Allow myself to introduce myself

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

Guess I should formally make everyone's acquaintance since I signed up last

night.

:-) My name is , and I am a 44 year old female, married with 3

children (2 still at home), living in Southern California. Haven't had any real

major health issues my whole life long, until after doing some blood work as

part of an investigation that involves a current case of tinnitus (ringing in

the ears), my doctor called and told me last week that my thyroid is

overactive and that he wanted to run another blood test to look into things and

find

out what's up.

Being the anal little computer lovin' gal that I am, I immediately upon

hanging up the phone with him went online to see exactly what that could mean,

and

for the first time found the terms " hyperthyroidism " and Graves' Disease. Just

the quick look over that I saw of these things online convinced me that for

the sake of my nerves I should probably stop reading and wait for a further

report back from my Dr.! LOL So I tried my best not to think about it for the

past week, apart from praying about it.

Just this past Wednesday my Dr. called back and said that I had Graves'

Disease and that he wanted me to go in and see the internist as soon as possible

so

I could discuss treatment options. He did say that it looked like it was just

starting the condition; which provided me with a bit of comfort at the time.

Back online I went and while I have spent about 4 hours so far over the past

2 days surfing around and finding out more about what exactly this means for

me and my family, I know I really don't know much at all. So I was very glad to

stumble across a a yahoo group given as a link in one of the many sites I've

scouted around on. I'm a big fan of yahoo groups and belong to a bunch of

them, mostly rubber stamping related. Thank you all for being here, and I see

I've

gotten some emails already from the group, although I haven't had a chance to

read them as of yet due to the heavy web surfing I've been doing. In good

times and bad, then things that bring us pleasure or the things that want to

drag

us down, it helps so much to have others to share it with, and I appreciate

this group and hope to not only receive benefits by being here, but to give

benefits where and when I can to others as well.

I saw the Internist today, and am much encouraged. Based on her looking at

the initial blood work and her examination of me, she isn't convinced as yet

that I have Graves' Disease; or if I do it is an extremely mild form of it. She

has ordered me further blood tests to check my THS levels and T3 levels again,

as well as looking at the T4. (I know a wee bit of the lingo already, even if

I don't know exactly what it all means as yet.) I'm also scheduled for a

radiological uptake on my thyroid for next week, so she can get a better idea of

what it doing and where and if it's secreting or holding onto the things it

shouldn't. She says I don't really show any of the physiological signs of

Graves'

Disease, which is also encouraging. Basically she didn't guarantee that it

would stay mild, but said that unless the additional tests showed something

really out of whack, she predicts that she'll just want to monitor me and keep

an

eye on things with my thyroid.

All in all, she seemed very knowledgeable about it, and stated that she sees

quite a few women who have thyroid problems. My darling hubby (who like the

rock he is went with me to my appointment) was very impressed with her. So while

I could see an endocrinologist, I guess I feel at this stage of the game that

it's too soon to start: a. Panicking with a capital P and b. rope in the

specialists. We did discuss some future eventualities, and I mentioned that I

wasn't comfortable with the whole treatment of burning my thyroid away and would

rather start with medications if and when treatment is indicated and she was

open to that.

So that's where I stand at the moment. I hope everyone here has had the best

of all possible days. From what I could gather from reading some folks stories

who have struggled or are struggling with this condition, a lot of it is

about trying to live life to the best of your abilities day by day and moment by

moment. My prayers for all you that you will succeed in that, but if not, to

find hope and encouragement wherever you are seeking it, and to try again

tomorrow.

Looking forward to getting to know you all and my apologies if this was an

excessively wordy introduction. I'm a talker I admit it, but also I hope a good

listener too. God bless,