Graves' Disease

I've been diagnosed with Graves' Disease, which is really just a fancy name for hyperthyroidism, and is the most common form of it.  This occurs when your immune system mistakenly attacks your thyroid gland and causes it to overproduce the hormone thyroxine.   So I am taking Tenorim to reduce my heart rate and Tapazole to slow down my thyroid.  My doctor is working on getting my into a endocrinologist in Saginaw.   Once my thyroid is under control, I can look into having the radioactive iodine treatment.  I have to continue to have regular blood work done, to monitor my thyroid and my liver.  Apparently, the meds(and thyroid) can have affect your liver, which is why I assume the pills are not a permanent treatment.  I asked for images of the scan that was taken of my thyroid, so I could post them, but no go.  I know, I'm a dork.  I'm still tired a lot, but am feeling a little improvement.  There is no known cause of this, but it does happen more frequently in women than men.

Bruiser

Addison got her first black eye this weekend.  She fell and hit the coffee table.  There was blood and everything, just a little cut.  Poor little girl, I always feel so bad when she gets hurt.  She can be pretty tough though.  She just might be my little tomboy, just like I was.  My mom couldn't get me to wear a dress.  I hope Addie wants be a girly girl though.

Please ignore the food up her nose.  She hates getting washed up.

Hyperthyroidism

Yes, that is what I have, hypertyroidism.  I went for the thyroid scan yesterday and today.  Took the radioactive iodine pill in the morning and 4 hours later went for the screen/scan.  A 'normal' thyroid will have and uptake/usage of about 15% after 4 hours, mine was 65%.  After 24 hours, the high end of normal is 30% and mine was 88%.  The nuclear technician told me that I definately have a HYPERthyroid.  This is the first time someone has actually comfirmed that, even though that's what I thought based on symptoms.  For the scan I had to lay on a table very still, then the nuclear arms with the gamma cameras rotated around my head/neck to take pictures of my thyroid at different angles.  I should have the pics/results back next week.  These will show the size of my thyroid and wheather or not there are any nodules present.

On the chart, I have highlighted my path so far.  From blood work, my T3 level is at 1872(normal range 230-420), very high.  My T4 level is 5.7(normal is 0.8-1.8), also high.  My TSH level is low, 0.01(normal 0.4-4.5).

Thyroid

I received the results from my blood tests.  My T3 and T4 levels are high, therefore.....more tests.  I am scheduled for a thyroid scan, which starts tomorrow.  I will go in at 9am and take a pill, go back at 1pm for a 45 min. scan, then back again Friday at 9am for a second scan.  This will hopefully tell what type of tyroid problem I have and how bad it is.  I am also scheduled to see an endocrinologist...in six months, not acceptable.  I have been calling around and have found a specialist in Flint that accepts new HealthPlus patients, yeah.  Now I just need to have my doctor give me a referral.  Treatments varry depending on the type and severity.  Treatment options are pills, radioactive iodine treatments, or removal of the tyroid.  One step at a time.

9 Months and Crusin'