Can severe stress cause significant spike in T3 & T4?
Posted , 4 users are following.
i was diagnosed with Graves back in 2016 shortly after my dad passed and i was postpartem with my second child. my TSH was undetectable with very high T3&4. i suffered all the classic symptoms of hyperthyroidism. i recovered fairly quickly being on tapazol and my TSH even started to come back at healthy levels on its own. i was happy and doing great, even my endo wanted to take me off meds bc i was taking such miniscule amount daily (0.25mgs) but i decided to stay on this dosage anyway and have been stable for 3 years until now.
I checked mt lab results today and they have not been this bad since i first got disagnosed. TSH undetectable and t3&4 out of control. i wasnt completely surprised as. i started noticing symptoms about a month ago when my skin started to itch, light period during the month of december (and its usually heavy) and major heart palpitations that i could even hear it! i knew something wasnt right. i have my endo appt tmrw so will be letting her know al this.
my last lab was in October and my numbers were perfect then so obviously something happened in between? well, something did. after my last perfect blood work, i discovered my husband who i have 2 small kids with, had an affair and i fell into depression. i nearly quit my job but luckily i didnt. during the past few months my life has been full of doubts and insecurities and admittedly, last month i even skipped my tapazol for almost a week. my husband and i have since started counselling and ive been feeling better so not sure if all this is connected to my poor recent lab work. any thoughts? id appreciate it.
0 likes, 5 replies
Jackieh26 Cecelo
Posted
Firstly can I just say what a fantastic woman and mum you are!! You've had so much to deal with the past few years but you've stuck with it. From my own experience (and I've had overactive thyroid 3 times since 2008) stress has a big part to play in it. Please do discuss all your symptoms with your endo. Once you get your meds right again you'll be able to focus on the issues in your life and deal with them. Please know that you're not alone. Hopefully you have a family member or close friend who can offer support to you. Let us know how it goes. Take care x
Cecelo Jackieh26
Posted
thank you Jackieh. you have no isea how much your words meant to me (im very fragile emotionally and strangers kind words can mean a lot ❤️)
i just want to know the cause so i can have more control over my own health. thank you.
Jackieh26 Cecelo
Posted
It's always beneficial to speak to fellow sufferers. It helps knowing you have people who understand. People who haven't experienced it have little idea the affect the symptoms can have on your body and mind. I'm in remission but always remember how it took over my life. If you can, try to make time for you. I know that's really hard when you have young kids x
Jmargethe Cecelo
Posted
I was told there can be a string link, and hat the initial onset often follows a stressful event. this was the case for me too. my dad had a stroke and that was the trigger. now I try to manage my stress to avoid a recurrence but obviously that's not always possible.
I think stress also makes diagnosis slower. I blamed my awful symptoms on being stressed and sad. when I finally collapsed I went to the dr expecting to be told it was stress. instead it turned out my thyroid was through the roof.
Mike61308 Cecelo
Posted
I'll share my experience with you too: my GD has been under control and all labs have kept normal (including TSH) for ~ two years. My Endo even started to reduce my MMI does six months ago from 2.5mg a day to one-day off, and two-day off a week. My lab still in range. However, during the past 6 months, I have encountered several stressful events and immediately I could feel "flared up" and suffer some old symptoms again! In every such situation, I always decided to skip "off day" routine in order to lesson the stress and keep my thyroid calm. It's like for every coming unavoidable stress, I have to pay the sacrifice of taking medicine. I certainly do not take it as the best resolution, but before I learn enough and be able to reduce stress in natural way, I have to improvise. So this is my experience and I can quite confidently state this: Yes, stress is one of the very real causes that inflict our thyroid. I just want to wish you mighty power fighting and defeating GD and resolving all hardship due to stresses.