graves Disease

[~mamaspice~]

Hi Juan, and welcome to BB!

I have had Graves for about 5 years and I successfully fell pregnant (first try) and carried a healthy little bubba. I was on PTU during the preg but only a small amount as the pregnancy kind of suppressed the graves to a certain extent. The graves did flare up again post preg though.
As for putting on weight on meds, I put on weight quite quickly as I had lost a lot of lean muscle tissue in my legs and stuff and I also found it difficult to cut my eating back (I had gotten used to eating a fair bit while my graves was untreated and of course I was still losing weight then) but when my meds slowed my metabolism down I was eating too much and with less lean muscle tissue to burn energy the kilo's piled on.

Best of luck

[Juan]

Hi Spice,

Your first sentence sent a wave of relief through me- THANK YOU! I am looking forward to seeing the specialist so I can get a clear idea of what I have and what I have to do.

I will certainly be visting this forum regularly.

[Bathsheba]

Welcome to our little support group Juan

Firstly: the itching. During my last pregnancy I had a condition called Cholestasis which made me itch but it was mainly just my hands and feet... it was unbearable!!! Sounds to me like there could be an issue with your liver... mention it to your GP.

Conception: I was only diagnosed with hyperthyroidism after the birth of my 3rd baby... but if I had it before (which i may have, who knows... my weight has always tended to fluctuate regardless of eating patterns)... if I had it before then it didn't affect my ability to conceive... I am extremely fertile... the kind of woman who just has to look at her husband the right way and fall pregnant! But I have heard that Graves can interfere with fertility.

Weight gain: yep, the medication (PTU) did result in a bit of weight gain... but nothing too significant... only about 3/4 kilos. I got down to about 60kg at my most hyperthyroid state and am now about 65kg... my healthy weight is about 63kg. At first I quite liked the side-effect of weight loss that comes with being hyperthyroid... but the joy doesn't last. Soon the weakness will get to you. Better to stabilise the weight rather than losing your muscles. I'm finding it's taking a long time to rebuild the muscle that i lost. You need muscle to burn fat.

My update: feeling good. Taking 1 tablet of PTU per day. Have good energy levels. Weight stable. Moods a bit erratic. Still a bit of hair loss Also have very dry hair... this is meant to be a symptom of thyroid issues... not liking it at all. No heart palpitations... all good there! Rapid heart rate was the most noticeable aspect of my condition when i was at my most hyperthyroid.

ETA: oh and thankyou Serene for your support

[~mamaspice~]

Bathsheba, rapid heart rate was what started to make me wonder what was going on too. One day when I was laying down my resting heart rate was 145bpm. Oh, and there was the weight loss (despite eating like a horse) and the moodiness, intolerance to heat, weak thigh muscles and of course hand tremors. Oh it's fun isn't it . . .

[Bathsheba]

Ah yes... i forgot about the hand tremors... that was another clue that led me to the doctor. Thankfully no sign of that now either. My heart rate got to about 130Bpm at rest at it's worst. I've been wanting to buy a heart rate monitor but they are so expensive.

[paradise lost]

OMG ladies, takes me back. I once had a nurse take my resting rate after i'd been laying on the table for a bunch of other things (i was joining the practice, so i had a smear and a bunch of swabs taken, blood taken, my BP done, etc.) and it was 38bpm! She almost called an ambulance! THe following morning i took it on waking and it was 37! Thankfully now i'm medicated it's more like 44-50bpm (i exercise quite a lot too though, some of that is fitness).