# Work and Thyroid Problems



## hyperinnyc (Apr 18, 2012)

Hi All,

What has been your experiences with bosses/employers being accomodating and understanding with the day to day issues of living with thryoid problems? NO ONE seems to understand the magnitude of problems that occur with have a thyroid problem (or now, for me none at all).

Immediately after surgery, I felt AMAZING. Now, not so much. I am exhausted. Last week I didn't sleep for 6 days and was a walking zombie. Slurred speech, off balance, incoherent, mean, etc. I had to take off a day just to fill myself with 4 sleeping pills to get some rest. Now today I am a wreck. I want to scream or cry. I cannot take days off each week to 'recuperate.' It is now a constant struggle to put on a 'normal' act and come to work.

I do not want to be the complaining, sickly woman; they assume, I've had surgery = I'm better. I've had a stellar record at work (and my boss is great but.. he is a boss) and now I'm a bumbling idiot. Do I ask for a doctor's note to explain so I don't sound silly ("Hi boss, I am sleepy, can I go home?" "Yes, that report is wrong even though I've done it 3x, me sleeeeepy")?

How have you handled this?:sad0004:


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## Octavia (Aug 1, 2011)

My guess is your replacement dose is still WAY too low at 100 mcg. Unless you had a major thyroid dump during surgery, it was irresponsible of your doctor to start you out at 75 mcg in my opinion. Since you've been on the 100 for 6 weeks, can you get some new labwork done ASAP and (hopefully) get an increase up to 125, or whatever your results justify?

Sorry I can't help you with your question...I started out on 125, then 150 mcg, so I never experienced what you're experiencing.


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## hyperinnyc (Apr 18, 2012)

Hi Octavia, I forgot to mention I think the 100 was too much. I think that is why I feel hyper again ie stopped being able to sleep (rapid heartrate, shakes, fever, etc all the hyper symptoms came back). I just had bloodwork done and I have no TSH an am still waiting for the TSH 3/4/panel/etc (whatever else it is, I don't really understand all that). In the meantime, I took myself off synthroid altogether (for a couple of days) to attempt to sleep and then started taking the 75 again per my doctor.

I don't want my job to start thinking I am not capable of performing... but I'm not. Not to mention to have to be out for all of the endo, surgery followup, opthamologist appointments, etc. Right now I want to get a third opinion to speed up getting eye surgery, but the place only takes walk ins at a clinic and I could be there all day!

Sigh. Sorry, just needing to vent


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## Octavia (Aug 1, 2011)

Wow...odd that 100 is too much. You must be super-efficient!

Can you take a FMLA leave until you get things straightened out?


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## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

Ageed, it's odd that 100 is too much!

I have a pretty good boss. I was good between 8:00-12:00 and then would start to fade. So, he tried to give me easier projects and we tried to keep meetings to the morning...by 4:30, I was toast. But, it's hard balancing game. I don't know if a doctor's note would really help just because people's reaction to these hormonal fluctuations are so varied.


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## Octavia (Aug 1, 2011)

Follow-up thought...would like input from OP and others...

You say your TSH is non-existent. But what about your Free T3 and Free T4? Are they high (and thus hyper)? If those are low, but your TSH is non-existent, I wonder what could be happening. Antibodies playing tricks on you?

As a Graves patient (you, not me), I don't doubt you know exactly how hyper feels. But I do wonder if your body might be confusing you.

Have you had ANY period of non-tiredness since your surgery?


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## hyperinnyc (Apr 18, 2012)

octavia - As soon as I get my free Ts, I will post.

Yes, I was wonderful after surgery. Sleeping great, waking up refreshed and focused (except one 2 day period where I was worried but it passed very quickly). Then about 2 weeks ago, I felt exhausted/crazy after sleeping 10 hrs... then the hyper came back to visit.

LOL I think I am super efficient! Even before hyper/Graves I could process alcohol, sleeping pills, food, etc quickly (I always had trouble falling asleep so the hyper made it that much worse). I guess some of the hormone (or maybe the antibodies?) remain to help along with the synthroid?

joplin - me too! Even when I was feeling good, by 3pm I was DONE. But that was acceptable. I was just tired, not psychotic like now. I will just have to have another heart to heart with mr. boss and pray these meds level off - fast!

THANK YOU!


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## jenny v (May 6, 2012)

Maybe some here has or knows where to find an article that talks about how difficult it can be following surgery to regulate your levels and get you back to feeling "normal" that you could should your boss?


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## webster2 (May 19, 2011)

I felt pretty good right after surgery. After I went back to work, I began to have concentration and fatigue issues in the afternoon. Sometimes I could not find the correct words that I wanted to say. I didn't work a whole day for a long time. My employer was very accommodating. In hind sight, I should have taken an FMLA. It took me awhile to get the correct medication as I was not converting well.


