Feeling Crappy

Yea!!! And I, for one am damn glad!

Ok, my EKG was normal. This is good. I had a test for thyroid, diabetes, cholesterol, and about 5 other things as well as doing something with my pee. No sure about that.

I will let you know what the story is as soon as I know!

Good.

You may tap with us until the results come in.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Hyperthyroid. Yippee. This is sucky.

really?? wow.
so what are your options for treatment if any is even necessary?

i have to go to an endocrinologist so we'll see.

Actually, I think it's oddly good - treatment should help get rid of a lot of things you've mentioned as problems...

Oh, yes! This is GOOD news!

Hyperthyroid can be dealt with! Some people are given a simple pill of radioactive iodine (no discomfort whatsoever) that kills a measured part of the thyroid so the remaining thyroid tissue produces the right amount of hormones. Completely painless, no continuing drug therapy or effects or anything. Really easy. There are other ways of dealing with it, too.

Cheer up! This is easily controllable!

What are the chances that they will do the iodine thingy? I would really like to not have to take pills forever.

I don't know, Bella. Ask the doctor!

They used it on me 10 years ago (completely different reason, but that's another story.) They told me then that it was becoming a standard remedy for hyperthyroidism. I've known a couple of people with your condition who've done it since, and they had great results.

On the other hand, taking thyroid medication isn't very problematic, either.

You will be shocked when you find out how many things your thyroid controls. Metabolism, oily skin, body temperature, concentration, amount of sleep required...all sorts of things change for the better once they get your hormone levels back to normal.

God I can't wait for that......I just want to be NORMAL again (as normal as I ever was, that is!)

glad to hear you know the cause and are getting ready to deal with! good luck!

I was looking at that iodine therapy and the chances of hypothyroid are pretty good...I don't know if I want to go down that road.

Oh, millions and millions of people take thyroid supplements for hypothyroidism, Bella. The synthetic hormone is one of the cleanest drugs on the market (meaning no adverse effects.)

Okay, here's my story. I'll make it short, because this thread is about you, not me.

I was hypothyroid for many years...probably all my life, it turned out to be a family trait. Anyway, i never knew it. I just thought dry skin, needing lots of sleep, etc. were family traits. (And they were! But there was a medical reason.) Then when my son was 1 year old, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. I was lucky...it was still in the beginning stages. Seems the form is 99.5% curable. It only originates in thyroid tissue. So if they can remove all the thyroid tissue in your body, they can effectively guarantee that it can't recur. But the thyroid is not an encapsulated gland...it's hard to know where it stops and starts. So they surgically removed as much of the thyroid as possible, then killed off the remaining marginal tissue with radioactive iodine. Then they prescribed replacement thyroid hormone to put me back to normal. I've taken relatively large doses of the supplement every day for ten years, and I've had no effects at all, except that I get very tired the next day if I forget a pill. That's not so bad.

Anyway, it doesn't take very long to get your levels stabilized on thyroid hormone, so don't worry about it. This is one of those things that medical science has down pat. Not a big deal.

Well sure...but why take care of this problem with the iodine only to cause another? Why not just take the meds for the hyperthyroid now and see if it goes away?

Exactly! And that's probably what they'll have you do if the hyperthyroidism is a recent development. It may just be a temporary fluctuation. (They will monitor it with blood tests every few months.) If it's been long-term, though, they may opt for a more permanent solution re: the radioactive iodine. Long-term, it can cause real problems. You don't want to leave it untreated.

When do you see the endocrinologist?

Excellent--you have a problem with a name and a treatment.

Of course you don't want to take pills--but given a choice between the way you've been feeling lately and taking a pill, what would you choose?

Bella - I wish you the best of luck and will be listening in on your progress with personal interest.

That's a really good diagnosis, Bella.

Lots of reasonable treatment options.

mrs. hamburger's on thyroid meds - doing very very well on them. best friend from uni is on the meds - doing quite well on them - still has a mucked up internal thermostat, but that's not too huge a problem. best friend in the world had thyroid removed as a result of thyroid cancer - had the iodine treatment, using meds - is in AMAZING health and condition now - runs a family, a farm, and a business. daughter-in-law of a good friend is finally on meds after 4 years of chasing a diagnosis, and being off work for nearly 3 years - she's still always cold, but a lot of the symptoms that made her think she was crazy have gone away.

My mother was on them and was able to go off them (I think) Her's was a problem with sluggish thyroid, though. She was able to add more fish and salt to her diet to replace the drugs.