# I have graves and hashimotos?



## JodiH1221 (Nov 16, 2009)

I am just wondering if anyone is having a similar experience. I will start with some background information. 
In May I had my first child. At the end of June I began losing a lot of hair and I was more tired than I have ever been in my entire life. I was more tired than when I had the baby. It was difficult to take care of a newborn and deal with all my symptoms so I went to the doctor. I was told that everyone loses hair after having a baby and all my symptoms were normal. So I dealt with these symptoms for another month waiting for everything to be normal again when I started feeling extreme anxiety which I thought was normal because I already have previous mental health issues. I decided to go to a different doctor who ordered a blood test. My results were that I was Hyperthyroid and needed medication right away, get and ultrasound and go to a specialist. The ultrsound showed no nodules but my thyroid was a little enlarged. So I went to a specialist and he sent me for more blood work to test my antibodies and other levels. It came back that I have Graves disease and Hashimotos. The endo thinks I have had this condition for a long time because of the severity of all my symptoms. He thinks when i became pregnant my thryoid became normal. The endo said that eventually the Hashimotos will win the fight and I will become Hypothyroid so I wont need any treatment besides medications. Which is supposed to be a good thing.

Does anyone have the same issue? Is it possible to have two autoimmune diseases that are doing oppisite things?


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

JodiH1221 said:


> I am just wondering if anyone is having a similar experience. I will start with some background information.
> In May I had my first child. At the end of June I began losing a lot of hair and I was more tired than I have ever been in my entire life. I was more tired than when I had the baby. It was difficult to take care of a newborn and deal with all my symptoms so I went to the doctor. I was told that everyone loses hair after having a baby and all my symptoms were normal. So I dealt with these symptoms for another month waiting for everything to be normal again when I started feeling extreme anxiety which I thought was normal because I already have previous mental health issues. I decided to go to a different doctor who ordered a blood test. My results were that I was Hyperthyroid and needed medication right away, get and ultrasound and go to a specialist. The ultrsound showed no nodules but my thyroid was a little enlarged. So I went to a specialist and he sent me for more blood work to test my antibodies and other levels. It came back that I have Graves disease and Hashimotos. The endo thinks I have had this condition for a long time because of the severity of all my symptoms. He thinks when i became pregnant my thryoid became normal. The endo said that eventually the Hashimotos will win the fight and I will become Hypothyroid so I wont need any treatment besides medications. Which is supposed to be a good thing.
> 
> Does anyone have the same issue? Is it possible to have two autoimmune diseases that are doing oppisite things?


Boy, if that is not confusing, I don't know what is. Welcome to the board.

As far as I know, the only "real" way to tell if the patient has Hashimoto's is by FNA (fine needle aspiration) whereupon if "certain" Hurthle cells indigenous to Hashimoto's, then the patient does have Hashimoto's.

Grave's is a "clinical" evaluation as per Dr. Robert Graves. You must have 3 of the following for a clinical diagnosis of Graves'.................

Exophthalmos, goiter, pretibial myxedema and thyrotoxicosis.

Now, both Grave's and Hashimotos' can show evidence of TSI (thyroid stimulating immunoglobulin.) TSI is responsible for hyperthyroid state.

Some purport that Hashimoto's can turn into Graves' Disease; I am not sure I agree w/ that.

Now...................about "you!" What antibodies were tested, what were the results and the ranges? Did the doctor run TSH, Free T4 and Free T3; if so, what are the results and the ranges?

What medications were prescibed?

How are you feeling right now?


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