Hyperthyroidism: or Internet-induced-hypochondria?

[OrmIrian]

Having bored MN on the subject of my nerves/health/weightloss/weird menstrual cycle for months , I am going to have some blood tests for, amongst other things, hyperthyroidism. GP didn't think it was the menopause due to my being still such a spring chicken (well she didn't use those exact words). Having had a look at some of the symptoms it does seem to tick a lot of boxes.

Anyone any experience of this, and what was your treatment like?

i had an over active thyroid which was treated with medication ( cant remember the name but will look it up if you want) i also suffered from palpatations and had to take a beta blocker type drug. initially my thyroid sorted itsself out and i was able to stop taking the tablets but it went mad when i was pregnant and once i had had my daughter the endochrinologist recomended i have the thyroid removed. had this done last year, now have thyroid replacement tablets which take a while to work but i do feel much better.
i would advise seeing an endochrinologist if you can, as every gp i have seen has been unsure on how to treat it.

OK thanks nancy. It's the anxiety and the constant fluttering in the chest that's the worst thing. Not going back to the GP for a few weeks but will see what happen with the blood test then.

ormirian, thats what i had the betablockers for, of all the medication that worked the quickest.
your symptoms sound very similar to what i had. feely really nervy and funny feeling in the chest, really quick weight loss, upset stomachs, off food, unable to sleep properly and just generally feeling crap!
when i went to the doctors i thought they were just going to roll their eyes because i had so many things wrong with me.
to reassure you my thyroid was very overactive and not everyone needs to have surgery.

Great. Thanks Nancy. I am useless at doing anything about my health - I speculate constantly and do nothing. But hoping that whatever it is something might improve. Fed up with feeling cack all the time and being so ratty and tearful with the poor children

i was the same, especially with something like this, its like there is nothing really wrong with you, but everythings wrong with you. if it is your thyroid the pills do work pretty fast and i think just knowing that you are doing something about it make you feel better too.
i hope you get it sorted soon.
not sure where you live, but if you do need to see an endochrinologist let me know and i will find contact detail for mine, he is brilliant, really nice and apparently one of the best their is.
good luck.

THanks. I'm in Somerset.

...wow...I should have written the title for the above.
I have had palpatitions since February, loss of weight..not drastic..but unlike me.
I use to love the sun...but not avoid it by going in the shade, it makes the palpatitions so much worse.
Bowel movements more loose and frequent.
wake up feeling shaky and anxious.Hair very fine..now gone bit coarse,hoarse voice,slightly swallon gland on left side(mind you that only seems to be there since i had tooth extracted 3mths ago and had infection) Often feel tongue tied talking to people. night sweats, although they seem to have regulated to the week around period. feel very restless, like i must be doing something constantly. but once i'm ready for bed...9 times out of ten i sleep like baby. i eat like a pig unless really anxious. The symptoms come and go. sometimes i feel fine another day i don't know what to do with myself and if i think about it to long it can escalate into a panic attack.
I had thyroid tested in feb and other routiene tests. all were fine( although as a friend mentioned, it may have been borderline then). but doc said liver enzemes were slightly raised. I had been drinking too much after birth of my daughter(2yrs ago) at least half bottle/3/4 bottle of red wine every night. I instantly sorted that but taking 2 to 3 days of and cutting right down. As doctor told me too. But I have to go back for retest and I have basically sent myself nuts reading the bloody web on alsorts of stuff. I think reading these things can sometimes be a receipe for diaster. It has certainly made me more anxious!
So..be softly softly with your responses as anything negative I tend to cling onto and let it escalate when I'm feeling my most anxious.
Just the thought of going to the doctors or booking the appointment makes me freak out!
Any advice?

I am 37 and I have loving supportive husband, I work nearly full time, I have a 3yr old and 2yr old and 3 dogs....do you think it may be stress?????????

Hi hypomum.
I agree about the negative thoughts. I had a stressful day workwise yesterday and I could hardly speak my heart was pounding so hard. It's horrible.

I have a lump in my throat that I can't clear. I have had it on and off before but I've never taken any notice but now wonder if it's something to do with my thyroid. In fact most of my symptoms have been present before now but just took them as the inevitable result of a stressful life.

I'd just make the appointment if I were you. I was the same when I went to see the GP the other day - when the receptionist told me to come in tomorrow I nearly chickened out and cancelled. But I feel that whatever is I need to know - I can't carry on like this.

Good luck

Thanks masala,

I'm having a blood test on MOnday and back to see the GP the week after. It might not be anything to do with thyroid of course.

Sorry that you had such a bad time. Are you OK now?

Hmmm....that is what worries me. Having looked at a few support sites it does seem to be a risk. As things I really can cope with are the anxiety type symptoms. The weight loss I can live with

My eyesight isn't great but it hasn't been for a long time and I wear lenses/glasses all the time.

