Graves disease symptoms and conditions

Graves Disease patient going in remission.
I have experienced all the same symptoms as every one else
leg cramps, exhaustion, loss of sex drive, anxiety/panic attacks,weight gain, hair loss, horrible terrible rash on feet and palms of hands I could go on.
My concern is my doctor taking me off PTU and has not mentioned the Toprol. I understand that stopping increases your risk of a heart attack so what's next?

Wow! I think i have just solved my problem(s)...i am 33 yr old healthy level headed woman,only med taken was ortho-tricyclen.
I began taking YASMIN 06/08, felt o.k. til beginning of July/08 when i switched to OCELLA. I began to experience some strange symptoms. I had eye pain, nausea, blurred vision,vomiting. 08/08 began getting severe headaches which lasted all day. then the eye pain became more severe. ended up going to several medical doctors, put on antibiotics, cat scan, just got my blood checked yesterday for graves disease /thyroid and addisons disease! i was thinking tonight what is making me feel this way... it dawned on me that i had a change in birth control and that is when all these symptoms started to occur. I really believe this is the answer, i don't think i have any disorder/disease i believe this pill has some serious problems. i fear that we will soon hear that it is pulled from the market due to some disease/disorder inducing side effects! I can not believe i found this-probably saved my life or maybe prevented something horrible from happening to me. i just hope i don't have any lasting effects from it:( i am still awaiting my test results...

I was diagnosed with graves disease last year, I had a really acute case that turned me into a total nut job.
In October after going through several thyroid storms and the doctors not being able to keep me stable with medications, I had a full thyroidectomy in October.
I started on .100 mcg of levothyroxine and then the dosage was gradually decreased, I started having a lot of random body aches, mood swings, lots of muscular pains and no energy.
They ended up raising my dosage and detected that I had a large vitamin D deficiency, after several treatments of taking 50,000 units of vitamin D, and also adding my levothyroxine dosage I started feeling better. I still have mood swings here and there, and feel sad periodically, but the last month or so I've been feeling more fine than I have in a long time. They have me on .170 mcg of levothyroxine for two months now. Last week I started getting headaches more frequently, and one of the times I got this nose bleed.
This past weekend I got a headache, and then later that night I had another nose bleed.
I don't usually get nose bleeds or this many headaches so I'm a little concerned.
Also the last time I was getting headaches and constant nosebleeds was when I was really hyperthyroid.
As far as the doctors go, I'm in between insurances and quite honestly I've been frustrated with both my pcp and endocrinologist...

I started taking the generic of Toprol (metaprolol) 3 months ago. I'm on 150mg per day for a rapid heartbeat, I'm 39 years old. It has helped my heart problems but I don't know if the side effects are worth it. I experience major fatigue that may last a week at a time and subside for a few days, aches in my back and neck (which I've learned may also be attributed to the Lipitor that I am also on), and my worse symptom is constant diarrhea. Some days I will run to the BR 15 times in one day. It seems to subside by dinner time, but that is probably because I stay away from food all afternoon. I'm fortunate that I am a stay at home mom I can't imagine having to go to work in this condition!

Not sure if it is related, but I developed an overactive thyroid disorder (Graves Disease) shortly after I used Betadine throat gargle for the first time. I followed the directions correctly, although I did use up the entire bottle over a period of a couple of weeks.

Hi all x l started taking levo in Sept 04 along side ptu for graves disease... I've never felt well since! Had thyroid removed July 07 remained on levo and l am going down hill fast!! I read about myself in all the posts here from the stomach problems to the muscles spasms etc etc etc if l remember right this all started back when levo was given to me as part of black and replace.....

