WTF? Hyperthyroidism!

[xXMummyTo6Xx]

Hi 👋🏻 didn't know where to post this but thought overall it would be best on here. So, 2 days ago i went for some bloods to be taken and they came back ok apart from my thyroid levels! It's come as abit of a shock as i wasn't expecting this result at all! Been told it's something called Hyperthyroidism?! Since then i have done nothing but google and come across allsorts of things and it has made me even more anxious on top of how i already have been feeling!.. It's obvious to me now my symptoms all link up with this new diagnosis - but bearing in my mind, im 18 weeks postpartum so i just assumed my extreme tiredness, anxiety, sweating, missed period etc was all due to having my baby 🤦🏻‍♀️ Feel so silly for thinking this but yet im glad i went to the doctors as i just knew something wasn't right if that makes sense? I have been refered to an Endocrinologist so just waiting for them to get intouch with an appointment at my local hospital. Anyway, sorry for the big essay, but if anyone has got this far in reading and has experienced something similar - what should i expect going forward? What was your thyroid problem caused by? Should i be worried? Just really need talking too as im scared if im honest. What a shit start to my 30's 😭 Thanks x

So your thyroid has gone overactive. This could be down to having a baby but it may be due to having an autoimmune condition called Graves’ disease. The hospital will likely test you for Graves to confirm. Has your GP given you medication for your thyroid? If not, they should so it’s something to chase up. Graves’ disease can’t be cured unfortunately. Hospital consultants dealing with the thyroid are notoriously shit. They will often just want you to have radio active iodine or your thyroid out to get you back into the care of your GP so it’s good to get copies of all of your blood tests and learn how to read them. This will help you make some informed decisions for yourself.

if you’re getting heart palpitations ask for beta blockers to help.

There are some good thyroid pages on Facebook. Might be an idea to join those. I don’t want to scare you but it’s a long slog to get the thyroid back into range. Medication isn’t a quick fix and it can take 18 months or more to get back in range and be steady again. Not everyone is the same though so wait and see what the hospital say as your thyroid is completely different to mine.

I had this after my DD was born, it was post partum thyroiditis. They monitored it for a year and it went away. I was told it was relatively common.

edited to add - I wasn’t medicated for it and although tested regularly for it since it’s not returned (yet) although it could.

I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism which was probably triggered by menopause.

It came as quite a shock because I had no symptoms at all, not even weight gain.

But I got over it pretty quickly and just take a Levothyroxine tablet every day, without giving it too much thought.

You'll get your head around it eventually OP

@Dancingtimesquare no my gp hasn't given me medication for it, just refered me to the hospital so its a waiting game now waiting for the appointment 😔 what is your thyroid problem if you don't mind me asking? are you hypo? i have seen radioactove iodine as potential treatment on NHS but i personally don't want to take that with it been radioactive! im hoping its nothing serious if im honest but my tsh levels were really low and my t3 and t4 was high x

@FancyCatSlave when did it come about for you after having your daughter that your thyroid was playing up? what was your symptoms? can you remember your thyroid levels? x

@DameOfThrones so you are opposite then, n'awww well atleast you have started treatment for it and thankyou for your comment too - makes me feel less alone to hear of others going through similar 💕 im trying not to think about it but its hard not too🤦🏻‍♀️ x

It can happen that a period of being hyper then turns into being hypo, or that it is a temporary thyroiditis that will resolve, so at the moment it’s a waiting game. I imagine they will retest you soon as you might need medication, and they will probably look for antibodies to see if it’s autoimmune.

It’s a stressful one, partly because the effect of all the surplus thyroid hormones causes all the stressful bodily responses. Mine was Graves’ disease. The gp gave me carbimazole and beta blockers and referred me to thyroid clinic at the hospital after a scan. It took some time but eventually it went into remission.

When the levels are back in range it can take a couple of months or more before you feel better because there is a lag.

@MabelAnderson yes my gp has already said they will want to do further tests on me and possibly a scan of my neck? this has what has frightened me if im honest as my mind is thinking the worst of the worst!

@HyperT can you remember what your levels were? im worried it could be graves disease! x

my tsh level was - 0.01
t4 - 36
t3 - 13

can anyone interpret these results? could they indiciate something more serious? :/

I had this post-partum after my first baby - a long time ago now. It just went back to normal and then I was hypothyroid after my second baby! So weird.

You should have another blood test in a few months to see if it is normalising. Without the ranges on those results it is hard to say what they mean - do you have those @xXMummyTo6Xx ? If you are worried about Graves, ask the GP to test your thyroid antibodies.

Did they check ferritin, Vit D, B12? Even they are in range, it is worth checking to see where. Sometimes you can be right down at the very bottom of ranges but it won't be flagged because it is still "normal". You never want to be at the bottom of any range for vitamins and minerals.

Thyroid can be knocked off because of all sorts of things, including the stress of giving birth. You need to make sure you are getting plenty of protein and iron and eating well to help your body repair and give you lots of good energy (not coffee and sweet snack kind of energy).

Please don't panic! This is very common in pregnancy and often resolves after. One thing about being hyperthyroid is that it makes you feel panicky, so bear that in mind (can you take your pulse and see what that is?)