Did you mean hypo or hyper btw?

It sounds as if you have been through the mill with it .

yes.I will get another appointment. Just have to get some courage up.
I haven't noticed anything wrong with my eyes. just get bit red sometimes.
do the symptoms come and go? would it be worse when period due or stressed?
would a drinking wine make it worse?

I go running 3 to 4 times a week. When I feen really anxious, I just want to run, like i have a build up energy...but nervous energy.

God...i've just stressed myself out thinking about my retest and going to the doctors.

I'm so glad others feel like this!

Thank you for replies.

Had the blood taken. 5 days at least for the results so am going back next Wednesday.

I feel much better - not so anxious but still react to anything unexpected like a startled rabbit

Dh has Graves' Disease (a part of which is hyperthroidism) and has suffered with many of the symptoms you mention (no bulgy eyes though, thankfully). Before he was diagnosed he just felt ill all the time - permanently exhausted, aching joints and muscles, high anxiety levels, intolerance for heat (he's never liked the sun much, but became so grumpy on sunny days - thankfully, hasn't been a problem this summer), terrible insomnia, upset stomach...and one of the worst things for me (this sounds very selfish) restlessness and twitching at night - he twitches and 'jumps' all night long. He's also got something called a bruit - you can 'hear' it in his neck (well, I can't but doctors can ) which is something to do with increased blood flow in the thyroid gland - no noticeable swelling though. He's been on Carbimazole since he was disagnosed and, while it's helped, a side effect seems to have been awful stomach cramps and acid indigestion.

He's just come off the Carbimazole as his thyroid function is now "within normal levels" - he sees the Endocrinologist again in December to make sure it's still OK. He says he feels a lot better (mostly since coming off the Carbimazole) - though he's still tired and twitchy, he feels much calmer - his anxiety levels have dropped significantly. I'm hoping he'll continue to be OK - he really has been very unwell (I think it's only sheer bloody mindedness that has kept him going).

So, if it is hyperthyroidism, Orm - they will hopefully get you started on a drug regime asap and you'll start to feel better. I know the drugs don't work for everyone - dh was told he might need surgery and/or radioactive iodine treatment but, luckily, it hasn't come to that so far.

Thanks soren.

At the moment, I just want to know what is wrong with me. Was beginning to think I was going mad.

still haven't been to doctors..but went out on saturday night. Had a few to drink...not loads and felt so anxious the next day...palpaitions awful. Especially as was a really hot day
does alchol make it worse?

How long did your husband have symtoms before he got diagnosed?
Did his symptoms come and go? Or were they there all the time? Mine are worse when I'm about ovulate and when I'm stress.

On Saturday daytime...I was so anxious...I was almost aggresive! When it's so bad it feels like an out of body experience. The panic came because I was told not to drink so much and I didn't want to go out because I new I would have a few and feel terrible the next day.

I'm not drinking all week, to see if it calms down.

I honestly can't remember - he'd felt ill and tired for such a long time, I can't remember when it started. He'd been to the doctors a few times but they had been fairly dismissive - he has a fairly stressful job with long anti-social hours and they put it down to that (it doesn't help, so they were right, in part!)

I don't know if alcohol made it worse (will ask him later) but, amongst the barrage of tests he had done, he had his liver enzymes tested and they were elevated so he has cut down on alcohol a lot - we only drink about once a week now, usually share a bottle of wine on a Friday or Saturday night (and we've switched from strong red wines to white and rose). I think we both feel better for that, tbh.

Was your DH told not to drink at all...or cut down?
Did the enzymes just go back to normal?

No, they didn't tell him to cut down - we just decided it was a good idea. Enzymes were back to normal by his next blood test. And I asked him if drinking made it worse and he said no, not exactly - but as he felt exhausted every day anyway, alcohol the night before just added to it.

HI Nancy...what are the funny feelings you get in your chest? Do you get funny feelings in your neck as well?
I definetly gets worse when I'm stressed or anxious...what about you?
So strange, i feel fine at the moment. Do your symptoms come and go?

Well apparently it's internet-induced hypochondria. My blood results were perfectly normal - in fact I'm the picture of health.

Gp wants to keep me on citalopram and monitor me. Apparently they can do more investigations if my cycle gets much more haywire and causes me massive inconvenience. Funnily I thought it was

Nothing showed up on the thyroid side at all although when I asked her about it she didn't really answer the question, just asked if there was any history in my family.

However I am not feeling so anxious atm thanks to the citalopram or just coincidence, so that's fine with me. But I go back to the way I was a few weeks ago I am going back to see her.

Sooo....at the risk of seeming needy ,where do I go from here. GP is fixated on the anxiety thing and thinks citalopram is the answer (which it may be partly, certainly I do feel better for it). But seems to dismiss the weird periods as just one of those things.

I'm glad there's nothing wrong with me according to my blood tests, but I want to know what is going on.