When a class action lawsuit is filed, let me know....this drug should be taken of off the market immediately. We started all of this with an OB/GYN that prescribed this “miracle pill” and now have had to go not only to our primary doctor, but also a psychiatrist, gastrenologist, college campus counselors, psychologists, psychiatrist, and the campus medical doctors; All the while, accumulating enormous doctor bills. All the doctors say, "No, Yasmin won't cause those problems" (except the college campus doctors..wonder why? Hmm.. could it be that they are not in private practice?)....well, I beg to differ. Everyone needs to give this website to their doctor so the doctors can hear from the patients that have taken this drug, and not listen to the pharmaceutical companies that are pushing this drug to be the "miracle pill". Maybe if enough people complain and go to the media, we can get rid of this drug!
My daughter who is 18 was put on Yasmin because of irregular periods, hormonal imbalance, etc. We were told it was the new “miracle pill”. It will make you loose weight, regulate your periods, clear up acne, you name it, it will fix it. Yeah, right.
She started taking this pill in March 2007. She was off at college but called to tell me she was experiencing horrible headaches, behind the eyes. She complained about her stomach hurting, but we just figured it was the stress of freshman year at college. Then she said she got where she couldn’t eat when she went to a restaurant. When she came home in May for the summer, I noticed a total personality change. For example, she was always a neat freak, and now she wouldn’t clean her room. The first day when she drove home, she started crying she was so mad about the traffic. Yes, she has always had a little road rage, but this was ridiculous.
By June, not only could she not be in crowds, like at a restaurant, but now she is having full blown panic attacks and IBS. We called the OBGYN and they said, “Yasmin won’t cause this, go see your primary doctor”. I knew that the only thing that had changed with her was taking the YASMINE. I knew it had something to do with all of this so I “Googled Yasmin” and this website (http://www.medications.com/se/yasmin) was the first one I looked at. All of her symptoms matched everyone else’s! I am so glad we found this website, it explained everything and I had her to stop Yasmin immediately.
So we went to the primary doctor, explained about the Yasmin and how we thought it was the culprit of everything. Of course this doctor also says, “Yasmin won’t cause that”. We told him to look it up on the internet and see how there are over 3000 complaints on this drug, more than any of the other drugs on the market.
Besides the emotional problems she starting having, her pulse and blood pressure was sky high, so he puts her on medicine for that, and puts her on an anxiety medicine and sends her to a psychiatrist. She is very thirsty all the time, and develops IBS. She can’t eat without having pains in her stomach. So, now we’ve have gone from having just irregular periods, to all of the above, plus a psychiatrist.
The psychiatrist doubles her medicine (and puts her Pamine for the IBS) because the panic attacks are gone, but she still is having a lot of nervousness, anxiety, can’t sleep at night, crazy thoughts, worrying all the time, etc. A month later he changes her medicine again, to Effexor. The first 2 weeks, she does okay, but the packet doubles the strength after 2 weeks. It takes 4 weeks for it to take full effect. Right after she doubles this medicine, it is like her senses are on hyper-mode. She can taste everything that is in her food (chili powder, seasonings, etc…), taste the metal in water, and she can hear someone’s phone vibrating, in another room.
Then she goes back to college at the end of August 2007, and it’s horrible. The Effexor is having bad, bad side effects. We called the psychiatrist that she was using at home and he doubled the dose. That was the worse thing they could’ve done. The side effects were worse than ever. I had her to immediately go to a psychiatrist on campus. She told him the whole story and he believed her! Needless to say we switched doctors. He then lowered her dose back down to ½ a dose and hopefully can slowly get her off of all this medicine.
The newest thing she has developed is being hypoglycemic. The campus psychiatrist sent her to a campus medical doctor and he told her that they would get to the bottom of this. He tested her for everything under the sun. Low blood sugar is the only thing they found. But, she hasn’t taken the Yasmin since May. No telling what the results would have came back like if it was done at the time she was taking Yasmin.
Thank goodness she has counselors and doctors there at the campus that believes that Yasmin can cause all of these problems, and are working with her. From what I have read from the people that have used this medicine, although most doctors do not agree, Yasmin takes like 6 months to get out of your system. I think I am going to believe the testimonials of the people who take this medicine, over a doctor who prescribes it.
If everyone goes to the media, their doctors, the FDA, congressmen, and make them aware of these horrible effects, surely we can get this drug off of the market! Does anyone know a class action lawyer that would pursue this? For my child to have to go through all of this is ridiculous, not to mention costly. What do we know of the long term effects this drug will have if it is doing all of this when you first start taking it?
If you have the same concerns as me about this drug, and would be interested in looking into a class action lawsuit, please email: ****** I would be interested to see how many would want to pursue this.

