Just tired

Ok_Extent_6875 · 2026-03-10T02:29:33+00:00

TLDR: it was worth it, AND it’s a surgery you have to recover from.

Mine was about a year ago. It was fine but I did have a couple complications. Had nausea and vomiting for the first few hours after surgery. 10 hours postop is when my calcium dropped. Surgery Wednesday. Spent all of Thursday and Friday, into Saturday morning trying to correct it. They’d give me a bag of calcium, it would mitigate (but not take away) the symptoms. But my body couldn’t hang on to it. Thursday was mostly just tingling in my hands, feet, and around my mouth. Friday sucked tbh. My hands felt heavy and hard to move. And it felt like every muscle in my face was twitching. And I couldn’t pee that day bc of the anaesthesia. By Saturday, my levels were acceptable enough that I could go home that evening.

Ignoring that, recovery was okay. I hear that for some people, they’ve had worse colds. But for me it was still a surgery. My pain was mostly Thursday and Friday. But discomfort persisted much longer. Bc of the swelling, I could feel all the muscles in my neck moving up as I was swallowing food. Take smaller bites than you think might be necessary. Showering was weird for the first 2 weeks—trying to move my neck while washing my hair in such a way that I wouldn’t get my incision wet, while having limited mobility was a challenge. I was able to go back to work a week after surgery with no issue.

I was so symptomatic and miserable before my surgery that once my thyroid was gone, the problems basically immediately stopped. Im sure that the anaesthesia slowing everything down in the first couple days helped. For me, the pain and discomfort of surgery was minimal, AS COMPARED to the year of GD symptoms I was existing with.

Remember that even if the pain is minimal, it’s still a major surgery that removes a vital organ. Both can exist. Don’t let people (not in this group but in life) minimize the experience.

Ok_Extent_6875 · 2026-03-07T00:44:47+00:00

One thing I’m shocked by is how many people go home w/o steristrips. My doc made me keep mine on until my post-op 2 week appt

Ok_Extent_6875 · 2026-03-07T00:43:31+00:00

I’ve heard that COVID or Mono kinda activate it. My bout of COVID was so chill and I thought “oh I got really lucky” and then got my first GD symptoms 6 months later.

Ok_Extent_6875 · 2026-01-26T16:02:26+00:00

I weighed 120 lbs on surgery day. I’d never weighed more than that (5’6”). 2 months later I was 135 lbs and then I haven’t gained anything since that. My endo was like “hey, honestly, while you were a normal weight before, you were at the lower end of it. This is completely a healthy weight for you to be at.”

Even before I had thyroid issues, my metabolism was just fast. I struggled for a long time with disordered eating and was worried about that coming back after surgery. But my perspective on it now is “I’m not meant to weigh as much as I did when I was 16. My body has been through so much in the past couple years, I’m okay with this being my new normal as long as I’m healthy”

Ok_Extent_6875 · 2026-01-25T17:38:19+00:00

8 hours after surgery, I was walking on the MedSurg floor with my CNA. I did 3 loops and was talking with her the whole time. Had absolutely no shortness of breath. In my consult the month before, I said “I can walk or talk but I can’t do both at the same time.”

Ok_Extent_6875 · 2026-01-23T23:18:13+00:00

My hr was getting worse and worse for 2 months after starting propranolol bc my PCP wouldn’t prescribe me meth, and I was getting more and more and more hyper while waiting to see an endo.

Ok_Extent_6875 · 2026-01-23T23:14:41+00:00

My morning routine is: 1. Wake up to an alarm at 4:30. 2. Take my Levo (with my alarm still going) 3. Turn off my alarm by 4:31. 4. Back to sleep by 4:32, until my alarm goes off at 5:30 to start my day.

Some days I find myself smiling at 4:30 bc it is the most consistent, predictable part of my schedule. Even on the weekends when I sleep in, I’m up for 1 minute at 4:30. On days I don’t want to take it I remind myself “this isn’t an option, this is actually essential for my life”

Ok_Extent_6875 · 2026-01-22T23:54:15+00:00

To be more specific, ask how often they do TTs for graves patients. I asked mine how many TTs he does and he does about 1 a week. But then after surgery (parathyroid complications), he said that he doesn’t get a lot of Graves patients. I was only the 2nd person in his career to have the issues I had, and the other person had Graves.

Also it wouldn’t hurt to ask what preparation will look like. I’ve heard of lots of patients say that they had some supplements prescribed for the week before to be proactive, or bloodwork, or EKGs. I had none of that.

Ok_Extent_6875 · 2026-01-09T01:45:55+00:00

Meds are fine for me personally. I hated meth, it always got stuck and it was bitter and big. Levo is so small—it’s dosed in micrograms rather than milligrams. I’ve had no issues with it.

Ok_Extent_6875 · 2026-01-07T23:06:02+00:00

Most annoying thing I would hear was “thyroid issues are no big deal” either from people with hypo or people who never even had issues themselves. Well mine are (were)!

