# Desperately looking for help!!!!!



## kacha303 (Aug 28, 2012)

Hello everyone,
I don't even know where to start with my story. I have been diagnosed with Graves originally 20 years ago as a 13 year old girl. It went unnoticed for several months, in spite of severe symptoms (losing weight, heart palpitations, sweating, heat intolerance, difficulty concentrating, stress prone and etc&#8230;..long list). Finally I was diagnosed and treated while hospitalized for several weeks. I went the normal path (hyper, euthyroid, hypo and then hyper again). It went on like this till I was 18 and my doctor decided to go with a partial thyirodectomy. To my surprise I never even went for a checkup after the surgery. Everything seemed to fell in the right place. Until my early thirties, shortly after having my son. About a year after having him I started developing familiar to me symptoms (the typical hyper). Wend to the doc and confirmed Graves. This time everything seemed different though. I didn't have the weight loss as before and I did feel fatigue as opposed to feeling like on speed (the usual hyper symptom). Most of the time I feel hypo except for the heart palpitations and chest pain. Every time I get tested, TSH gets back 0.0X. I get treated for hyper but I feel more hypo than hyper. I struggle to maintain my weight in spite of watching what I eat and trying to stay active. Also, the biggest complaint is the pain in my lower legs. I do have an office job and sit most of the day. That seems to make it worse. The calf muscle seems to get swollen and tight. After all day it sometimes makes it hard to walk. 
These are my latest blood results:
Medication: past two years 5mg-7.5mg Mathimazole
TSH 0.02 (0.5-4.5)
T3 126 (76-181)
FT4 1.2 (0.8-1.8)
TSI 328 (0-39)
TPO Ab 185 (0-34)
ATA <20
Please advise as I am confused and lost. Thank you so much:hugs:


----------



## kacha303 (Aug 28, 2012)

Couple more things I wanted to add.

So as I understand I have both Graves and Hashi antibodies present. Which would explain why I am having both symptoms and some days feel very hyper and other extremely hypo. One of my doctors said they were canceling each other which I don't believe in. From my research on net (but you know what the docs say about that) the symptoms accumulate rather than cancel out.

When I asked my endo if it was possible to have both she said yes. And once I said I believed I had both from the tests run by a different doctor couple of years ago she checked and confirmed it. But said nothing about it. She claims, we really don't care what makes the thyroid hyper b/c we cannot help the immune system. We are going to deal with the results only. She also said any diet and other b/s will not make my hyper better. She believes I will end up with the RAI anyway. I am not eager to go that as I do hear and read horrible stories. But on the other hand can I feel much worse???? I guess I could.

Oh, I also wanted to add my mom is hypo and just last week my sis was also diagnosed with hypo.

Please give me your thoughts. The posts here give me more insights than all of the careless doctors out there.

Pretty angry!


----------



## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

I was on ATD's for 4.5 years and suffered muscular pain. My endo kept me on the low end of ranges. My feeling is the Methimazol also contributes to muscular pain.

You are mid range - my suggestion would be to shoot for 3/4 range which would mean a Methimazol reduction (of course check with your doctor)

Dose off your FT-3 and FT-4, NOT TSH. You likely have antibodies that are suppressing your TSH so never dose off it of and also TSH is a diagnostic test NOT a test to be used for dose adjustments, although many doctors insist on doing so.


----------



## kacha303 (Aug 28, 2012)

Thanks Lovlkn

This is the point I am trying to make with my doctor. But she keeps going by TSH and FT3 is never checked. Only total T3.

What do you think about the hart palpitations. I do feel hypo and like my metabolism doesn't move but my heart rate almost always elevated.

I think I need to change my doctor. Find one that I will trust.


----------



## jenny v (May 6, 2012)

I have Hashi's (and have been hyper before, too) and I've found that I have heart palpitations and an elevated heart rate with both. Has your doctor suggested a beta blocker to help with that? I'm on a very low dose of Toprol XL daily and that pretty much handles it, although sometimes I can still feel it skipping around occasionally. If you have had the palpitations for a while you might want to ask about a beta blocker--they help protect your heart from any damage and help your body relax by alleviating those symptoms.


----------



## kacha303 (Aug 28, 2012)

Thanks Jenny.

I used to be on beta blocker more when I was originally with graves 20 years ago.

Now they just give me methimazole and in spite of all hypo symptoms I remain to feel the heart palpitations at times.


----------



## kacha303 (Aug 28, 2012)

These are my new lab results:

09/07/2012
TSH 0.06 (0.5-4.5)
T3 95 (76-181)
FT4 1.0 (0.8-1.8)

My endo claims they are still in upper ranges and I need to stay on the current dosage. I am not sure how 20% of the range is high.

Am I even properly diagnosed and treated?

Thanks ALL!


----------



## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

kacha303 said:


> These are my new lab results:
> 
> 09/07/2012
> TSH 0.06 (0.5-4.5)
> ...


Actually, I think your labs look good and for that reason staying on the same dose is a good idea.

What did your doc think was high; the FT4 maybe?

Most importantly, how do you feel? That has to be factored in as well; ya' know?


----------