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## HotGrandma (Sep 21, 2012)

Curious, been doing a ton of research lately.

Did you TSH return prior to surgery?

I thought I was hyper when actually was extremely hypo, remember symptoms do cross over. PMS or Menopause may be in the mix too. When hypo I couldn't talk about my current situation to anyone even my dog without ending up like a blubbering idiot. The tears snuck up on me and poured out.

http://home.rmci.net/deecee/information.htm


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## teri2280 (Feb 7, 2012)

Unfortunately, even though a boss says they'll be understanding, when the time comes, chances are that they aren't. I work at Walmart, and told no less than every manager above me (even ones not in my area that I barely knew, and the 3rd shift manager, since some of my shifts overlapped into 3rds at the time) that when I went off my pills for RAI, I'd probably be a mess. I felt absolutely great on my cytomel, but didn't know if it would be a gradual crash or a hard crash, and I told them the symptoms, especially the brain fog, of hypo-hell.. Turned out to be a hard crash, and I got written up for missing an expiration date by one day. ONE DAY. On an item that was sitting in my cooler, and had no home on the salesfloor. That I didn't know was there (it was improperly labeled while I'd been on medical leave for my TT). Needless to say, I ended up taking leave until after RAI. (Something I was trying NOT to do, since I didn't know what would happen in the coming months after. I wanted to save it.)

Funny thing about me being written up for something so stupid? My husband was in there shopping a couple weeks later, and bought 3 packs of hotdogs. 2 of the 3 had been expired by a MONTH. We didn't realize it til after we had them cooked, but I was ****ED. Took them in, returned them to the store manager, and expressed how totally unfair my coaching was. He said he'd "take care of it". Now, I'm kinda friends with the meat dept. mgr, and guess what. She never even got talked to about it. I call BS.

Long story short, if it's bad enough, I'd check into intermittent FMLA. If your doc approves it, and you have one day a month where you feel like crap, you can call off work (you have to use the excuse of hyper-hell) and get no attendance points. It's kind of an FMLA leave, but ongoing, and as needed. I know some places don't mind if you call in that morning and say, "hey, I'm sick, I'm gonna use a personal or vacation day", but a lot of places, Walmart included, don't let you do that. FMLA only allows you 12 weeks per year, and if you've already used, say, 3 weeks for surgery, you may not have a ton of time left, but the intermittent FMLA give you the freedom of having it if you need it.


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## Cymry (Nov 12, 2012)

Have you had your iron and B-12 checked? Anemia can cause several symptoms similar to thyroid issues, such as fatigue, headaches, body aches, fuzzy brain, dry hair/hair loss, etc. I was diagnosed with autoimmune hypothyroid not long (about a month) after I was diagnosed with anemia. I have found several indications that the two can occur in tandem with each other. I remember the first day of school in August (I'm a Pre-K teacher). I had a headache, body aches, and was so exhausted that I had to lie down at rest time or else I thought I would collapse. The evening before I was at school late for Open House, I came home tired and achy and woke up the same way the next morning for school. I thought I was just extra-tired, getting older (I'm 43), worn out from preparing for school, etc. Now that I look back on it and the fact that I was diagnosed anemic two months later, I can see that I was not at all normal that day, even for someone who was "just tired." I felt then that something was wrong, but at first I thought it was something like low blood sugar because the day was very busy trying to get 22 4-year-olds everywhere they needed to go on their very first day of school and I didn't eat lunch.

If nothing else, it might be helpful to keep a log of your symptoms, how you are feeling, your treatments, things that happen at work, etc. in case you ever need it for any kind of employment proceeding. It wasn't health-related, but I can name at least once that documenting my interactions (and lack of) between myself and my administrators saved my job when one was bent on getting rid of me (I have a good track record as a stable employee since I was 15, so it was pretty thin to begin with).


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## webster2 (May 19, 2011)

I had one Trustee that was determined to get rid of me because I was ill. Ironically, he has an autoimmune issue too. I was very fortunate that I had been a good employee for 18 years, and that I have a great staff.

I also found out after surgery that I was Vitamin D deficient and anemic.


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## hyperinnyc (Apr 18, 2012)

jennyv - good idea! I think an article will help me explain better and make my symptoms more legit. Right now so many people think they're no big deal.

webster - I'm there too! I've wondered if I am getting alzheimer's or something because I can't find my words either! I guess it goes with the territory.

terry - that's terrible... and what I'm afraid of. One slip up and then no more mr. nice manager :-( I didn't know you could use FMLA intermittenly, I will look into it.

hey hot grandma, how are you?! - I'm not sure. I never got my bloodwork from my first visit after surgery, I only just now remembered to get the log in info to see the charts online and you would think they would list ALL bloodwork since being a patient but no, they only list the last results.

cymry - my iron is fine according to bloodwork (but we all know that is never 100%), but that is definitely something I should look into. I am getting older too, so a supplement or one a day vitamin would probably help. I think I will start a 'symptoms' journal.