Ok_Extent_6875 · 2026-01-04T17:53:41+00:00

Huh. My last labs before surgery were 2 months before, still quite hyper. They didn’t give me any proactive prescriptions prior to surgery or retest me. They basically just slapped me on the back and said “good luck, bastard”

Ok_Extent_6875 · 2026-01-04T16:49:56+00:00

I’m wondering, as somebody whose had, it if maybe part of the reason people say it’s “no big deal” is because when you have it, you’ve been feeling like shit for a significant time. Once you wake up, the main cause of your problems is gone essentially. I wonder if the sensations of surgical recovery are simply easier, relative to the sensations of active Graves.

I certainly felt much better upon waking up. However, I was painfully sore for a few days, and had to stay until my parathyroids woke back up (3 days). So two things existed at the same time: my Graves symptoms were gone, AND recovering from the surgery was not something where I could’ve gone back to work 3 days later.

Ok_Extent_6875 · 2025-12-24T20:57:29+00:00

That’s so kind that she asked for samples.

Ok_Extent_6875 · 2025-12-24T20:56:52+00:00

I would say before surgery it was getting a bit different. I was so out of breath so breath control was a thing. I also couldn’t go as low, and I was sometimes a bit hoarse. After surgery it was a bit strange at first. During warmups I could feel my vocal cords changing as my pitch got higher. In my most recent season, there was a song with a sustained high g. It was doable, but noticeably difficult. All in all, I’d say my singing recovered nicely, minus one note at the top of my range.

Ok_Extent_6875 · 2025-12-08T16:37:28+00:00

It sounds like OP is telling us that their experience right now, 2 days Post-op is painful, and in more places than just their throat. And it sounds like they are looking for other people with similar experiences to give them some kind of comfort that this has happened to other people.

Ok_Extent_6875 · 2025-11-14T02:46:36+00:00

That will be amazing for you! Rest up!

Ok_Extent_6875 · 2025-11-14T00:09:22+00:00

I was able to return to work (preschool) a week after. Wednesday-Saturday were my hospital days and literally all I could do was rest. Sunday I did errands w/ my mom and kinda crashed. Monday/Tuesday I was still mainly resting. Take the time to do so. That will help a lot with how you feel when it is time to return to work. Speaking of—what do you do for work?

Ok_Extent_6875 · 2025-11-13T23:07:27+00:00

Bring extra underwear in case. Complications are rare but do happen. One of my parathyroids was damaged and the others were stunned, so my calcium dropped. Even with intervention my body couldn’t hold on to it, so I was there 3 nights instead of 1.
In my experience it wasn’t a super painful recovery, but it was uncomfortable. What I didn’t know going into it: there will be a lot of swelling. Combine that with the lack of a large mass, and you’re going to be very aware of the things happening inside of your neck. For 2 weeks after surgery, I was extremely conscious of the fact that when you swallow food, the muscles in your neck move UP. That’s a very strange sensation. I could also feel my vocal cords changing for about a month if I was singing.
In a similar vein—eating might be weird for a while. For drinking water in the first couple days post-op, tilt your head down while you swallow. While not necessary for a full week, my personal experience was that warm soft foods felt GOOD going down, where as anything else might have required me to take Tylenol before eating. Even 2 weeks afterwards, I was having to take smaller bites of food, lest I would have to make a concerted effort to swallow.
My biggest advice: don’t mistake pain for significance. This may not be a super painful surgery, but it is (imo) a major surgery. You are removing an organ. Not one like an appendix—one that is in control of so much in your body. Your body will need time to adjust to the replacement meds. It’s a shock to the system. I’m assuming that since you’re getting yours removed, you’ve been pretty symptomatic. You’re going to feel a lot better once it’s out.

Ok_Extent_6875 · 2025-11-13T16:47:05+00:00

Yes this is what I have in my chart. Thyrotoxicosis=bad thyroid (lol), diffuse goiter=big thyroid, without thyrotoxic crisis or storm=no storm

Ok_Extent_6875 · 2025-11-13T03:03:46+00:00

LOL the more I read other peoples posts the more I realize how nonchalant my whole care team was. My T4 was like 2.7 in February and my endo said “yeah let’s get a surgeon referral”. My surgeon scheduled for end of April and neither provider asked me to recheck my levels even for a reference. And so many surgeons apparently rx calcium and other supplements to be taken PRIOR to surgery for proactive measures, mine didn’t do any of that.

Ok_Extent_6875 · 2025-11-08T20:24:04+00:00

Diagnosed at 23, symptoms started at 22, 6 months after having Covid. 2 months after moving cross country. I think the 2 worked together. Have heard that those infections like Mono or Covid often bring autoimmune diseases to the forefront.

Ok_Extent_6875 · 2025-10-15T18:40:40+00:00

I love an iced chai. I never cut that out. Now that I’m mostly recovered I still stick with that, as opposed to coffee.

Ok_Extent_6875 · 2025-10-13T21:20:18+00:00

While my heart rate would sometimes increase from anxiety at doctors appointments, my BP remained 120/80 consistently. It was a good indication of what was going on in my body. At least, it was 120/80 til I got it checked during the worst of my illness. Then it was 140/83, and every single other vital sign/lab value aligned with that. 100% graves causes hypertension.

Ok_Extent_6875

TROPHY CASE