Graves Disease or PPT

[theredheadgurl]

Thyroid disorders run in my family. I have a 7 month old son and my thyroid is way out of whack. Because of my somewhat recent pregnancy my endo seems to think that I have PPT. I have researched this and PPT goes from hyper to hypo and I thought if this was the case with my sons age I would be in the hypo stage by now....also I have no inflammation which I'm pretty sure would be required for a thyroidITIS diagnosis. These are my labs so far:

About 2 months ago my midwife had my TSH tested because I suspected thyroid problems: TSH .02

She referred me to my primary dr.

About a month later at my appt with my primary, he ran labs and assumed it was PPT referring me to an endo. Those labs were: TSH .01, FT3 10.0, TT4 14.4

Another month later I saw my endo who again thinks its PPT and sent me for labs and the results were: TSH .006, FT3 6.7, and FT4 2.26

I don't know if I should listen to my endo or go to yet another dr. Does this sound like PPT or Graves or something else? My biggest complaint is the extreme fatigue because I fall asleep driving...most of the way to work not a little nod here and there. I do have other symptoms though....palpitations, lose breath easily when carrying son or climbing stairs (I've lived on the 3rd floor for years and this shouldn't be an issue), also emotional side effects like anxiety, crying spells due to overwhelming stress, and being confused (I missed the date for my midterm and got a zero which caused me to fail the class all because I mixed up the date).

Please help! Let me know if you need any more info as well...and thank you!

[jordynoleymom]

I went through a similar problem after my son was born in 2001.  Hard to believe darn near ten years ago.  After three months of being 'hyper' and taking PTU my 'hormones' or whatever we call them, thyroid levels somehow regulated themselves and I no longer needed the meds.  They were awful as I recall and I have been relatively healthy ever since.....until NOW.  I am in excruciating pain with what could possibly be pinched nerves in the neck or perhaps it's some form of arthritis which is what I gather an autoimmune disease like thryroid issues.  My antibody levels have always remained high even if my other levels were within normal range.  My energy has never been the greatest but somehow I survived these past ten years with nothing but some antidepressants to keep me sane while running a daycare out of my home for most of those ten years.  I recently went back to work outside the home at a law firm and now this chronic pain in the neck which has caused numbness and pain in my right arm and now in the leg too is preventing me from working.  I am so fed up and frustrated with the Saskatchewan health care system.  Sure it's free and all but by the time I get an actual diagnosis for my problem I will more than likely be dead.  The wait to see a specialist is likely going to be six weeks and I don't think it was ever that long when I was waiting to see the endo ten years ago.  But it is what it is and for now I will suffer it out and apply for sickness benefits next week after working so freaking hard to enjoy this new job.  I was so stressed out it was probably the stress that as wreaked havoc on my body.  The anxiety from changing jobs caused me to lose thirty pounds last year or maybe there is something more serious that caused it.  I finally feel like I'm settled in, adjusting to my new role, comfortable with my co-workers and boom this hits me.  I think swimming contributed to this possible 'pinched nerve'.  I had been faithfully lane swimming since January 1st and all it took as one month to cause this damage apparently.  If that didn't do it I don't know what did.  Anyway getting back to the thyroid.  While trying to find someone to help me I decided to get thermography images done and I got my results today which indicated there is indeed something going on with my thryoid once again.  Yippee another thing on top of all of the pain I'm going thru.  So here we are in February, how are you feeling?

[theredheadgurl]

I'm 5'4" and weigh 135lbs. After my pregnancy I lost 20 lbs within the first 2 months (from weight a few days before labor) and then I didn't loose any weight at all until my son was 5 months old and then I lost 10 lbs in one month. So not 100 lbs but I lost a lot of weight quickly recently. Glad to see you ladies think this dr is rude and that it isn't just me! No bulging eyes either and I've always had bad eyesight so that's not anything to look at either. Thanks again ladies, I really appreciate all of your advice and support.

[armywife92]

Wow, he said that you shouldn't be tired b/c you have hyper and you don't ''look'' like someone who has graves?? Wow. So I take it you are not 100 pounds, or have bulging eyes? Not everyone with graves looks like that. Do yourself a favor and give your money to a doctor who knows what they are doing.

I'm glad he put you on the MMI. I was only on 5mg and went slighly hypo in 3 weeks.

[stella5349]

You don't necessarily need an endo at all. ust a good thyroid doctor. With a recent pregnancy this may be just a phase for sure but you do want to find a doctor that will monitor you correctly and this one spounds like a dweeb.

Try to find an A-4 skilled doctor to re-evaluate you. Most of them are DO's or MD's

[theredheadgurl]

He just prescribed me 5mg of methamizole, 1 tab every other day. Doesn't sound like much but I guess it's a start. Is this even enough to do anything? I know that the symptoms are never textbook and that's part of why I get so mad @ my dr. He says that I don't "look" like someone who has Graves and he also says that something else must be causing me to be tired because hyperthyroidism would give me energy. I know it does for some people but I know that some people are tired too. This is becoming a nightmare.

[theredheadgurl]

I am not on any meds including ATDs because the dr says it will run it's course since he says it's PPT. That's why I'm so frustrated because I feel so horrible & feel like no will help me. I know I need an endo I just don't know if I need a new one or if I should wait around wasting $$ on this one who just keeps wasting time in my opinion. This is getting expensive & I'm not getting anything from it.

[armywife92]

Not much to add other than time will tell. The importatnt question  is are you taking an ATD?  Also remember that not everyone is textbook, so you can't always compare things like PPT patterns with what you read on the net. This even holds true with graves/hyper, everyones pattern is different, and many of us don't even have the symptoms on the list, and many of us have symptoms that didn't make the list. You should have a more clear picture after the TSI test is run.

[stella5349]

never mind on the defination of PPT - I saw it and yes, this could be your problem.

[stella5349]

not sure what the PPT is but looking at the labs these could be high ( hyper ) .

To dx Graves get the TSI and TgAb tests. Also push for an uptake thyroid scan to see in depth the condition of the gland.

Your child is young and the pregnancy was recent. Your estrogen levels could be way off causing this spell for you and may simmer down. Also the testosterone could be high and the progesterone low. This is common with low TSH levels after a pregnancy.