I was prescribed 25 MCG tabs of levothyroxine (generic for Levoxyl) by my MD for my hypothyroid. (I was tested at a 4.5 reading -- just below a normal 5 reading). After 60 days of taking levothyroxine EXACTLY as prescribed (i.e.; on an empty stomach, 1st thing in the morning with a glass of water; no vitamins for at least 4 hrs afterward), I started to have symptoms that I've never experienced before: my hands began hurting so bad with joint pain; my lips felt numb; and I was sweating more than I ever had in my life. I decided to stop taking the medication due to these symptoms, and in about 7-10 days from stopping, ALL these symptoms had disappeared and have not returned to date. I relayed this information to my MD who told me that my symptoms had nothing to do with Levothyroxine and that I needed to continue taking the drug. It's more than strange to me how some MDs will not listen to his/her patient -- even more so now that I've read other info on the internet where many other people have had these same side effects taking levothyroxine!! On my own, I am now looking into taking an all natural alternative that I found on wellness resources called "Thyroid helper". I will not take Levothyroxine again if I can avoid it by taking an alternative. Has anyone else out there had success taking "Thyroid Helper"?

I am extremely hot and sweaty, memory loss, fatigue, aching hands, dizzy at times and most recently had a fainting spell (black out) while I was attending a movie -- it started with dizziness and then I became totally burning up hot and wet with sweat so much so that my hair was wet -- this lasted about 1/2 hour and ended with the dry heaves. Please let me know if anyone has experienced this. I had my thyroid blasted with radioactive iodine about 3 years ago (Graves Disease) and I have been hotter than blazes since that time. I am on 112mcg of levoxyl

I take 5 mcg of cytomel a day. I have symptons like "hayfever". Sneezing,runny nose, sinus drainage, my eyes are sometimes itchy,burning, watery. The glands around my neck swell a little, my jaws hurt, and the inside of my ears itch. The PA in my doctors office said to contiue to try and take it for 2 weeks to see if the symptons ease off. I have started taking cytomel 3 different times and stopped because of the above symptons. I just can't see being this miserable for 2 weeks. I also take 150 mcg of syntroid once a day. I had diagnosed with graves disease in 1994 they gave me radiactive iodine to stop my thyroid from functioning.

I think what a lot of people are posting here are more side effects of thyroid conditions rather than side effects of thyroid medication. After my RAI treatment I started on a generic brand of levothyroxine. I even got my doctor to let me try Armour Thyroid since many people do well with it rather than Synthroid. Armour didn't work well for me, but it definitely is the only way to go for some people. After months of misery, things finally smoothed out. I was a royal pain in the butt to my doctor because I questioned everything. The biggest side effect for me going from hyper to hypo was edema. A clinical name for water retention. It wasn't so much the bloated feeling that bugged me. It was the pain in my hands and feet from the water retention. I have never, ever had a problem with carpal tunnel syptoms even though I have always used my hands a lot for work and I play the guitar. I had to add a small dose of dieuretic to control the edema and relieve the hand and feet pain. Sometimes it does flair up depending upon what I eat and how much I sweat, but that's what goes along with this type of illness. It's not just a magic pill that makes you feel "back to normal". You have to be demanding of your doctor to try other things to get you to feel right. You even have to pay attention to how you feel at different times of the year to figure out how to adjust what you take, eat, or do to feel better. I have noticed that with all things remaining constant, how I feel in terms of energy level and edema is related to the season. The body is weird that way. I still have side effects from the treatment from time to time, but I finally figured out what seems to work best for me. Maybe things could change over time, but I've learned that medicine just doesn't have a black and white treatment plan that works the same for everyone for thyroid related conditions. To sum it up, question everything your doctor tells you, demand to try things that you think would help you feel right, pay attention to what your body is telling you and adjust, and fire your doctor if they treat thyroid problems as black and white. Your doctor is not the one suffering from the condition, you are. It's your life and there's nothing wrong with being demanding about wanting to feel right.

