Wife might have hyperthyroidism

[Guest guest]

Hi everybody,

This is my first posting to this group. I have been reading about

hyperthyroidism for the past few weeks. I have been through all the

archives and read through ithyroid.

After discovering a lump in my wife's throat we went into a GP to

find out what was causing it. He performed a blood test and

ultrasound. The results came back and her T4 level was borderline

high and the T3 was within normal range. I am not sure what the TSH

levels were but I am assuming it was low because he recommended her

see an endo. The ultrasound found two nodules, not sure on the size.

After about two weeks the nodules seemed to have gotten smaller

because we can't feel them anymore. After seeing the endo she

recommeded her do another blood test, I am assuming she was

requesting test for fT3, fT4 and TSH if it wasn't checked during the

first blood test. She also said she might need to do a RA uptake

test. After reading all the post here about RAI I don't really want

her taking any test that has radiation related to it. The other thing

is she is still breastfeeding and the endo said she will need to stop

for 48 hours. I don't think it would be a good idea to breastfeed

after you are exposed to radiation even if it is suppose to be out of

your system after 48 hours.

The endo said the hypo could be caused by 3 possible things: Graves

Disease, postpartum thyroditis (delayed, since our daughter is now 7

months and this usually occurs the first few months), or the

nodules / goiter. When she was at the endo she wasn't able to feel

the nodules that disappeared from her neck during the two weeks after

she did the blood test. The nodules were quite hard, but seemed to

have soften or disappeared. We have been reading that hard nodules

could be cancer but since they have disappeared or soften I am hoping

that is not the case.

One thing she did after the blood test was started taking Materna

again. Her gyno told her to stop taking Materna but the family GP

said it was good idea to continue taking Materna, so she started

again. She has been under a lot of stress since the baby was born

which I think has calmed down quite a bit. At first we thought her

symptoms were from post part, but it wasn't getting better. Then she

started losing alot of weight and got that lump in her throat. Her

mother had problems with her thyroid as well, she had really large

goiters on her neck. She was advised to do surgery but declined. She

heard from a chinese doctor that if you wear fresh water pearls

around your neck it would shrink the goiters. For some strange reason

after wearing the pearls her goiters shrunk and now you can barely

see them. It took awhile but it seem to have shrunk.

We have an appointment next week with the endo to go over the new

blood test results. My question is what kind of things should I have

ready to ask the endo. I've only been researching this topic for the

past couple weeks and I know alot of people in this group has been

dealing with this for years. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,