Thyroid Probelms??

[haylee86]

Hi everyone. I went and seen my doc today and he is sending me off to get my thyroid checked. Basically i have very annoying hand shakes, very tired, heart beat problems (so goes very fast and hard at times) my periods have changed, recurrent miscarriages, my doc commented on my eyes as he can start the see all the brown on them (so tops and bottoms of the brown part of my eye) my eyes feel tired alot (if that makes sense) my arms feel funny and the list goes on basically. But i havent put on weight and ive lost a few kgs but i had to work very hard for it though! he did say that i could have auto immune thyroid disease?? and that it could change from being overactive to underactive?? does anyone else have thyroid problems and if so what treatments are there and etc? i just cant find much info on it all and my hands are driving my batty!

Anyway any help would be so great :)
Haylee

[statesboro]

I thought I would chime in. I am a male, by the way. I did get diagnosed with hyperthyroidism back in the spring of 1993. Ok. I was actually told graves disease. Yep! I was not gaining weight back then. Some people had noticed I was losing some. Ok. I was not sleeping all too good.(because my pulse was beating faster) I did not realize my heart was beating faster until I just happened to check on a machiine at a local place. Ok. I did not notice the shakes at first. That happened some, too. I do know you are in Australia, but I was given a pill with radioactive iodine in it to help shrink my thyoroid. Anyway, it went back to normal. That was good. I was feeling normal again. I started feeling more tired and gained a few pounds. Ok. I had been given too much. I was having underactive thyroid by then. Yep! I had to start taking Synthroid.(the rest of my life) Geez! Yep! I was given too much Synthroid at first.(hyperthyroidism again) I was dropped to a lower dosage that was too low for me.(and hypothyroid again) I finally got on the right dosage. Ok. My thyroid is normal because I always take Synthroid. Ok, then. My thyroid has been under and overactive, but it did not change on its own. Of course, I don't know why it ever went overactive to begin with. That should be enough information by now. I am going to rest some. Oh, yeah! The eyes can be effected as well.

[Cora]

Your story sounds like mine..........one question, in what way does it affect the eyes?

also, when people start up on any new medication, be aware of your bladder. sometimes you can develop IC symptoms that you may not relate to the medication. If you have a problem with one, you can try another brand or take one of the natural dessicated thyroid medications. I had problems with the synthetic drugs so am taking Armour thyroid.

[haylee86]

Thanks heaps for the reply's,
As for my eyes you can now just start to see the arch of the brown of my eyes and my gp
commented on it and i just brushed it aside until i went through pics of me and sure enough they are changing. My eyes also hurt and feel dry and i feel like there is a glaze over them or something.

Also can you have kids on the thyroid medication?

[icbeauty]

I have Graves disease as well (autoimmune hyperthyroid). I had the thyroid eye problem, and I have some muscle damage behind the orbits. The only thing that resulted long-term with my eyes is that sometimes it hurts to roll them when people annoy me. My vision wasn't affected. Just the eyerolling.

I was diagnosed after a thyroid storm in 1998. Then I was treated with radioactive iodine (RAI) in early 99 and again in late 99 because the first time didn't work for some reason. Now my thyroid is underactive, but it tends to bounce up and go hyper for no reason at all. I just have to keep track of things. If I notice shakiness or a fast heartrate for no reason or hair issues (it tends to fall out when my thyroid gets hyper) or sudden and unexplained weight loss, I just call my dr and we start bloodwork. Then a gradual reduction in meds until the numbers are normal. I've been bouncing around on the meds since 99, and it's a bit frustrating, but for now, this is how it is. The meds have no side effects except they make me feel better when they are the right dose. Seriously.

Be careful after you get treatment though. I was used to eating a few pizzas a day and still losing weight. After my thyroid was treated, I had to stop eating so much. I did finally gain weight which was a good thing since I looked like a skeleton before. Now I look normal, and I'm happy with that. It's just the weight gain happened faster than I expected because I was still eating my old diet of TONS of food, and my body didn't need that anymore. I got to a normal size in less than a year which was nice but different.

When you get the right treatment, you will feel so much better. Hope you do feel better soon.

Oh, they told me that until my thyroid was regulated after the storm to avoid caffeine and sodium and seafood. They may have new rules now since that was more than 10 years ago. But if you have to change your diet, you'll make it. Once the thyroid was normal again, I went to Red Lobster and celebrated.

Feel better. I know you probably feel miserable now.

[icbeauty]

Want to add that I don't know if you can have kids on the meds or not. I have other reproductive issues that prevented me from having children. I do know a lot of women who had thyroid issues and then had kiddos later. Hope you don't have a problem with that.