I have been on this medication for a year now. It has helped my Blood Pressure but I do have a lot of the side effects listed here. I have a dry cough all the time and I am haveing a terrible time with blurry or duouble vision. I am not sure if this is from the meds or from the Graves Disease but I do know that I see double a lot. I also have a lot of headaches, dry itchy skin around my eyes. The biggest problem I have is that I am allways tired. I feel like I have just run a marathon all the time. I just want to sit around and do nothing and that is not me at all. I try to stay busy but for the ost part I am content to sit around, listen and not talk to people and again that does not fit my Type "A" personality at all.

I have been between 110 - 115 lbs most of my adult life. I tried everything to gain weight, but it didn't work. I was diagnosed with Graves Disease when I was pregnant with my son. I took PTU for the duration of the pregnancy. I was symptom free for about 4 years. About two years ago, I started to experience symptoms related to Graves Disease. I saw an Endo doctor who told me that I have a non-cancerous goiter that needed to be removed. I have thyroid surgery 8 months ago. I started taking Synthroid shortly thereafter. I have been trying to explain my symptoms of Hair Lost, Dry skin and nails, Insomnia, weight lost, lost of appetite, and leg cramps to someone for 6 months. Nobody listens. They just discount my symptoms. Today I decided to do some research to find out if I was alone. I AM NOT ALONE. I've been taking Synthroid for 8 months. My hair is so thin that you can see my scalp. Combing my hair makes me upset because I have chunks of hair in the comb. I too called my doctor and he replied,"I can't believe that your symptoms are related to your synthroid use." Reading these articles helped to prepare me for his responses. I insisted that I didn't want to take Synthroid anymore. He ordered blood work and advised that I have to continue taking this medication. I don't want to feel this way for the rest of my life. I have a 6 years old son who is full of life. I don't have the energy to keep up sometimes. I felt better before my Thyroid Surgery. (34 years old Woman, post Thyroid Surgery for an Enlarged Goiter and Hyperthyroidism). Where is the support????

I'm a 25 year old female and I was diagnosed with Grave's Disease during my pregnancy at the age of 21. The following year I was treated with radioiodine and subsequently was placed on synthroid. Since I have been on the medication (3 years now on varying doses) I have experienced severe to moderate anxiety, alarming hair loss, loss of appetite, piercing headaches, dry skin, fatigue, leg pain (mostly at the joints), dry mouth and eyes, and I feel I react very slowly (thinking and physically). THe most predominant symptoms at the moment are the dry skin which has never gone away, I still notice my hair hasn't stopped falling out at the rate it was when first starting the medication, sleeping isn't very restful, anxiety attacks and tight chest. I have told my doctors both primary and endocrinologist of my symptoms and was basically told to put on lotion (which I do religiously), see a psychiatrist, and buy a better mattress. I could almost make out a question mark hovering over my primary doctor's head as she thought of what could be the source of my afflictions.

When i had my yearly visit with my endo recently, he became agitated by my question asking and basically brushed me off. He told me point blank "There are no side effects with this medication". I asked, "None?" and he insisted, "None." I found out later that week (He's an Associate Professor at a local University) by a research statement I found on his website "Review of Graves' Disease outcomes comparisons, antithyroid drug therapy vs. radioactive iodine treatment". He's funded by the makers of Synthroid. Needless to say, I'm calling around for a new Endocrinologist. In his haste to administer radioiodine, (he said my white blood cell count was very low due to the PTU i was taking for Hyperthyroid, mind you, I had an infection not too long before his findings) he may have miscalculated how much radioiodine I should be given and now I am taking varying doses because he can't seem to get it right. I just found out today that soy bean decreases absorption of levothyroxine sodium. I have been taking my synthroid with soy milk for the past few months, which may account for my thyroid hormonal change. I'm thoroughly disappointed.

I am 23 and found out just a month ago that I had graves disease, hyperthyroidism and a cold nodule that they couldn't determine if it was begning or not so I just had my thyroid removed last week and I started synthroid a few days laterl. I've noticed that I'm a little
shaky, i thought maybe it was from my parathyroid glands not producing enough calcium but even though my calcium levels have gone up i'm not visibly shaky just feel shaky,
I also don't want to sleep I feel like I have more energy but at the same time i've been weepy. Is this normal?
I really haven't had a chance to ajust to any of this it's all been happening sooo fast.
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