graves Disease

[~mamaspice~]

Hi karen,

I agree with Hoobley. Definatley make sure you get your bloods done regularly and stay on the PTU or other treatment as long as you need to. Heart failure can be a real risk if the condition is left untreated. Do you have a beta blocker (such as propanolol or inverel) to take for your rapid heart rate if the PTU doesn't quite have that under control? The other thing too is the fact that having untreated graves increases your risk of developing osteoporosis (can't spell). I had a nasty fracture to my humerus (just under the shoulder) 22 months ago and when my endo saw that in my records she said it could be an indication that the graves is already beginning to compromise my bone strength. Not sure if she was being a little too dramatic, but it did freak me out a little.

take care

Tamara

[s361768]

Thank you Hoobley and Charli's mumma (sp?) for your advice you both seem very knowledgable. I do understand the importance of getting treatment for this condition. Even though I do feel better not knowing and assuming my bloods are ok, I will get retested within the next few weeks and fingers crossed.

My son is only 4 months and I don't need doctors hassling me at the moment about surgery, radioactive iodine, or even meds. I have a fear of surgeons (prev bad experience)

Seeing a specialist was overwhelming last time because it was just after my third and I was breastfeeding, but luckily the dr. said I only needed low dose meds to get it under control and it was ok for me to take and to continue feeding my son at the same time.
He did want me to be monitored though.

My Late Grandmother had Graves and my sister has Hashimotos (her thyroid is underactive) she is on meds all the time now.

Seems to run in both DP and my family, my partners twin sister has Hashimoto's and she has to have b12 (either b12 or b6) injections frequently. I know this sounds terrible but I would rather be underactive than overactive (if I have to have thyroid probs at all ) because at least an underactive thyroid doesn't involve surgery or radiocative iodine treatment to rectify it, then only to be on thyroxine for the rest of your life anyway because they have killed it.

I got told that some people with overactive thyroids become underactive by themselves.
Do you ladies know much about this?

Thank you so much
Karen xx

[paradise lost]

Charli'smumma, no i'm a single SAHM, i just read a lot! LOL. I know about thyroid things because i suffer myself and i always want to get a fuller picture than the doctor gives. He'll say "Oh, you're body doesn't like your thyroid, so it attacks it and stops it working" whereas in fact my immune system thinks i have an overactive thyroid and attacks it for that reason - it's almost like being allergic to my own thyroxine! Anyway, i know alot about birth and babies for the same reason - always been fascinated. I have an enquiring mind. LOL.

Karen, getting your bloods done is the first step. They will not re-diagnose active Graves until you are 6 months post partum as it can often take the body that long to overcome post-partum thyroiditis. In PP thyroiditis you OFTEN see a woman become hyperthyroid and then as the body takes control, hypothyroid, from which she usually slowly returns to normal - the answer in those cases is to test the blood every 1-3 months to check levels. Repeated attacks of THAT can lead to someone remaining permanently hypothyroid, depending on how aggresively the body reacts to the hyperthyroid phase of the illness.

With non-PG-related hyperthyroidism, like Graves, the problem is that your body is actively killing off the cells in your blood which read thyroxine levels. In my (Hashi's) body it is the thyroxine-producing cells that are attacked, so they can't make enough thyroxine, because my body thinks my thyroxine is a foreign invader, like a virus or infection, and kills it at source. With your body it's the thyroxine-detectors that are attacked, meaning your brain can't check it's own thyroxine levels (again, because it thinks they are foreign cells) - imagine a dip-stick snapped off just inside the oil tank - your brain NEVER sees how much there is so it tells your thyroid to make more and more. Because of that it's unlikely that your body will naturally slow your thyroid.

I know it's annoying being hyper, and i've only been hypo, unless you count my pregnancy (when i wasn't hyper but i was in remission from Hashi's (which was undiagnosed at that time, i just assumed i was lazy/greedy) so i was "normal" for the first time in years - i gained 6kg all-up, all after the 34th week, and lost it all the day she was born, within 4 months of her birth, because of BFing and my continued remission, i'd lost a further 18kg! Of course then i crashed badly as it returned with avengence and i was really ill for a few months, lost my milk, had bad joint pain etc., and was generally an UNHAPPY bunny until i got medicated). Try to look at it like this - if you are hyper now they will give you some drugs to control it. If you are still hyper in a few more months they will give you surgery or RAI treatment and then you WON'T be hyper anymore, but hypo. It's not incurable, it's just annoying. And hypo is incurable, but not nearly so annoying.

Hang in there hun, you'll be ok.

Bx

[~mamaspice~]

Hi Hoobley, you should go and do your midwifery degree like I'm going to

[paradise lost]

Charli'smumma i was enrolled to do it before i fell pregnant but TBH it's not really what i want. I need to be in this city, because DD has to be near her daddy, and the hospitals here are not where i'd want to be. The hospital where my midwives came from for my homebirth (you're booked for community care and then 2 community mw's come to catch the baby and your community team cover your AN and PP care) has a 58% c section rate for 1st time mums. And yeah, it's a teaching hospital which takes high risk referrals, but that's still not a good enough reason to me. More than half!?

Besides i'd rather write. Inside i'm a writer. I'm strongly considering writing a "Now You're PG" type manual with the TRUTH in it (rather than crap like the BF's guide which told me "absolutely get an epidural and if it's #1 consider a c-section, leave the vaginal birthing to the "experts"" *shakes head in disgust*). I like people and i love babies but i can't pretend i'd be able to watch women go in day after day, naively happy to have their baby cut or torn from them when they could have quite readily had a normal birth. It would kill me very slowly.

Bx

[jas08]

Hi Ladies,
well it cant be as uncommon as i was told it was. So much as been going on here so sorry that i missed all your earlier threads. My 7 year old son toped the cake on monday when he broke his arm!
Well i have my check up about a week ago now and low and behold the levels have increased again. I am waiting for the medication to take hold instead of making me ill. I found that last time i was on a high dose i got a really sore throat. My doctor put me on a half dose much to my specialist disapproval and they have put me back up.
I dont think that they understand how hard it is to look after 4 boys and have this illness as well. Mine wasnt diagnosed until after my 4th but started after i had my 3rd. Both my 3rd and my 4th were csections (the other pair were natural). I agree with you Hoobley most of the csections are elective or given for no real reason and are preventable. Mine unfortuately were not. My 3rd sons birth was really trumatic which kicked the graves into action he was cord prolapse, the 4th had to be born via emergency csection as well but he was born due to my health deteriatering very fast.
I got digonosed at 6 weeks post having bub. I think it depends on the type of tests that they make u go threw. i had to have a radiative test done when my bub was 6 weeks old - mind you no one told me that you couldnt go near children under the age of 6 for at least 24 hours makes it kinda hard when you have 3 under that age. i am glad to hear that i am not the only one who had to give up breast feeding etc, it depressed me to no end especially when my friend who had just had a bub as well kept going on about breast feeding. I think it is hard to find someone who understands unless they have even been there themself or know someone who has.

[~mamaspice~]

Hi Jas, Sorry to hear your little boy broke his arm

hey what meds have they got you on? Perhaps it is worth trying another one to see if it works better for you. I am taking PTU and it has worked okay for me so far, but you can't stay on it forwver so I will be having a thyroidectomy soon.

I hope the meds kick in for you soon