[haylee86]

Hi thanks for the reply :) I dont lose weight nor have i really put it on. I put 25kgs when pregnant with my daughter and toke a year to lose most of it but not all of it. I put 15kgs with my son and i lost a few kgs after he was born but havent lost any since nor have i really put any on. I did lose around 2-3kgs but that was with ALOT of very hard work and shakes though but i know thats not healthy. I am in the normal weight range though but its the biggest i have ever been not pregnant and i dont feel healthy at all!!

I hope they can work out my shakes though as its driving me nuts! And as for meds i hope i can have more kids as well. Does any of the meds interact with ic meds?

[statesboro]

I can take Synthroid without noticing anything.(or once it gets down) Oh, yeah! I did notice something before I finally got on the right dosage. Of course, I have been taking it ever since 1993 and have had IC ever since 1997. By the way, the shakes will go away the sooner your thyroid gets under control. (after that pill got in me) Ok. I am much in need of some sleep, but I wanted to respond again. I am also glad you have gotten other responses. By the way, Synthroid won't hurt pregnancy as far I know. I am a dude, but I just know my thyroid is normal because of it. Amen! Yep! I want to have a normal bladder, too. Oh, well!

[wheeliezdryver]

Hi!

I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism about 6 1/2 years ago, and have been on thyroid meds ever since. The symptoms I was having were muscle cramps, sudden feeling like I was being poked with a pin, floaters in my eyes, chronic exhaustion (part fo that may have been a result of Sleep Apnea), weight gain, and chronic dry eyes, mouth and skin (no matter how much liquids I drank). At first I was on Synthroid, but it was too expensive, so switched to the generic verison of it, Levothyroxine. WHile I still have a few problems that I think are related to my thyroid, most of my symptoms have cleared up, thankfully. I would love to switch to Arounr or another natural thyroid med, but my last dr wouldn't let me. maybe I'll ask my new one (I go to a low- income clinic, and the dr's there are actually medial students doing their residency. my last Dr just graduated or left for some other reason, so I get a new one now).

anyways, to answer your question about having kids. I myself have never had kids, but from what I've learned over the last 6 years, you can be preggo and on meds for hypothyroidism, you just have to have your bloodwork checked every month or so, and your meds may be adjusted.

However, for someone who is hyperthyroid and preggo, I don't think the RAI (Radioactive Treatment) is recommended.

Hope you're having a good day :)

[icbeauty]

Wheeliezdryver is correct. If you do the RAI, they don't want you getting pregnant right after. They told me to stop trying to conceive for about a year after the RAI. Had to make sure it had worked (hadn't the first time for some reason; guess I'm stubborn) before they'd let me start trying again.

What are the other ways to treat hyperthyroid? I remember taking some meds during the months between the thyroid storm and the RAI, but I don't remember what they were called. Or is RAI still the standard treatment? It's been a while since I last saw an endocrinologist.

[haylee86]

Hi everyone thanks so much for the replys. I woke twice last night with really hard beating heart, is that normal? my hands seem shake more after ive been doing heaps with them. I just wanna know whats going on?? I wonder if its overactive or underactive though?? I am going to ring tomorrow and see if the results are back and if i can see my doctor tomorrow instead of tuesday if the results are back. I hate waiting lol Could there be anything else that would cause bad shaking hands? As for pregnancy i have had 6 miscarriages so far but do have 2 wonderful kiddies but i would love more! but i really want my health to manageble.

[haylee86]

also what was everyones heart rate (beats/minute)? mine was 89 at the time and my blood pressure was 121/69 which is high for me as mine is always around the 100/60 mark but my doc said it was normal? But at the time of checking my heart felt normal and not like it was going to beat out of my chest!

[icbeauty]

When I was dealing with the hyperthyroid issues that led up to the storm, my heart rate was about 110-140bpm resting. Seriously high. Meds weren't getting it down, and when I had the storm, it went over 200bpm. This was an emergency situation. At the hospital, it went down because they gave me some meds, but they noticed my bp was high 140/something. My bp is usually 80/60 or around that range, so it was a big difference for me.

One thing my dr had me do before the thyroid storm and while he was trying to figure out what was wrong was he had me take my pulse twice a day and record it for him. I did it at work (always higher there, lol) and at home before bed.

Supposedly, below 100bpm is good, but palpitations at night should be mentioned to your dr.

[statesboro]

A fast pulse would not be a symptom of an underactive thyroid because the body kinda slows down a bit then. Ok. My pulse was 116 at the time that it was checked at the doctors office in May of 1993. Yep! The nurse asked why it was beating faster. Geez! I did not know. I said I hope to learn the answer. Of course, I did. I was told hyperthyroidism. Ok. I did get the shakes as well.

[haylee86]

Hi everyone thank you so much for all the replys. Well i went and seen my doc and well its not my thyriod and everything else is all clear. So now im diagnosed with an essential tremor and have been put on meds. So now i can add another condition to the mix :(