand.
Sue

[SueAndHerZoo]

in reply to: Become Obsessively Familiar With Your Meds #1179330

brondack wrote:

Great catch – but understand we can’t possibly catch everything.

In your situation, suppose you got only one bottle and they were all the same size and shape and color.

How would you know whether they were all 10 mg or all 5 mg ?

I would have still noticed they were slightly larger than what I took that morning but if this were my first experience with this drug there’s no way I would have even checked… I would have just assumed the inside of the bottle matched the outside.

I guess from now on I am going to Google images of every pill I get (if it’s new) and thanks to Kimberly’s link that just became a little easier.
Sue

[SueAndHerZoo]

in reply to: Become Obsessively Familiar With Your Meds #1179327

Hi Raspberry.

The pills were from the same manufacturer but one bottle contained 5 mg. pills and the other bottle contained 10 mg. pills. They were all supposed to be 5’s.

The pharmacist was appropriately upset and apologetic…. she kept saying “I can’t imagine how this happened or why he did it this way!” but who knows if there was really a mysterious “he” earlier in the day filling bottles or if it were her and she was deflecting. I did notice that while we were standing at the counter waiting to speak with her she was answering a patient’s questions over the phone and she was sorting, counting, and filling scrips while on the call. Multi-tasking can be a wonderful thing but I’m not sure it should be a common practice of a pharmacist. They are human and they have bad days, aches, pains, sleepless nights, hangovers, etc. Because of that, we have to NOT trust that they are infallible and watch out for ourselves.

After apologizing over and over she took all the pills away and came back with 60 of the correct ones, gave me a gift card to cover the cost of my co-pay and for the cost of the next few co-pays on future refills, and informed me that a report would be filed and the mistake would be investigated and documented.

Patient, protect thyself.
Sue

[SueAndHerZoo]

in reply to: Diagnosed @ 49 y/o #1179151

Wow….. I’m wondering which picture I’m seeing because you look SO YOUNG!

It’s the one that looks like you have something in your mouth or like you’re pointing something at your mouth.

Thank you for the eye-candy.
Sue

[SueAndHerZoo]

in reply to: Diagnosed @ 49 y/o #1179147

Hey – Yo, Oh Devilishly Handsome One . . .
How about putting an avatar pic on here so we can all bask in the splendor?
Sue

[SueAndHerZoo]

in reply to: Is this thyroid or anxiety? #1179200

Definitely under-rated and I am going to start making positive changes that will enable me to get a higher quality and quantity of sleep. I have developed some terrible habits over the decades and while I was getting away with it for a long time, I assume that party is over and it’s time to start improving the way I treat my body if I want it to treat me better. I am slowly weaning myself off of coffee (down to 3 cups a day) and today I made sure my last cup was 4:30 p.m. In the past, the last one was about 8:00 p.m. I will continue to move up the “last cup” time but don’t want to do it drastically as I want to avoid those withdrawal headaches and other related symptoms.

You remind me (thank you) of what a nutritionist/homeopathic doc told me YEARS ago when I went to him for something: he kept stressing through the entire appointment how incredibly critical sleep is for the human body. He told me that all the other things he could suggest and that I’d been trying would not even hold a candle to what better sleep could do for me. I trusted him immensely (he had improved so many things for me and my son) so I have no reason to believe he wasn’t right about that, too. That was a long time ago so thank you for the reminder.

Bed by 11:00 tonight, but I’m still going to have a sitcom on quietly in the background, at least for 30 minutes. This will still be a big improvement over what I’m currently doing.

Sue

[SueAndHerZoo]

in reply to: Diagnosed @ 49 y/o #1179141

Oh my, sorry about your mis-hap…… but add another to your list of people who have “been there, done that.” Were you home when it happened or out in public?

This should make you feel better: I have colitis AND Graves. As they say on the colitis forum “Happiness is a dry fart.”

Sue

[SueAndHerZoo]

in reply to: Another “what do you do?” question #1179232

Kimberly wrote:

Hello – My labs are always fasting, and I have been told not to take meds prior to the test…but as you can see from the responses, there doesn’t appear to be a consensus!

Do you have an option of selecting a different lab? I use a local lab that actually takes advance appointments, and this makes it MUCH easier to deal with a fasting test! Before they started doing this, I would arrive as early as possible and bring a granola bar to munch on as soon as the test was over. You can also ask the lab if they have certain days of the week that are less busy.

Hope this helps!

Those are great ideas, Kimberly, as always.

I’ll ask my endo Thursday if he wants them to be fasting or not and if he does, I will schedule an appointment with the lab for my next one. I’m not sure how much that really helps, but it can’t hurt!
Sue

[SueAndHerZoo]

in reply to: Another “what do you do?” question #1179229

My doc tests my liver each month (I suppose because Methimazole can harm it?) so that’s the test the tech said would be more accurate if I were fasting.

I will ask the doc on Thursday which he prefers.
Sue

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