Heat intolerance, feeling tired, hands trembling... maybe you have:

[Roryrory]

Aw that sucks Bath! Think I am gonna have to call you for a chat cause DH saw his endochronologist and is getting nowhere fast......I kinda get the impression that they generally just stab at the dark and hope for the best (the endochrine system is so complex, like we even understand half of it yet!)

[Bathsheba]

Yep, of all the health conditions I have ever had everyone just seems so uncertain about thyroid issues, even the specialist. They were perplexed as to why I went into remission so fast last time... they said I shouldn't have responded so quickly to the medication... they said it should have taken months, not weeks. Seems to be such a common theme: stabbing in the dark, like you said.

The worst of it is that I think now I might start to be imagining symptoms; like everytime I get tetchy with my kids i wonder "oooh nooo I'm getting those moods swings like last time!" aggghhh...

But call anytime (although I'm leaving for the dentist soon this arvo) because accumating knowledge is always helpful... like has he tried Carnitine? My natropath highly recommends it for anything to do with the thyroid... and I wonder if that's why I went into remission so quickly last time... my specialist says he has never heard of any of his patients taking carnitine. I have a good article about it... it's not just hocus pocus LOL makes a fair degree of sense to me! I stopped taking it when i got my last good result in December... wish i hadn't now.... but I'm back on it now... lets see if it works again!

[Bathsheba]

Update: well I will have Graves Disease for the rest of my life... because once the body has made antibodies to attack my thyroid gland they stay made... BUT it seems like i still have a good chance of going into remission which means my body will stop actually making them for a while. I am still having blood tests every 8 weeks and the good news is that the last 2 have shown normal levels of thyroid hormone... although this is achieved by taking 2 anti-thyroid tablets per day. If my levels stay good my doctor will put me down to 1 tablet and then maybe none for a while to see what happens.

My weight has stacked on a bit since my metabolism has settled back down... but i am feeling quite good... hands stopped shaking, and i'm actually feeling the cold for the first time in years.

One thing that i wanted to mention though is that if you have the set of the symptoms of my first post please go and see a doctor. I spoke with a woman last week who was telling me she was feeling most of them but for some reason she wasn't keen to see a doctor She just didn't want to know. The sooner you are diagnosed the more chance you have of going into remission... so if in doubt please get it checked out!

[jaspen]

bath - glad to see you are on the upward swing so to speak - I hope it continues for you and you can reduce your meds progressively.