Hello & a little bit (well a lot probably) about me!

[Guest guest]

Hi

I am 48 years old, married with 1 child about to graduate from uni, a wonderful

hubby, two cats and a rescue dog! I had 4 years of various fertility treatments

before our beautiful girl came along and she is worth every minute of it.

I was first diagnosed with hyperthyroidism about 22 years ago, I went on a diet

to rid myself of baby fat and joined a gym. I became very 'hyper', couldn't sit

still, constantly talking, lost weight very rapidly and struggled at the gym,

sweating, breathing difficulties and feeling faint and giddy (which I put down

to my asthma and being very unfit)to the point of having to recover a while

before moving on to the next machine. Finally, as I was out in the garden

raking up leaves in the dark at 5am in a t'shirt and jeans (no caot) one frosty

morning, my neighbour poked her head out of her bedroom window and told me to go

to the doctors and get my thyroid tested.... she had thyroid problems herself.

So off I went, following about 6 months of treatment, everything went back to

normal, i came of the drugs, had regular blood tests for a while and then

nothing until about 2 years ago.

I began to have pins and needles in my hands, lower arms and legs, I would

become exhausted and extremely breathless on exertion and would be drenched with

sweat, altho I would recover with short rests. No one could explain it, it got

worse and worse until I would feel like I'd run a marathon after having a

shower. I also felt like I wasn't me, everything became a trial just thinking

was difficult. My voice became very 'minnie mouse' like after a terrible cold

and would not get better. Finally a GP did some blood tests and my B12 was

extremely low (thyroid was fine at that time)but he would not treat me until I

saw a breathing specialist, she said it was hyper ventilation syndrome, i would

need physio but in the meantime she did further blood tests and I ended up in

hospital following a d-dimer test, by this time I was pratically on my knees

just after getting dressed!! In hospital, a consultant saw my bloods and was

not happy, he wanted to know why I had not been given B12 by the GP and started

my loading injections that day, within hours I started to feel better and when I

went home a couple of days later I thought all my troubles were over. But

within a couple of weeks I started to go downhill again. Following a diagnosis

of pernicious anaemia and a battle with my local surgery I finally managed to

get 8 weekly B12 injections, but still felt under par.

I went back to the GP, who basically told me I was depressed and needed

anti-depressants, I told him I wasn't and would not take them an argument ensued

where I was basically told it was anti-depressants or nothing!!! Finally after

taking my pulse he said he would check my thyroid as I had had a problem in the

past but if it came back negative then I was on my own. Guess what....?

I was immediately referred to an Endo who diagnosed Grave's disease on the spot

which I also have in my eyes, and after 14 months on Carbimazole and various

checks on my heart and lungs because of the continued breathing issues (which

were not asthma, that has been pratically non existent since I gave up smoking 3

years ago) I had my partial thyroidectomy 3 weeks ago!

There seems to be an issue with falling calcium levels at present and I see my

GP on Monday about that, I went back to work last Monday and was sent home

Wednesday a'noon with a flu like illness which has developed into a rather nasty

cough apart from that and feeling a bit low in myself things are ok at the mo.

I was put on levothyroxine the day after my op, what worries me is that no other

medication options were discussed, I did not know there was an alternative until

I started looking into the drug I'm on. So far I am not sure if how I am

feeling is down to meds, calcium levels or post op recovery so will go with the

flow for now, I am just glad there are people on here I can turn to if I have

any worries or questions. I look forward chatting with some of you and

comparing notes etc.

Debs

[Guest guest]

Hello Debs - and welcome to our forum where I hope you get all

the help and support you so obviously need. Read the information here about

complications after thyroid surgery http://thyroid.about.com/od/thyroiddrugstreatments/a/complications.htm

which might help you.

Unfortunately doctors in the UK will mostly ONLY treat their

hypothyroid patients with the mainly inactive thyroid hormone thyroxine (T4).

This then has to convert to the ACTIVE thyroid hormone T3 which needs to get

into every cell in your body and brain to make them function. For a lot of us,

we are unable to convert T4 to T3 and need some form of the active T3, either

synthetic (Liothyronine) or natural desiccated thyroid extract which contains

all the thyroid hormones i.e. T4, T3, T2, T1 plus calcitonin for the bones.

To learn more about the natural desiccated thyroid hormone

extract, go to our FILES section accessible in the Menu on the Home Page of

this forum http://health./grouop/thyroid treatment

and then click on the FOLDER 'Natural Thyroid Extract' and read all the

information that is there.

Luv - Sheila

I was put on levothyroxine the day after my op, what worries me is that no

other medication options were discussed, I did not know there was an

alternative until I started looking into the drug I'm on. So far I am not sure

if how I am feeling is down to meds, calcium levels or post op recovery so will

go with the flow for now, I am just glad there are people on here I can turn to

if I have any worries or questions. I look forward chatting with some of you and

comparing notes etc.

Debs