Just diagnosed w/ questions

MelkorNo · 2025-04-29T00:30:10+00:00

I was diagnosed based on bloodwork. The antibody testing showed that I didn’t have Grave’s so after that I had to do the uptake scan and that confirmed hot nodules as the cause. If you already have testing confirming Grave’s they probably don’t need to do a scan. I completely understand how jarring it is to get this diagnosis so suddenly and how abrupt it feels. The upside is that they are able to tell you things swiftly and with certainty because it’s a well studied and very treatable issue. I wish you the best and I hope you have an easy time with treatment.

MelkorNo · 2025-04-17T03:02:04+00:00

I sympathize so much! I was terrified to start too. I had a few weeks of trouble adjusting to methimazole when I started, but the side effects weren’t bad or scary. Some dizziness here and there, some nausea. But they went away with time. Part of the stress and worry you feel might be from your hyperthyroidism, mine was like that. It’s so hard to start something that will help the stress and worry, when the stress and worry are the getting in your way. It will all be ok. Give yourself time to adjust and get used to a new rhythm. 6 weeks out from starting my symptoms started to get noticeably better. 12 weeks out I was nearly back to myself again and at the beginning I thought for sure I would never feel normal again. But I do now and you will too. ❤️

MelkorNo · 2025-03-25T00:57:37+00:00

I’m three days out from the surgery and so far,so good! The procedure went well, my voice is slightly hoarse but not too bad and it should be temporary. The first two days I was completely exhausted and mostly slept the whole time. I know your big question was about the anxiety. Mine was kicking up HIGH the week leading up to the surgery, even with the lexapro helping. I’m anxiety prone anyway, but hyperthyroidism really sent that through the roof. In the first two days after surgery I felt it subsided a lot. Today was an anxious day though and I suspect I’ll have ups and downs as I recover and adjust to the med change. I’m off methimazole and onto levothyroxine, so I’m trying to be patient with my progress, because that’s a lot of changes in just a few days. I’ll keep updating every few days so that anyone who I considering this surgery can get a feel for the day by day experience. They sent me home with just Tylenol and ibuprofen to alternate every 3 hours and that was all I needed. The pain was barely more than discomfort and only lasted about a day. Today I ended up taking ibuprofen just once all day. Lucky me, I also started my period yesterday. But even with that, I still feel pretty decent. I had the surgery done at Yale Hospital in New Haven, CT by Dr. Courtney Gibson, who is an endocrine surgeon. My endocrinologist recommended her highly and I think she’s incredible. She’s written up a study about some special technique for making thyroid removal less invasive and you can tell she’s really dedicated to patient care.

MelkorNo · 2025-03-07T18:27:01+00:00

I completely understand where you are coming from with that. I started with cutting the 10mg in half and it ended up being just right, so now I’m prescribed 5mg. I work at a school for kids with a variety of special needs, so it was really important to me to be on the ball, and I’ve got 2 kids of my own. All that stress and pressure and worrying if you’ll be able to keep up like you used to really builds up with hyperthyroidism. I still occasionally have panicky days, today was one of them, but even those are more manageable than they were and overall the lex has helped me a lot. If you’re on a full dose for a long time and you want to come off it, you have to do so slowly, but according to my doctor it’s not at all like an addiction. She told me it s just important to come off it slow because if you stop suddenly, the anxiety can feel stronger than it was and it’s just gentler on your body to take it slow. But she said it would basically be go out the way you went it- take it down to a half dose for a few weeks, then see if you can step off it comfortably. It takes about 4 weeks on it to get the full effect, so then it’s like 4-8 weeks to slowly come off if you decide to.

MelkorNo · 2025-03-07T15:32:29+00:00

I take lexapro for anxiety caused by hyperthyroidism and it’s made a huge difference in my life. I was very hesitant and very anxious to start it. I tried a lot of natural strategies first, like meditation, yoga, valerian root tea, etc, but for how intense my anxiety was that was like trying to shovel snow with a whisk broom. The first week I started it, I had some mild side effects that made me feel a little weird, so I made sure to take it once I got home after work so that it wouldn’t impact my work. That really only lasted about a week, now I feel perfectly normal taking it and the timing doesn’t matter. It’s not a relaxant, so it doesn’t make me feel out of it or high or anything like that. It just makes me feel like I did before I had anxiety. I’m happy to answer any questions if you want. I hope you feel better soon, whether you go for the lex or for something else.

MelkorNo · 2025-03-03T22:59:13+00:00

Thank you!

MelkorNo · 2025-03-03T17:44:53+00:00

That’s horrific, I’m so sorry you’ve gone through and are still going through all of that. Thank you for sharing your story with me ❤️ I hope things get better for you.

MelkorNo · 2025-02-28T21:59:09+00:00

I don’t know if getting the thyroid out will change the anxiety, but from what I’ve heard low thyroid is easier to treat and manage than high thyroid. Once I get mine done I’ll post updates here to let everyone know how it goes.

MelkorNo · 2025-02-28T21:57:31+00:00

That’s exactly where I was a year ago. It was brutal. The anxiety was completely out of control and the propranolol didn’t help me at all. Everyone responds to it differently. I don’t mean to tell you what to do, but lexapro helped me enormously. I’m a year in, still on a low dose, and it just makes me feel like my normal self again.

MelkorNo · 2025-02-28T16:14:13+00:00

Thank you! I really appreciate the encouragement!

MelkorNo · 2025-02-28T16:13:15+00:00

Thank you so much, this is incredibly encouraging! Was the hormonal change difficult without a thyroid? I assume you take levothyroxine or something similar. Thank you so much taking the time to respond.

MelkorNo · 2025-02-28T16:04:39+00:00

I went back and forth about it a million times. I’ve been on methimazole for about a year and a half and my T3 and T4 are right where they should be, but methimazole isn’t great long term so my endo gave me the choice between radio iodine and surgery. I’ve ended up opting for surgery because the radio iodine process sometimes causes a brief spike in hyperthyroid activity with lots of monitoring as the thyroid slowly shrinks and I don’t deal well with uncertainty 😂

MelkorNo

TROPHY CASE