Posted , 2 users are following.
Morning 🌹
Just over a year ago I was diagnosed with Graves' disease
I was suffering many symptoms and felt very ill indeed
I was put on Carbimazole, Starting at a dose of 20mg /day...
I quickly felt better and many of my awful symptoms reduced drastically .
Slowly my dosage was reduced and at
10mg I felt very good and in no pain !
When I reduced to 5mg endocrinologist decided I was Euthroid ... normal And
Drug was stopped .
A few months later now and I have the awful pain in my joints again and my muscles are Sore and feel useless ,
Getting up from a chair , or getting out of my car is so painful and I must stop for a minute to get my legs to respond .
I feel like I have no muscle to support my joints ... 🙀
I take supplements to support and strengthen my immune system which is attacking my thyroid ! .. namely
D3
B1
B 12
B complex
Selenium
Copper
Zinc
Magnesium
Acidophilus as 80% of immune system is in our gut
I took L Carnitine to wean off Carbimazole
And I'm sure it helped ... but no longer do
As I was supposed to be Euthroid and didn't want to become Hypothyroid ..,
Can one of you ... more learned and knowledgeable .. friends please help me
As I am in awful pain and feel tired ...
Linda are you there ... ?
Madge 🌹
1 like, 5 replies
Guest madge1979
Posted
Hi Madge,
your persistent muscle pain and muscle weakness indicates that something is not right. You should definitely talk to your doctors and have it investigated.
There are different types of muscle disorders, the generic name is myopathy. I am aware that one of these can be triggered by hyperthyroidism namely thyrotoxic myopathy.
You mention that you used to take L-Carnitine. Do you remember your daily dose?
You could find out if you are Carnitine deficient by having a blood test.
Btw, L-Carnitine is an amino-acid that is synthesised by our own body. The building blocks of carnitine are essential amino-acids that are supplied by eating enough protein. To try to combat deficiencies 'the natural way' make sure that you have a generous daily protein intake. (This is very important especially for vegetarians and vegans.)
madge1979 Guest
Posted
thank you Dan , I just noticed you'd replied to my post of ten days ago..
I have never eaten meat in my life ... but have always eaten fish and certainly have a good diet of eggs, fish , nuts, seeds and other protein
foods.. but I will ask for my Doctor for my Carnitine levels to be tested , as
you mentioned . I can't really remember how much I took of it to wean myself off the Carbimazole ... but was guided , rightly or wrongly by what
I learned on here to be a good dosage ... and actually took less than
others were saying they took .
I didn't even get into conversation with my Dr. about supplementing as
he just shakes his head when I've mentioned it before, like its a waste of time ... and when I said I'd like to help my immune system rather than kill my thyroid he said ... that would be impossible as it's much too complicated !!! ( for him )
Ive taken on board what you've said about
thyrotoxic myopathy and will do what I can to find out more about it
so I can arm myself with some knowledge before I see my Dr next.
Thank you so much for your kind information.
m🌹x
madge1979 Guest
Posted
Thyrotoxic Myopathy ... that's what you suspected might be wrong Dan
.... so .. there was no way I was going to the doctor with that name ...as I thought that just might make him shake his head .... again !!
so, as usual I decided to look it up ! just to find out how safe it was ..
It didn't take long to find out sooo much about that name .,
so I decided again , to self medicate .. at least experiment.
I have had so much pain in my joints , particularly shoulders knees and one hip ..hands and feet I have had MRI scans and was contemplating hip surgery , even though I was assured I have NO arthritis in my hip
.. I am ( was.... a very fit and active person before my graves onset ) so... I thought I had nothing to lose by trying Potassium
which I knew very little about .. and that seems to be the missing ingredient ... Potassium
......that at was about four days ago.
I found some very interesting medical papers on the subject where
people in other countries had presented themselves at hospitals they could barely walk and were in tremendous pain... it was noticed that
they were suffering from Graves' disease and one doctor decided to give them pain killers etc.. no effect ... then had a lightbulb moment and prescribed around I think, 5,000mg of Potassium .. hey presto..next day they were pain free ...😊
So here I am four days later Dan ... and I have NO Pain ...none !
.....for the first time in 3...4 years ,, I cannot believe it !
im so afraid to tell my doctor ..in case it returns .. so I'm keeping it to
myself for a while ... I just cancelled an appt with my osteosurgeon .
to decide what he should do next with my hip .. my hip is Painfree !
You are a wonderful person for sharing that piece of knowledge with me ..
Dan... I thank you from the bottom of my heart !
it makes so much sense ... as when I was at my worst with Graves I was drinking water like crazy and constantly passing water day and night ... that and my bowels were moving non stop ! I must have depleted my body of many vital vitamins and minerals ,
many of them I have been replacing ... but not Potassium !
... You're a Star 🌟 Dan God Bless You ..
mx🌹
Guest madge1979
Posted
That's great. So glad you found out what you were lacking. I am amazed at the speed of your recovery. Muscle and joint pain can be really debilitating. Let's hope that you remain pain free.
Goes to show how important it is to do a bit of research.
Btw, how did you increase your intake of Potassium? Do you use reduced Sodium table salt?
madge1979 Guest
Posted
Apparently .. the cases I read about in the medical papers said that the situation of the Thai patients changed in 24 hours ...
Yes you're correct .... the Internet has empowered us ..
and i I looked online for potassium ... apparently you won't really find
pills online of more than 100mg and our bodies should have around 4,700mg per day .... seems a high figure .. so the first day I took
sodium free salt ..ie potassium and then ordered and received Potassium
crystals ..looks and tastes like salt ..
I take one third of a teaspoonful 2 times a day and the rest if what I need is in my diet ... ie nuts avocados and bananas potatoes etc,
Thanks again Dan ... 🌟
mx🌹