DIY Graves treatment?

I wonder about those people who say they’ve ‘cured’ themselves of Graves without any kind of medical or surgical intervention. What do they know that I don’t? Does anyone know?

As I understand it, there is no ‘cure’ for Graves, only treatment and hopefully, remission. I know I can help myself by being careful about things like diet (limit iodine and stimulants) and stress. But I also know that if I’d waited for those things to work, and eschewed medication I’d be in a bad bad way by now. If I was still here at all!

By the time my Graves was diagnosed I’d obviously had it for some time and was ‘highly symptomatic’, even more than my blood work would suggest. My anxiety levels were ruining my life – relationships were difficult, work was a horror. The pain in my muscles (especially my arms and my hands) was indescribable. And of course the heart palpitations were really scary. And I almost never slept. I just can’t imagine wanting to self-treat under those circumstances. Of course when I was diagnosed I read everything I could find on the implications of treatment and not being treated. My conclusion? Bring on the meds for me!

I think the greatest challenge for me in the next couple of months is going to be maintaining a healthier, less stressful lifestyle. It’d be easy to fall back into the trap of being Superwoman again, while I’m feeling so much better.

My new mantra (repeat after me)…”Good enough is ok most of the time.”

“Go home on time” is my other new philosophy.

And so to bed.

Turning around

So lots and lots has happened since my last post.  Almost too much to tell.  But here’s some of it.

My sister has had surgery to remove two malignant tumours.  After a week in hospital, she’s now home, still in remarkable spirits for someone who has been through so much.

With that and a lot of pressure at work, there’s been days I’ve forgotten to take my meds and I’m getting heart palpitations intermittently.  Still much better than before.  I do think I’m beginning to chunk up a bit though.  Could really do without that part.  Guess I will have to be really really careful about eating.  Finding that I still can’t really drink alcohol.  Even two glasses makes me feel quite ill.  And still keeping caffeine consumption low although allowing myself the off cup of tea here and there.  Next blood test is next week.

And today I was offered a new job with great pay, conditions and they seem to be a really cool group of people with a lot of empathy for their staff.  I’m considering things over the weekend but more than likely I’ll accept and be able to put my current job situation behind me.  With a new sense of strength I can see even more clearly that being there in the first place was the wrong move and not just because it coincided with my diagnosis at the height of my symptoms.

I read somewhere this week that the singer, Toni Childs (not my musical cup of tea), suffers with Graves disease and she had a ten year ‘break’ in order to recover.  In the article she said that she had to change her whole life.  It really brought home to me the need to take this disease seriously as the ramifications can be far reaching not just for the sufferer but their friends and family too.

And the results are in

Somewhat upsetting as I was hoping to feel better by now. But as the heading says…at least I know I’m not crazy. Certainly it feels like it sometimes.

My T3 level hasn’t come down as expected and my medication has been increased to three a day, rather than two. The endocronologist puts this down to high levels of antithyroid antibodies in my blood, and her assumption that I’m under a lot of stress. Well thats the understatement of the millenium!

She asked me if I was feeling any better and I had to admit ‘not really’ and asked her about the joint and muscular pain especially in my left arm. She replied that yes, this is most likely related and finished with “You have an auto-immune disease.” like that should help me cope with everything. So I spent the rest of the day seconds away from tears, tears of frustration and self pity. I even got caught with a tear in my eye by my assistant but she kindly pretended she didn’t notice.

I’ve decided I need to leave my new job, maybe take a couple of weeks off and then look for some contract work…a low level of responsibility sounds good right now. Will need to chat to the folks in case I run out of cash but right now I feel like I need to prioritise feeling better. Also talking to my old bosses who in general are more sympathetic people (not perfect mind you but at least we all like each other!) and with luck this might be a short term financial solution for when I leave the other job.

Keeping everything croossed for better luck!

Hmnn….

In meetings all day today but the Doc left a message to say the test results weren’t as good as hoped for. She said she would call me tomorrow to discuss the ‘implications’ but essentially I have to maintain the higher drug dose until further notice. I’m wondering if ‘implications’ are things like quitting coffee and alcohol and hopefully winning lotto so I can quit my job?

More tomorrow I guess.

Back to work blues

Back to work in the morning following a sunny weekend spent mostly on the road heading to, then from, my parent’s new house in the country. Chatting with my mother, she told me about a first cousin (who I haven’t seen since childhood) who was also diagnosed with Graves some years ago and she opted not to follow up with any treatment. Nothing at all. I should add she’s also Schizophrenic so I imagine Graves doesn’t seem that big a deal to her. She’s also living in a small redneck village with limited professional medical resources let alone specialists near by. I hope she doesn’t regret her choice later. Tomorrow I’m going for a blood test which will see if the medication is doing anything so far and I’m going to try to convince my sister to go get her blood tested too.

I’m taking an oath here and now not to get too stressed this week…lots of politics and intrigue at the new job…but I am going to try and stay serene and rise above. Good freakin’ luck to me!