Hi
I was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and graves disease around 4 years ago and have been taking 20mg Carbimazole and 40mg Propranalol since then. Went to see an endo around a year ago who advised either surgery or RAI therapy. He took blood tests from me but i never recieved another appointment. After moving locations i have recently been feeling not quite right (fatigue, dry skin, depression, stomach problems, foggy head and terrible sensitivity to cold) and went to visit my GP. More blood tess then he advised me that I have now swung round to being hypothyroid.
He has reffered me to an endo again but I was told it could take several weeks to get an appointment. I asked the GP if there was anything I could do in the meantime to make myself feel better. I am only 27 and work in hospitality, a job that requires long hours on my feet, irregular eating and sleeping patterns etc. I was told there was nothing I could do but wait for the endo appointment to come through. It comes and goes but some days I can barely drag myself out of bed to go to work or go out and do anything on my days off. I am also very down, frequently in tears and just feel very weak, frustrated and sorry for myself!
Any help with anything I could do/take in the meantime would be much appreciated
Thanks
Amy
If you have been told your tests are indicative of hypothroidism, I would think you would want to try to slowly reduce some of your Carbimazole so that your thyroid tests will normalize.
Hi Amy
I'm no expert, but did have a similar problem going from hyper to hypo and my dosage of carbimazole was dropped from 20mg to 5mg and I would have thought with the levels of carbimazole you are taking your doctor should have reduced the amount you take and continued with regular blood tests until you get a hospital appointment, my doctor did that for me. Perhaps you should go back and see someone else at your practice.
Good luck
Just to echo the advice of Linda and Glennis, 20mg seems like a very high dose to be taking long term so I'm not surprised you have gone in the other direction. I started on 40mg of carbimazole last September and have been gradually decreasing since. I'm now on 5mg and my endo is confident that I may be able to come off it completely by this September. My levels were exceptionally high when I started on the medication so I fully expected to be on it for longer but am more than happy to get off it if possible. I would definitely reduce your dose by half immediately as any dose changes take a while to kick in.
I would also reduce the dose of Propranolol as well. Propranolol is given to Graves patients initially before confirmation of diagnosis to regulate their fast heartbeat. I did not need it after I started on Tapazole. I would also add L-Carnitine 500 to 1,000 mg which you can purchase in a Health Food Store to your treatment regimen. You can research this on the Internet but hyperthyroid patients get depleted of L-Carnitine in their cells. (There are blood tests that can check for this). L-Carnitine is an amino acid that is naturally produced in our bodies but gets depleted from our cells in hyperthyroidism and needs to be replaced. Also we tend to be deficient in Vitamin D and that needs to be supplemented as well. Please keep us posted on how you are feeling.
I would also reduce the dose of Propranolol as well. Propranolol is given to Graves patients initially before confirmation of diagnosis to regulate their fast heartbeat. I did not need it after I started on Tapazole. I would also add L-Carnitine 500 to 1,000 mg which you can purchase in a Health Food Store to your treatment regimen. You can research this on the Internet but hyperthyroid patients get depleted of L-Carnitine in their cells. (There are blood tests that can check for this). L-Carnitine is an amino acid that is naturally produced in our bodies but gets depleted from our cells in hyperthyroidism and needs to be replaced. Also we tend to be deficient in Vitamin D and that needs to be supplemented as well. Please keep us posted on how you are feeling.
Hi Amy ,
so sorry that we all have to go through this terrible disease. If you are taking thyroid meds, I would take an extra one on Sundays which seem to help. I also have stopped eating all gluten foods. And having thyroid / graves it seems to work for me.
hang in there. It is very frustrating and a lot of work.we all are different and not everything works for everyone. It's been 14 years and I'm still learning. Prayers do help.
Hi Amy, I had exactly the same thing happen to me and I simply reduced my carbimazole. You could perhaps initially drop one tablet every other day for a couple of weeks to see how you feel and take it slowly from there. I find it hard to believe that your doctor did not suggest this.
Also please note Linda's advice about trying l-carnitine or even better still, acetyl-carnitine. I have been taking both now for several weeks and I feel like a new woman. I have no symptoms of hyperthyroidism at all. I still take 10 mg of carbimazole but I think the combination of the three tablets is perfect. I take 1 l-carnitine (500mg) in the morning with a carbimazole and 1 acetyl-carnitine in the evening with a carbimazole. Magic!
Hope you soon get sorted. Tracy