Strange Progression of Graves: Weight Gain!

November 28, 2006

Late July 2006 I was diagnosed with Grave’s disease. Two previous winters I

noticed that I needed to increase my ski boot size and I couldn’t wear a parka

if I did anything strenuous (I freaked out my neighbors when I was shoveling the

snow in the driveway in a T-shirt). Then the summer of 2005 I was always

uncomfortably warm and sweaty. The spring of 2006 I started to feel like I had

no energy, I had night sweats, I was losing weight, I couldn’t sleep, at least

not for more than a couple of hours at a time, and my vision was getting weird.

My doctor tried to have each symptom treated by a different specialist, but one

day I noticed that the chemistry form she gave me she had written

“hyperthyroidism” and was checking my TSH, T3, & T4. When my results were

non-existent, way too much, way too much, she told me that I had Grave’s

disease. We did the iodine uptake without any thing special showing up and I

“lucked out” and got to see an endocrinologist the beginning of August

2006 (I called his office one morning and asked when I could be seen. I was

told 1 PM. I asked when the next appointment was and the answer was early 2007,

so I took the afternoon appointment). The 2nd thing my endocrinologist said,

after “hello, I'm Dr. F...n” was “I like to use RAI and treat you for a hypo

condition indefinitely (translation: I want to destroy your thyroid and make you

dependent on drugs for the rest of your life). I told him that was the last, not

the first thing I’d do. So he tripled my dosage of methimazole to 30 mg/day.

Eventually my primary care doubled my atenolol to 50 mg/day.

Last week my latest labs came back and my TSH is still non existent, my T4 is

in the normal range (1.8), and my T3 is still high at 228, but much lower. I

understand that my TSH should be undetectable as there is no need for my thyroid

to produce hormones as I still have a large reserve of T3 in my system. And I

understand that my T4 & T3 levels should decrease since the methimazole has

attenuated my thyroid’s hormone production, so it isn't replacing what I’ve been

consuming in my system. What I don’t understand is if I still have much too much

T3, then how have I managed to put 22 pounds on in 3 months? I have NOT

increased the type or quantity of food I've been eating.

Anybody have any answers or similar circumstances?

TIA.

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