Overactive thyroid and anxiety

Hi 

I have had dreadful anxiety and am now on citalopram which I think is working. Just wish I had been put on that at the start of my treatment.  I have also started CBT.  The graves does increase anxiety.  I have decided to have RAI in the next couple of months as I had very high readings first time round and I have been told it is highly likely to come back. I really don't want surgery despite my consultant saying this would be best for me due to my anxiety.

 

Hi 

I`ve had terrible anxiety with my overactive thryroid. I`m usually a quite laid back person but just lately I worry about everything and everybody- my husband said that he believes there`s a woman down the road who I haven`t worried about yet

Alison, anxiety issues are very normal for a hyperthyroid. Not a fun by product, but one none the less. I guess try to manage your stress as much as possible. I had the stress and a racing heartbeat so my Dr put me on a low dose beta blocker and those symptoms went away. My question to you is, how long does your Dr plan to treat you with meds for the reoccurance. My Dr said 50% of people who have a hyperthyroid and respond to the meds and go off of them will have a reoccurance of hyperthyroid in the future. He said long term use of meds isn't recommended because it can harm other things in your body if u takr it too long.  I had my thyroid totally removed in April and it was a breeze. I have no after effects of the removal except that I now take synthroid every day since I am considered hypo without a thyroid. I had to have mine removed because of my Graves eye disease along with a hyperthyroid that never did fully correct with meds after 16 months of trying. Talk to your Dr about the anxiety and maybe you can take a low dose med. I am not a pill popper by any means but thyroid symptoms are tricky and can be extensive so anything you can take that will help your quality of life may be worth it. Hope you get to feeling better.

Well i hope you have all good days ahead. Don't be afraid of the surgery if you need it. I live in Alabama and i had the surgery in the morning and was discharged less than 24 hours later and 2 days after that I was back to my normal scedule of exercise which is walking 5 miles a day. If u would need to get back to work after a surgery it would only keep you off work for about 2 days. I feel great and an unexpected byproduct it i have lost some weight not being on the hyper meds anymore and now being on the hypo meds. Take care!

It's awful!!  I have anxiety and paranoia, in fact I have all of the Graves symptoms!  What I try to do is to remember that it is part of the disease and try and push it out of my head.  My husband has been very tolerable.  I was recently diagnosed about 1 month ago and feel that this forum has helped a lot in the past couple days that I have signed up!! 

There's a good chance it's your adrenals. The thyroid issue is secondary. Your story is almost exactly like mine. Contact me if you'd like to know more.

And also remember that Graves is a disease of the thyroid and can be diagnosed as such. General hyperthyroidism is different. There are different reasons why the thyroid becomes overactive. It really sounds like your issue is with your adrenals. 

Please don't get RAI or surgery without careful consideration. 

Veronica

Just wanted to mention one thing about something Veronica said. Graves is an autoimmune disorder and will never go away. The autoimmune disorder attacks the thyroid when it is a hyperthyroid. It is like the disorder looks at the thyroid as a foreign body and doesn't want it there. That is why many doctors remove a thyroid that is hyper BECAUSE of Graves if it doesn't respond to medication. But it is always possible to treat a hyperthyroid on it's own and have success when their isn't any Graves. Not all Graves diagnosis patients have active eye problems. It can be present when diagnosed or eye problems can develope later or never at all. My eye problems never started until after being diagnosed with Graves disease with a hyperthyroid for 10 months. Now i deal with a fatty eye and double vision. That is why my thyroid was removed in April. It was to stop the swift onset of Graves eye problems. I pray my double vision may one day go away if my eye calms down. Time will tell. 

Thanks, Melissa, for the clarification!