Yes, they will test you for Graves - an autoimmune disease. If so, there is a drug you can take safely in pregnancy, usually for 18 months while things settle down (nothing happens fast with thyroids...). 😏 But it's not always Graves.

Beta blockers will make you feel better, if you can take them. And I agree with @Dancingtimesquare , DON'T let them wipe out your thyroid, neither with radioiodine nor surgery - they won't do any of that while you're pregnant anyway, you can put it from your mind.

Honestly, I don't think your figures are that way out of line (but I am not medical, and even if I were, I could not diagnose you online!) Looks like they've picked it up early - well done for getting checked out - and this needn't be a big thing, just annoying but treatable.

Good luck!

@MargoLivebetter well the doctor said when i asked what should my t3 and t4 levels be, she said my t3 should be 6.something (so my t3 is double) and my t4 should be 22.. does that help you? and i assume they have checked my ferritin levels etc because it was a full blood count? & ohhh noo 🤦🏻‍♀️ i've been drinking coffee to help with the tiredness i have been feeling! so coffee is a no go then?

@Gribouille thanks for your comment, but im not pregnant, its been 18weeks since i have given birth, never had my thyroid levels checked in pregnancy as when i got intouch with my midwife to ask do they check this on a pregnant woman, she said they don't automatically check thyroid levels, only if i had of been pre-diagnosed before pregnancy if that makes sense? so this is something new to me is all this and its hard for me to get my head around! im just hoping its something post baby related if im honest like a few of you have mentioned.. and yes i will make sure they don't do that to my thyroid so thankyou for that advice x

No symptoms at all, I only found out because I was having routine bloods to check my gestational diabetes hadn’t become type 2.

I will have a hunt through the NHS app to see if I can find my levels. It was in lockdown so hospital didn’t want to see me as wasn’t priority at that time (and I felt ok). I did drop the pregnancy weight super fast though. But didn’t notice anything else.

I’m super anxious anyway so wouldn’t have noticed that 😂.

Coffee isn't a no go at all @xXMummyTo6Xx . My point is that you need to make sure you are eating well (so good protein and all the healthy things) to give yourself energy, rather than relying on coffee and snacks to get you through.

Growing a baby, giving birth, feeding a baby and all of that is really, really, really demanding and it may well be why your thyroid has gone a bit hinkey. Your body could be desperately trying to compensate for being depleted. Hence saying fuel it with the best stuff you can.

GPs only flag stuff that is outside of the range, so your ferritin and other vits and minerals could be dragging their weary arses right down the bottom of the range and the GP won't say anything. You want to be in the middle of all those ranges at the very least - particularly if your thyroid is struggling.

@xXMummyTo6Xx

So looking back at the app the first test was when DD was 4 months old (born Sept 19, first bloods were Jan 20). They repeated them in Feb 20 to see if there was an error and there wasn’t so referred to hospital but then obvs it was first lockdown.
So I just had regular repeat bloods and by Sept 20 they were “satisfactory” and then by 2021 back to normal range.

Sorry darling, I read too fast! 😆 But still, don't panic... being postpartum opens you up to more drug treatments, so there's that... I don't think they give you the radio treatment if you have a young child because you'd need to keep away for them for a few days...

Elaine Moore is the expert on these things - she had a forum, now closed but still readable, I think? And she has very informative books out. You'll find yourself knowing more about the thyroid than you ever thought possible! But the usual course is 18 months of carbimazole with maybe adjuvant beta blocker and occasional blood tests while they tinker with the dose. Otherwise, it's general 'how to be calm' advice - self-care, lots of sleep, some exercise and eating well, the usual...

If you find any issues with your eyes, by the way, do raise those with an optician (explaining the thyroid issue) or your endocrinologist, when you get one.

The usual feeling with hyperthyroid is 'tired but wired' - like @FancyCatSlave , it took a while to realise this wasn't 'just how I am'! - but this passes with time and treatment - you do learn to be patient... 🙂

@MargoLivebetter thats exactly what i have been doing, just snacking through the day to get me through the fast pace of life i seem to have with been a mummy to 6 😆 i don't get the time to just sit down and eat a good healthy meal - i must admit, i only eat 1 meal a day (teatime) sometimes not even that! Think i need to start prioritising myself abit but i often feel guilty for doing that as i have tiny humans that come first in my eyes that depend on me so i can't win can i with that outlook 🤦🏻‍♀️ but thankyou for your kind words of advice! 💕

@Gribouille funny you should say that as around 2 weeks ago i said to my partner i felt wired 😂 its pretty crazy how an overactive thyroid can make you feel, just wish it will all go back to normal! but i will update this thread once i have my appointment anyway to let you all know what the specialists are saying x

@FancyCatSlave so did you not need any treatment then between your thyroid tests been not normal then back to normal again? x

No nothing at all. The hospital advice was that they expected it to resolve within a year of birth so we just waited to see, and it did.

I wasn’t unwell with it though, I suppose if I had been AND it wasn’t lockdown they might’ve treated me instead.

just a thought ladies.. did any of you miss a period because of a dogey thyroid? :/