Posted , 5 users are following.
Hi all,
Could do with some advice from anyone else who has experience with an overactive thyroid gland as I have been recently diagnosed and I'm starting to panic about it.
I first had high thyroid levels after the birth of my 2nd child 7 years ago. At the time, I never took any medication as I was sure it would all settle down once my body got back to normal after pregnancy etc. and it did just that! For 7 years I was tested regularly and my thyroid levels were always normal, even when I felt a bit thyroidy.
Just recently though, I began getting palpitations at night and had blood tests and an ECG to try and investigate. ECG was normal but doc said thyroid levels were high again and has referred me to specialist.
In the past two years I have dropped from 11.5 stone to just under 10 stone. But my thyroid levels have always been fine until now so I didn't think hyperthyroid was causing the weightloss. I put it down to finally withdrawing from venlafaxine which is how I gained the weight in the first place. A healthy weight for me is about 10.5 stone - I'm 5'10".
I'm ranting on. I guess I just want to hear some others experiences with hyperthyroid. Can it just go away by itself again without having to take medication? If I take meds to slow it down , will my metabolism stop and I put loads of weight on? Does anyone else's symptoms get really bad at night? I get racing heart / mind, can't sleep, panicky, lump in throat. But only at night. Maybe cos I'm on my own. I'm a single mum to two boys and I worry. A lot!
Please can anyone help me get to grips with this? Thanks.
1 like, 9 replies
Sue1247 Bird82
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Bird82 Sue1247
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I'm not against medication as such it's just I've heard a lot of negative stuff about the meds for hyperthyroid. Piling on 2 stone and their thyroid going under active instead. I guess I just like to feel in control. I suffer with severe anxiety and depression also which makes me think irrationally a lot of the time. Cos I'm tall, I like to stay slim. When I've been bigger I've just felt like a massive giant person and hated it. I know it sounds stupid but it's a real issue I have
jody65 Bird82
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Sue1247 Bird82
Posted
Bird82 Sue1247
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jody65 Bird82
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fern12 Bird82
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Usually a person does not become hyperthyroid and stay that way very long unless there is an auto-immune cause, and that is what Graves' Disease means.
Some people gain weight and some people lose weight even though the only known trigger is hyperthyroidism. The same with hypothyroidism. But it is usually a weight loss with hyper and a weight gain with hypo. It might be obvious that anti-thyroid drugs would cause a weight gain. They do. In the UK the ATD of choice is usually Carbimazole [CBM], while here in the US it is Methimazole [MMI] which is much like CBM, only the CBM is a precurser to MMI. Another, older drug is PTU which is still used if a woman is intending on getting pregnant.
Usually it all hinges on the amount of the drug you are taking. My 2nd Endocrinologist had the policy of starting out low and building from there as needed, so I was given 5mg MMI at first, then 10, then 12.5. I gained weight, but slowly. My thyroid levels had dropped into the normal range, but my TSH level was still near 0.0 until conditions made it such that the Endo was willing to decrease my dose by 2.5mg per week. Then my TSH zoomed up into the normal range.
It is helpful to take some anti thyoid drug for a while, but not necessary if it all rights itself and stays that way when off the drug. I am off it now, and just being monitored about quarterly.
I wish you the best.
vicky81955 Bird82
Posted
It is quite an unpleasant condition which I found difficult to cope with. Get advioce fromn the thyroid foundation and see if there are any support groups in your area. There are lots of people on the net who will give advice and chat. Oh and I lost a lot of weight before diagnosis and gradually put it back on over the last eighteen months. I do watch what I eat now as I don't want to get too heavy.
Get your medication and you will soon feel better.
brightonbreeze Bird82
Posted
I was never over weight but am 3/4 of a stone lighter now than when diagnosed. I feel so much better and happier. I am only on 1.25 msg every 2 days and hoping for remission one day in the future. Good luck.
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