Posted by Flame on September 9, 2005, at 7:45:54
In reply to Re: BP thyroid (again) » Flame, posted by fires on September 8, 2005, at 17:37:52
Good Morning Fires!
"I'm curious about you now being hypo. Did the treatment for Grave's cause it?"
Once diagnosed with Graves disease, most people choose to go with the RAI treatment (destroy the thyroid) at the urging of their dr. I had heard too many horror stories about how people did after the RAI and chose not to go that route. (Much to my endo drs. distress!) I did go on PTU, which suppresses the thyroid. Once my "numbers" got back to normal .. which was quite quickly... I slowly weaned myself off that PTU. For sometime I was feeling quite well .. doing "nothing" in particular for my thyroid. But, since then I have turned hypO. My reading and talking to other thyroid patients has taught me that this can and DOES happen to Graves patients. (Although the drs. don't tell you that part ..)
"Also, years ago I spent a lot of time going to an endocrinologist for Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, but ended up not getting any better, and the dx was dropped (my levels were OK as were the antibodies, but he gave me Synthroid anyway)."
Hashimoto's is what I call the "other side" of Graves. They are both autoimmune diseases, but Graves is (generally) hyper and Hashi's is (generally) hypO. I'm assuming that with Hashi's you can also get hypEr? (Is that what your possibly experiencing?) I'm surprised that you said that your antibodies were "okay" .. as I thought that once you have the autoimmune disease .. those antibodies are always there .. ? I really need to "educate" myself more in the antibody area and how all of that is affected. As far as not getting any better .. my feeling about how drs. are treating thyroid problems nowadays .. is most often that they are NOT correct. When you get your tests results back next week, make sure you scrutinize those well. Drs. will generally tell you that you are "normal" when you are in fact "low-normal" hypO (and feeling just awful.) Make sure your doc orders for you the FT3, FT4 AND TSH. The FT3 & FT4 results should both be in the upper ends of the ranges your lab gives you .. to be feeling your best. Even if your "numbers" fall in the "low normal" range you can still be feeling awful. Thyroid patients are finally realizing that they need to try to get their numbers in the upper quarter of what their labs/Drs. consider "normal". As far as Synthroid .. I have "heard" .. not the greatest responses on it. I talked to a lot of people w/success stories, before I started on Armour. The change in my outlook, energy levels, etc. have been phenomonal! (So, of course .. at this point I have only good to say about Armour! ;-) )"I have many symptoms of hyperthyroidism, yet I'm not excessively moist or sweaty, even when I get too hot (if anything my skin is too dry). Do you know if this is possible with hyperT?"
What are your other symptoms that are "hypEr? Dry skin .. I thought was an indication of being hypO ... ?? Really anything is possible, I guess, when you have thyroid problems. Your particular thyroid problems don't necessarily have to fit the general symptom catgories.
"I've read that thyroid hormone is sometimes used for mood stabilization even if the patient's blood tests are entirely normal. One pdoc wrote that he has quite a few treatment resistant BPs who are *much, much* better on thyroid."
Yes, I guess I have heard/read this also. But .. I think that what a lot of doc's are finally "discovering" (just like your article said on your first post in this thread) is that before prescribing those antidepressants, etc.. they should do a full thyroid work up, to rule THAT out. Thyroid disease diagnosis' has become more and more common in recent years .. Our lifestyles are finally catching up to us! (??)
Well, I hope I've given you at least a little bit to "chew on" in regards to your situation.
Good Luck!
~Flame~
poster:Flame
thread:552304
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050909/msgs/552655.html