Having Graves Disease and Pregnancy

[amberg84]

I have had graves disease for 5-6 years now. I take one 10 mg of Methimazole at night time and that is all.  I have been very stable on my medicine for years now. I have also been very lucky to not have any problems with my eyes or other symptoms of that nature. I always get concerned when thinking about pregnancy because I want to make sure it is safe for me to conceive. Also, I know that your thyroid can get worse and better during and after pregnancy. Does this make the risk for my eyes to pertrude heighten? or are the two non-related? One last thing is I heard the risk for your eyes to pertrude is actually really low (mostly only smokers) is this true?

[amberg84]

  I also done research on Graves and pregnancy and you can't take Methmazole if you are trying to conceive because it can cause birth defects.  They generally switch you to a PTU during your pregnancy. Also only about 5% of people develop problems with their eyes. They are mostly smokers and most problems with your eyes develop within 6 months of your treatment of Graves disease.  Anything is possible and anyone could develop problems with their eyes but the majority does not. The longer you have had Graves disease without having problems with your eyes the less likely it is to happen.

[amberg84]

I was disgnosed with Graves when I was 14 years old and I am now 20 years old.  I had general symptoms of Graves disease such as; Heart palpatations, goiter, tremors, weight loss, and sweats of my hands.  I was first put on Atentol for my heart and Methmazole twice daily for my thyroid.  Within a month I was off of my heart medicine and was still on Methmazole twice daily.  Then probably within 3 months I was down to the dose which I still take today, one 10mg tablet of Methmazole at bedtime.  My graves disease has been very consistent on my medicine. I have never once had bad labs as long as I have been taking my medicine.  They have removed me off of my medicine one time to see if my Graves disease had went into remission and within two months it came back with TSH levels of 0.003...basically non-existant TSH levels. They put me back on my 10mg Methmazole and within 3 weeks my levels were normal.  That is pretty much a health summary of my graves disease for the past five-six years lol.  You will see the longer you have Graves Disease the more in tune with your body you become and you can tell if something is not right and you learn more about how to manage it. Also the disease itself becomes more manageable with time.

[Gravegirl]

This is my first day, and I am glad to meet you. I also have Graves but only diagnosed 2 months now. You are how I want to be. As far as I read, you should discuss pregnancy with your doctor. By the way, you never had any problems with this?