Overactive thyroid?

[Lovemusic33]

Posted in mental health but got no response.

I am 34 and have been experiencing the following symptoms over the past couple of months.

Shaking, tremors at night, feeling like I can't keep still.

Sweats, one minute I'm cold, net minute I am dripping with sweat ( mainly at night).

Severe anxiety, depression and paranoia ( this is what's effecting me the most ).

Insomnia and vivid dreams.

Peeing all the time ( though this has been a problem for a while ).

Hungry all the time.

Muscle aches.

The main problem has been the anxiety and paranoia, it's tearing me and my dp apart, I wake up in the morning and my heart is racing, I feel like I can not face the day even though I try and plan things to look forward too, to give me motivation to get up. I thought I was suffering from depression but it's very unlike me to feel like this, I do suffer from anxiety but I have never experienced it this extreme before. PMT is the worst, last week I spent crying, shouting at dp and feeling suicidal, all my symptoms became worse, sometimes in bed I struggle to keep still and one night my arm was twitching and ended up hitting dp a few times .

I have a doctors appointment tomorrow but I don't want to be blown off with antidepressants as I'm sure this is caused by something else.
Does this sound like a thyroid problem? How do I get my GP to listen?

Anyone?

Hi I'm sorry to hear you're struggling. Have you lost weight/ finding it hard to keep it on?

The weeing all the time could be a key thing to look at. Can be a sign of diabetes. Also, does food shoot through you?

Is there a history of thyroid stuff in the family?

If tell the gp all of this but briefly mention the anxiety etc or refer to it as mood swings/ feeling tense or hyper for now. Emphasise the physical, see what investigations they could do, then later look at the mental. Thyroid stuff does affect mental though which is why it's often misinterpreted as mh.

There are a lot of symptoms there that could be due to hyperthyroidism. How many bowel movements do you have a day? When I was ill with Graves, I had to go to the loo a lot, was shaky, horrible anxiety and near constant feelings of doom and panic. Heart beating out of my chest all night. Couldn't eat as was too anxious. I also had thyroid eye disease, so my eyes starting bulging, it was my eyes that got me diagnosed as my GP was useless. He referred me to an eye specialist who took one look at me and said 'Graves'.

It was one of the worst times of my life, but I am better now. First port of call is getting bloods done. I cut gluten out of my diet too as it is strongly implicated in thyroid disorders. Good luck, I hope you are feeling better as soon as possible.

Get bloods done. I am usually hypo but when my meds were not right I went hyper and can identify with the heart palpitations, anxiety, irritability, diarrhea and tremors.

OP. Get to your GP asap.

Thank you,
My grandmother had an overactive thyroid in her 30-40s and eventually had it removed.
I have been going to the loo more often, more bowel movements and also feeling bloated. I have lost weight over the past six months but I do exercise a lot so may not be related.
I feel I need to address the anxiety ASAP as I am close to breaking point, I am dreading my next period as my symptoms seem to get so much worse, I can't deal with the severe anxiety and the suicidal thoughts, I don't feel like me .

I am scared I am going to lose my dp as we have not been together that long, I really don't know how he puts up with my mood swings and me going from being really happy one minute to suicidal the next.

Its horrible, I feel for you. The anxiety was horrific and sucked all the joy out of my life, I was close to suicide. I never want to go back to that place again.

I did find my way out again, I went to see a nutritionist who got me on supplements and a diet to help my thyroid. I take a lot of magnesium as it helps the adrenals, which will definitely be shot if you are overactive. Google adrenal fatigue as it is quite prevalent in modern society. I took carbimazole, which helped, but I am convinced that my lifestyle changes were the most beneficial in the long run. I am in 'remission' now, but I like to think I am cured.

Thyroid problems go way back in my family. I don't eat gluten any more or drink alcohol (alcohol triggers my adrenaline now, which results in anxiety, I think my adrenals just can't cope anymore with stimulants) and I actively avoid stressful situations. Its been a long road back, but I have learnt a lot. I see a medical herbalist now as hormones are up and down due to peri menopause, she is treating my nervous system and supporting my thyroid.

A good website is thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/index.html - they have a forum too where there are lots of clued up people.

Thank you so much, I will take a look at the website. I don't eat much gluten but I might cut back even more.

I have the doctors in a hour, fingers crossed they will take me seriously.

Good luck. Ask for T4 and T3 to be tested as well, as they will probably only test the TSH, which may not show hyper yet. If you are hyper your T3 will be high and so will the T4. TSH will be 0.01 (or thereabouts - ask for the ranges, people can be within 'normal' range and still feel like utter shit) if you are hyper.

And remember, the anxiety, dark thoughts and panic are not you, they are not who you are, they are chemical imbalances in your body. I used to tell myself, 'this is not my default setting' and it helped calm me down. Try to breathe in for 7 breaths and out for 11 if you are panicky, it slows your heart down.

Good luck Op, it's a very easy condition for the GP to diagnose and then you'll be referred to endocrinology/thyroid clinic. I have Graves (without the eye involvement) and bipolar and it is very difficult to distinguish between the symptoms of overactive thyroid and the mood disorder. In fact we just kept increasing the meds that we now think triggered the Graves because it seemed like I was on the way to mixed or manic episode.

Like Toria2014 nothing has ever made me feel quite so horrible but the meds (carbimazole and propranolol) have been a big help and I'm getting my head round the likelihood of surgery (radioactive iodine didn't work for me, I can't remember why but think it was something to do with other meds I have to take).

Good luck. Do mention family history. As the hormones can vary up and down you might find you have to go back again in a few weeks.

Also, The British thyroid foundation are the charitable wing of the association of thyroid consultants. Lots of advice on website, handouts and volunteers to ring.

Can also recommend the BMA book, understanding thyroid disorders, if you find you are diagnosed.

I'm booked in for blood tests tomorrow, was given anti depressants which I took last night, they made me very ill.

Before I had a diagnosis, I was given antidepressants. I only took one as the side effects were even worse than I was feeling already! If you are hyper they won't help you anyway.

Yes it's a very common thing. I was quite young and struggled on trying to cope with the ads. (Underactive) They didn't help at all and actually made things worse for me (it was Seroxat, at the time a new drug). Some people find they do help though, but probably when thyroid is ok. Ads take a while to kick in, a few weeks sometimes. If it's a thyroid issue they may not help until the thyroid is sorted out, but then you may not need them!

Beta blockers might have been a better idea, as good for anxiety but also used to deal with thyroid. However they would probably want to test first as it can lessen t3 a little.

Glad you have blood booked. I hope you are ok. What did they give you?

I was given citalapram (sp), was up all night, wide awake, glued to the loo and feeling sick .