Can methimazole stop working?

[savetheworldgirl]

I was diagnosed with Graves in mid 2007 and have been on 10 mg methimazole since, after the initial adjustment phases were done. I am now beginning to have hyper symptoms again, extremely shaky hands in the mornings, leg muscle weakness, palpitations, bowel movements 2 and 3 times a day,the whole 9 yards. Is it possible methimazole is no longer working?

[savetheworldgirl]

Thanks again for the reply. Its been a year since I had blood tests. So yes, its time. I am also dealing with menopause as well, and I know that that can also mess with symptoms.Plus, I have mitral valve prolapse which can flare and give me heart symptoms. So with all of that going for me (haha) its pretty hard to know wth is up or down. Lucky me :-) Weird thing to add here....my heart palpitations come at the same time every evening, always after dinner and they are always worse this time of year. So thyroid,  menopause, and a clicky heart valve. Woo freakin hoo!

[savetheworldgirl]

Thanks for the replies. I have considered surgery and RAI ablation, but I would be trading one medication for another,  am I not? I would then be hypo which would require medication as well.Also, as an added sidenote,  I have never had any kind of scan done on my thyroid. It seems that most folks here and on other forums have had something other than blood tests for a Graves diagnosis. Is that typical? We have no endo near my town so I had one appointment with Endo 150 miles away after my regular Dr.did blood tests. It seems all the endo did was look at me, read blood tests and put me on methimazole. Is that normal? Thanks so much for the advice!

[Mark Lupo, M.D.]

It is possible the Graves is flaring which may require an increased dose, but the methimazole itself still "works" - depending on severity of disease/goiter, etc, after 7 years of requiring 10mg daily, it may be time to consider definitive treatment with RAI or surgery.