Aa
Hyperthyroidism
ONSET ? early August: hands shaky with fine motor stuff in the morning (thought it was my morning coffee), resting heart rate 90-108 (had been exercising intensely should have been lower), heat intolerance and sweating worse, nervous energy (fidgety),had to decrease weights at the gym, had to decrease intensity levels on aerobic equipment, otherwise felt fine
Early September h/a, dizziness, pounding heart--went to ER hr 120-160, bp 180/97, shaky to arms, hands , legs, and abd ( felt awful ) ER result: dx hyperthyroidism per labs tsh not detectable, free t4 2&1/2 what the high should be
Since the day in the ER: shakiness intermittently all over (comes and goes suddenly), increased heart rate and pounding heart with walking slowly from one room to another (my heart rate jumped to 120-130 with just that little activity), felt panicky (stopped with betablocker), shaky legs going down stairs, chest pressure at times with walking but resolved with stopping activity (have had 2 EKGs and 2 chest xrays), muscle weakness (arm and legs), weight loss 18 pounds (? 10 lbs from exercise then the rest just came off and appetite increased), loss of muscle tone in arms and legs, swallowing different but ok (occ slight hoarseness after eating), hungry more often, shortness of breath at times with talking , increased frequency of stools but not loose
TREATMENT thus far:started metoprolol ER 12.5mg increased gradually to 75mg daily (dose increase only good for 1-2 days then symptoms intensifying)
After thyroid scan started PTU 50mg q8h felt great for 2 days then shakiness and s/s returned (had also been decreasing the metoprolol by 12.5 mg per day per md order) 9/26 per md increased PTU to 100 mg q8h with dose started at 1330h and felt good by 1600h with no shakes and hr in 90's
When is this going to get better?.....have been out of work for 2+ weeks I see the endocrinologist in a little more than 2 weeks..not soon enough in my opinion. Am I ever going to be normal again? From everything I have read this hyperthyroid is not an easy fix. I was healthy as a horse before all of this.
Early September h/a, dizziness, pounding heart--went to ER hr 120-160, bp 180/97, shaky to arms, hands , legs, and abd ( felt awful ) ER result: dx hyperthyroidism per labs tsh not detectable, free t4 2&1/2 what the high should be
Since the day in the ER: shakiness intermittently all over (comes and goes suddenly), increased heart rate and pounding heart with walking slowly from one room to another (my heart rate jumped to 120-130 with just that little activity), felt panicky (stopped with betablocker), shaky legs going down stairs, chest pressure at times with walking but resolved with stopping activity (have had 2 EKGs and 2 chest xrays), muscle weakness (arm and legs), weight loss 18 pounds (? 10 lbs from exercise then the rest just came off and appetite increased), loss of muscle tone in arms and legs, swallowing different but ok (occ slight hoarseness after eating), hungry more often, shortness of breath at times with talking , increased frequency of stools but not loose
TREATMENT thus far:started metoprolol ER 12.5mg increased gradually to 75mg daily (dose increase only good for 1-2 days then symptoms intensifying)
After thyroid scan started PTU 50mg q8h felt great for 2 days then shakiness and s/s returned (had also been decreasing the metoprolol by 12.5 mg per day per md order) 9/26 per md increased PTU to 100 mg q8h with dose started at 1330h and felt good by 1600h with no shakes and hr in 90's
When is this going to get better?.....have been out of work for 2+ weeks I see the endocrinologist in a little more than 2 weeks..not soon enough in my opinion. Am I ever going to be normal again? From everything I have read this hyperthyroid is not an easy fix. I was healthy as a horse before all of this.
I went gluten free when I became hyperthyroid and it didn't do a thing for me (in fact I got worse throughout the year and developed a second autoimmune disease in the mean time). I am still gluten free (and very strict about following it), but now it is just because I am afraid to add it back in. It didn't help me at all. I think everyone is different. If you are not intolerant or have celiac disease, I'm not so sure it is necessary or even beneficial to take out gluten. I think sometimes we can end up causing ourselves more problem. I'm sure it has worked for some people, but speaking from experience, it just made my situation worse.
Here are a few articles about the thyroid-gluten connection and other possible triggers of auto immune diseases. I'd never heard anything about this connection until after RAI. Before RAI I ate mostly gluten. I couldn't imagine being able to be gluten free until my brother said he wasn't tolerating gluten. When he was researching he saw a lot of info on the possible thyroid connection. At that point most of my hyper symptom were gone, but my eyes were still being attacked. I decided to give it a try. My eyes have improved greatly and I when I cheat my eyes flare up & my body swells up. I really think for some people there is connection and it's worth getting tested or just trying eliminating it from you diet. I also try to avoid aspartame and any other possible triggers. Other research shows many people with graves' disease have low Selenium levels. I now take 200 mg of Selenium a day. I really think more research should be done on the triggers of auto immune diseases.
