Re: NewbieQ's - confused & scared, to Carol

[Guest guest]

Dear Carol,

Others will give you excellent and well-informed advise -- I just

wanted to share with you that my 17 yr old daughter (who is the Graves

patient -- I'm here on the board as a mom) also was mis-diagnosed with

ADD and also spent some time on Strattera (almost 2 months). She did

not experience any adverse side affects from it. In fact the only

change was that it seemed to help her sleep.

When she was diagnosed with Graves and began treatment with Tapazole,

she stopped taking the Strattera. It's my understanding that Strattera

is NOT a stimulant, like Ritalin. It's in the same family as

anti-depressants -- an uptake inhibitor. It shouldn't have adversely

affected the Graves symptoms -- I questioned all the docs very closely

about this. Your symptoms may have been worsening at that time due to

the natural course of Graves itself. As has said, you should

start to feel better when you begin treatment with Tap or PTU. The

good news is that Graves is treatable.

Many people here on this board have found the book " Graves Disease, a

practical guide " by Elaine to be an invaluable source of

information. Elaine is also here and very generously answers questions

-- it's best to address them to her name in the subject line.

-

> On Sept. 4th, I went in for a routine physical. I'd been feeling

strange, but nothing major - just wanted to get checked out. While I

was there, I told my DO I'd become very forgetful, absent-minded,

easily distracted, fog-brained. He has me take a written test, which

I failed miserably, and declared I was adult ADD. I took Stratera for

4 days, but the " side effects " were more than I could handle, so I

dc'd it. 10 days later, the " side effects " were still there and every

bit as pronounced. That was a Friday. On Monday, my Dr's office

called to tell me my lab results were in - I had a TSH of .004. Some

side effects of Stratera are very similar to the SX of Graves. I

think the med was enough to exacerbate my symptoms. Since then, I've

grown progressively worse.

>

> This past Tuesday, I saw an endo. He declared me to have Graves

based on the very brief history I gave him and my TSH. He said we'd

wait 2 weeks for the lab results (does it really have to take that

long??), then he'd call the RX to my pharmacy. Yesterday his nurse

called, said my labs were in (they'd sent them stat - 2 days is stat?)

and they are to call me today (Friday) before calling my pharm. He

prefers Tapazole. His treatment goal for me is to eventually remove

my thyroid gland. That is also my DO's treatment goal for me.

>

> I'm afraid my options are very limited. There are 5 endo's in this

area that are covered by my insurance. One only take diabetes, one is

not trusted in the local medical community, one is not taking new

patients and the 4th is treating me. That leaves me one other and I

know nothing about him at all. And I cannot find a holistic

practitioner here - the closest one is over an hour away. I am

certain I will have to be very much in control of my treatment. I

just don't have a clue where to go from here.

>

> I am an RN, so I understand what I read, but I'm so fuzzy-brained,

that everything I've read online has stopped making sense to me -

can't remember half of it. And I spent my career mostly in psych

nursing, so am having to re-learn a lot of this.

>

> My most immediate question right now is what are the

advantages/disadvantages of Tapazole vs. PTU??

>

> And my big-picture question is: How am I going to educate an endo

that hasn't spent more than 3.5 minutes with me to date? And that was

the initial visit!! I am very worried that at some point he's going

to say he can't treat me anymore because I won't do things his way.

Normally I wouldn't care and just go find another doc, but it's slim

pickin's 'round here.

>

> Has anyone else experienced a similar situation?

>

> Thanks for reading to the end.

>

> Carol

>

>

> [N