Dx with Graves Disease

[yale22]

Free T4= 1.9
Free T4 index = 15.0
T4 = 12.2
T3 uptake= 37
TSH= .007
My most recent labs....i was dx back in Sept...tried the natural route, quit smoking, caffiene etc.. Gained 12 lbs back, gained all my strength at the gym back, now all of a sudden all of my symptoms are starting again. Endo wants me on 20 mg of tapizole daily. From my labs, does that seem a bit much? Thanks for any info, this is all soooo new to me!

[armywife92]

Graves can be a self limiting disease. I am one of those that have only needed medical(atd) intervention once in the 18 yrs I've had it. Previous times when the symptoms would appear, they'd go away on their own after about a week or so. Your numbers seem to be getting better not worse, so I don't understand the ''help'', lol

[yale22]

thanks for the respones!?!?!

[yale22]

Also...i just called my doc, will speak with her tomorrow when she is in, but asked about bloodwork i had done back in August, when i started to feel so crummy. She wasnt really sure about what was what, but she did tell me that my freeT4 was 3.0 and as you can see above in december its now 1.9. What could cause this decrease? All i did was quit smoking, caffiene and do the natural herbs. My TSH back in August was 0.01 and most recently was 0.007. Whats up with these results?? HELP!

[yale22]

I was wondering if any of you think its safe or have tried to do some natural herbal supplements along with ATDs? I found this herbal remedy, (motherwart, lemon balm, bugleweed) that seems to help with my symptoms, (trembly hands, + heartrate, etc..)
but my levels are coming down, just not fast. I was wondering if i could take the herbs for the symptoms(natural form of atenolol for ex) along with 10 mgs or tapizole daily!? Thanks for any info everyone! This is a great forum!!

[armywife92]

You definitely need to be on meds, you can keep up with all those other changes in conjunction. 20mg does seem like a lot. Actually 10 mg is pretty sufficient for most ppl. I have found that when gravers take 20-30 mg they go hypo quick. I am one of those that take well to the atd's. I was only on 5mg of methimazole for 3 weeks and went hypo.

At least on the meds you can enjoy some of the foods you hate to love and not get all the bad triggers. I'm not saying it's wise to eat junk all day, but what I am saying is that when you rely solely on diet/supplements this diesease will be much harder to manage, especially if you have a day where you feel like sneaking the coookie out of the cookie jar. ATD'S are not evil, give them a chance.