The RAI process was not too bad. I had to avoid people and pets for 2 weeks. They said to keep at arms distance, use different toilets, and not to sleep in the same bed. I became even more hyper after RAI for a few weeks as my thyroid leaked out hormone. I did lose about 5 lbs during these 2 weeks. I'm a hairstylist and had to take that time off work which was a financial strain but worth it. When I was hyper I thought I was going to have to quit doing hair because I would shake so badly, had extreme muscle fatigue, had anxiety attacks and was so exhausted at the end of the day. I did receive a large dose of RAI (32 mCi) because my dr said I had prob had Graves' for years and was very bad. He didn't want to take a chance at it coming back and said if you completely destroy your thyroid there is less chance of thyroid cancer. I'm not sure if that's true or not. Graves' does run in my family...my mom has it too. I hope some of this info helps you. I remember how overwhelmed I felt when I was hyper. I wish you luck!
http://thyroid.about.com/cs/latestresearch/a/celiac.htm
http://chriskresser.com/the-gluten-thyroid-connection
http://www.elaine-moore.com/Articles/GravesDisease/ThyroidDiseaseTriggers/tabid/183/Default.aspx
http://paleozonenutrition.wordpress.com/2010/08/26/hashimotos-auto-immune-thyroid-disease-avoid-gluten-like-the-plague/
http://www.elaine-moore.com/Articles/GravesDisease/AllergicTriggersinGravesDisease/tabid/135/Default.aspx
http://www.adventuresofaglutenfreemom.com/2010/05/celia-disease-autoimmune-disease-and-a-little-piece-of-my-journey/
The RAI process was not too bad. I had to avoid people and pets for 2 weeks. They said to keep at arms distance, use different toilets, and not to sleep in the same bed. I became even more hyper after RAI for a few weeks as my thyroid leaked out hormone. I did lose about 5 lbs during these 2 weeks. I'm a hairstylist and had to take that time off work which was a financial strain but worth it. When I was hyper I thought I was going to have to quit doing hair because I would shake so badly, had extreme muscle fatigue, had anxiety attacks and was so exhausted at the end of the day. I did receive a large dose of RAI (32 mCi) because my dr said I had prob had Graves' for years and was very bad. He didn't want to take a chance at it coming back and said if you completely destroy your thyroid there is less chance of thyroid cancer. I'm not sure if that's true or not. Graves' does run in my family...my mom has it too. I hope some of this info helps you. I remember how overwhelmed I felt when I was hyper. I wish you luck!
http://thyroid.about.com/cs/latestresearch/a/celiac.htm
http://chriskresser.com/the-gluten-thyroid-connection
http://www.elaine-moore.com/Articles/GravesDisease/ThyroidDiseaseTriggers/tabid/183/Default.aspx
http://paleozonenutrition.wordpress.com/2010/08/26/hashimotos-auto-immune-thyroid-disease-avoid-gluten-like-the-plague/
http://www.elaine-moore.com/Articles/GravesDisease/AllergicTriggersinGravesDisease/tabid/135/Default.aspx
http://www.adventuresofaglutenfreemom.com/2010/05/celia-disease-autoimmune-disease-and-a-little-piece-of-my-journey/
I didn't take the xanax either. They gave me some in the hospital and it didn't help at all (maybe because it wasn't in my head). The beta blockers were the only thing that worked with the hyperthyroid anxiety. I could actually feel it blocking the adrenaline. It was a weird feeling. It was like it was suppressed, yet I knew it was still there. Hopefully the ptu will kick in for you. I bounced back and forth between hyper and hypo so I couldn't take anything without my numbers shooting drastically in the opposite direction. When my heart rate was really high I would do the vagal maneuver. You can google it, but basically you just bare down and it slows things down. They had me do it in the hospital.
After I had my thyroid removed and my heart rate was stuck at 150, they just kept injecting beta blocker after beta blocker into me. Nothing would work at that point. I was so drugged up from surgery that I couldn't be nervous about it luckily. It's just a horrible feeling when your heart rate is rapid. I literally had no life during the last year. I'll pray for your speedy recovery.
After I had my thyroid removed and my heart rate was stuck at 150, they just kept injecting beta blocker after beta blocker into me. Nothing would work at that point. I was so drugged up from surgery that I couldn't be nervous about it luckily. It's just a horrible feeling when your heart rate is rapid. I literally had no life during the last year. I'll pray for your speedy recovery.
Yeah I hear ya about the beta blocker it seems to be the only way to decrease the shakes and keep the heart rate below 100 most of the time at rest...I was so hoping to wean myself off and I was one pill away from being off from it..but now I am going in the other direction. I guess I gotta do what I gotta do to keep my heart rate reasonable. The next 2 weeks till I see the endo could be long. I am not on any antianxiety specific drug...I don't seem to feel anxious with the beta blocker so no sense in adding another pill and side effects to the picture..my only pills are the PTU and the beta blocker. Yes all this stuff an stop anytime and I am ready to get back to normal wishful thinking. Thanks Danie.
You don't have to give up chocolate and sugar, I just did because my body was such a mess that I didn't want anything stimulating in it. I was always looking to relax. I really feel for you. I hope this goes away soon!
I got to a point where to my my beta blocker was like a crack addict looking for a fix lol. I depended on it THAT much. Usually right before it was time for my next dose I could feel it losing effect, so I would wait for the next one. It was TERRIBLE! I finally broke it up and took 1/2 in the morning and 1/2 at night so I was always covered. I'm glad your doc is so helpful. Ask him about the lemonbalm. I only drank it when my heart rate shot up to 150 or something while I was at rest. It's a safe herb that people drink all of the time (they even give it to kids). There are no interactions other than if you were severely sedated with beta blockers and drugs such as xanax, it might increase those effects. I don't think you'll have to worry about that in your "hyper" times though. It's mild. You won't even notice much, but it takes that adrenaline rush away a bit. Good luck.
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