Hello everyone

[Guest guest]

Hello everyone, I am new here. Let me tell you a bit about myself. I

am a 21 year old female who recently got married and was hoping to

get pregnant soon. Two months ago I was diagnosed with Grave's. I

have been sick for over two years. I originally thought I had

gallbladder disease because my main symptoms were vomiting and

diarrhea. I had an ultrasound, an EGD, a colonoscopy and tons of lab

work. I have suffered from depression and nervousness for the past 9

years or so, so I really didn't consider things like that symptoms

so I never told the doctor (or nurse practitioner...I've still only

seen a doctor for my stomach, for everything else I've only been

allowed to see a nurse practitioner). Finally, after all of this

testing I got a phone call at 7:30 one night from a frantic nurse

saying that they had gotten some more of my blood work back and my

thyroid levels were off. She had me come in the very next morning at

8:30. They took me back before anybody else and the nurse

practitioner explained to me that she was almost positive that this

was a lab mistake and she was sure that this next set would come

back normal. So I felt relieved and left the office. The next

evening the nurse called back at 7:00 saying that these were still

off so she scheduled a nuclear scan for me the next day. I went that

morning and picked up my lab results to know for myself. They were:

Thyroid uptake: 43.00, Thyroxine (T4): 17.5, TSH: <0.01

I was unable to talk to anyone at the office about what this all

meant. So I went on to the hospital and had my scan done. The tech

would hardly give me the time of day, let alone explain anything to

me. So, two days later the nurse called again and said " Well, it

looks like you have Grave's disease! We don't know much about it, so

we are sending you to see an Endocrinologist in another town. Well,

you will actually only see the nurse practitioner there...but she is

good. " So my appointment was set for two weeks later. In the

meantime I had no one to talk to about any of this and had no idea

what was going on.

So when my doctor's appointment finally came I thought I would

get some answers and I was feeling pretty optimistic. Ha. She rushed

in dragging a student, barely addressed me, made a few jokes, felt

my neck, then informed me that I was going to have RAI. She didn't

even ask me what symptoms I was having or anything. I got concerned

when she said the word radioactive and I told her that I was hoping

to concieve soon, so she said, " Oh well, you may be 22 when you can

think about getting pregnant but I guess we will just see. " She

acted like after this miracle I would be fine. Well I guess my only

saviour was the fact that I had stopped taking my birth control. She

decided to go ahead and put me on propanolol (2 a day) and PTU (4 a

day) and back on the ortho. So, she didn't want to do the RAI until

after the ortho was working so I wouldn't get pregnant.

Well, here I am and in 5 hours I will leave to drive over 2 and

a half hours to the Endocrinologists' to supposedly schedule my RAI.

Well, won't she be shocked when she finds out I've been doing my

homework and when I present to her all of the horror stories I've

been reading about RAI and GD. All she is concerned with is killing

my thyroid. Not the disease. I am so mad that I was treated like

some stupid lemming and not even given an option. Even after I told

her about wanting to get pregnant ASAP...my husband and I have

already bought the crib set, bassinet, and a lot of other stuff and

we are crushed. So needless to say I don't relish the thought of

having my body pumped full of radioactive stuff then trying to have

a baby and maybe never being able to. And to top it all off, I never

lost any weight with this. I'm not skinny to begin with...so what am

I suppose to do if I do have RAI and go hypo?? Gain 200 pounds and

be fine with it? Anyways, sorry I am venting and I know this has

gotten terribly long. I apologize, it's just been so incredibly hard

not having anyone to talk to about all of this. But I'm glad I've

found out what I have in time so I can force her to tell me the

truth or get a second opinion. Thank you all for listening to me

ramble. I appreciate it. God bless and take care.