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! This website is the BEST


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## HotGrandma (Sep 21, 2012)

hyperinnyc
I got my TSH back finally yay RIGHT!!! But its 15.9 so I feel like I've appeared on a show called SMACK DOWN. Uggh, so I'm guessing we probably feel about the same. Get your labs and let us look.

How are your eye's? Was there an improvement after TT?


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## hyperinnyc (Apr 18, 2012)

Hahahahaha yes Smackdown! I'm your tag team partner ;-) But sounds like you're heading in the right direction!!

Yes, slight eye improvement. I don't through a bottle of eye drops a week and they are not as red as before. My eyeglasses hurt a little so I think my vision may be getting better. BUT the optho just measured them and one is actually 1/2mm give or take more protuded than 6 months ago. The outside is still a 'donut' but I 'feel' not as surprised looking anymore.

Any luck with you?


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## HotGrandma (Sep 21, 2012)

Mine have been cold since 10/2012 and I attribute it to Allopurinol

http://www.thyroidboards.com/showthread.php?t=7005

I am left with constant double vision. I only have to clean my glasses once per day instead of every 10 minutes. No watering, swelling, tearing, pain, burning, light sensitivity no nothing except this double vision that will have to be surgerically corrected. My eye's popped back into their head

See if your Dr. will prescribe this Allopurinol (300 mg) daily, no side effects. Its even in Elaine Moore's book on "Thyroid Eye Disease"


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## hyperinnyc (Apr 18, 2012)

That's great! Maybe the double vision will decrease over time once your eyes get used to being somewhat back to normal?

I'm going to look into that - I would love to look normal again! I think I've been a trooper and learned to live with this for far too long, I'd like to have a life again.

Thanks!


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## WhoosierMama (Apr 9, 2013)

I need to deal with this issue soon too. I'm 12 years out from a TT due to thyroid cancer, and have recently had some serious hyper issues. My main symptoms are severe dizziness, head fog, and anxiety. Even though I have a relatively sedentary job, I am having difficulty remaining at work all day due to the horrible dizziness. Pretty much all day I feel like I am about to faint. Once the anxiety kicks in and causes the adrenaline rush and subsequent crash, I'm pretty much exhausted with a splitting headache. Then, it usually all happens again. I went to the doctor today and had labs re-run, and had a heart to heart with my husband about work. I am going to call my boss tomorrow morning and be very frank about how difficult it's been to be at work, and discuss FMLA. I'm a very good employee, and am responsible for a sales team of 11 people, and rarely miss work. I'm hoping that my years of near perfect attendance will help my boss realize this is a serious issue that I need to deal with. Hopefully, he's understanding. Good luck to you.


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## hyperinnyc (Apr 18, 2012)

Hi whoosier, best of luck to you! I feel a little better now that my dose has been changed but for by 2pm I am EXHAUSTED to the point of barely being able to form a sentence. I haven't mentioned it to my boss yet, but I'm sure he can tell... and also tell that I'm trying very hard to 'maintain.'

Have you seen an endo to determine if you should change meds or doses? I remember the hyper/anxiety feeling and it's terrible! Did you have a good run with feeling ok over the 12 years?


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## WhoosierMama (Apr 9, 2013)

hyperinnyc said:


> Hi whoosier, best of luck to you! I feel a little better now that my dose has been changed but for by 2pm I am EXHAUSTED to the point of barely being able to form a sentence. I haven't mentioned it to my boss yet, but I'm sure he can tell... and also tell that I'm trying very hard to 'maintain.'
> 
> Have you seen an endo to determine if you should change meds or doses? I remember the hyper/anxiety feeling and it's terrible! Did you have a good run with feeling ok over the 12 years?


I can definitely relate to that afternoon-fade. I feel like I've got about 4 productive hours in me a day. Trust me, with a full-time job and a 5 and 2 year old, those 4 hours aren't quite cutting it! I recently saw my doctor and my TSH was "undetectable," meaning less than .01. I'm requesting at my next appointment he test my Free T3 and T4 levels too, though. I'm learning from this board and other research that dosing based on TSH is not the ideal way to handle things. And, yes, in the 12 years since I had surgery, this is the first issue I've had. I did have my dosages changed when I was pregnant, but I was hypo then. My hypo symptoms tend to only be fatigue and irritability. This is my first experience with hyper symptoms, and it's been rough. The anxiety is through the roof and I've had quite a lot of trouble coping with it. Here's hoping that the adjusted medication starts kicking in soon!

Good luck with your conversation with your boss. It's so tough to talk about this with people, because it's so difficult to relate to, I think. I mean, everyone's tired, right? Everyone has stress. It's difficult to quantify the level of fatigue and anxiety. Luckily, my boss has been very understanding. Hopefully yours will be too!


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