Graves' Disease Support Group

Read my journal ladycass (todays entry).......and take note of the side effects that ATDS (anti-thyroid drugs have).
Eventually after a certain period of time, with ATDS the thyroid MAY die off anyway.
But in the meantime, you are at risk of thyroid storm (heart attack or stroke) if your levels arent kept an eye on.
Graves and Hyperthyroidism is a debilitating disease and I wouldnt wish it on anyone.
Research all you can on the disease and certain meds for it.
It pays off in the long run.
What are your Labs?

FT4
TSH
FT3
and anti-body levels?
We are all here to support you.

Debs

I started ptu also two weeks ago and i did experience a sore throat but it's gone now. I like methamazolee better to be honest to me it seemed to work better but because im pregnant i guess this is a safer drug for the baby, I don't understand why so many are on ptu instead of methamazole but thats something i might need to look up.

Hi LadyCass,
The PTU should make you feel better, along with a beta blocker like propanolol. The PTU gave me an awful taste in my mouth that went away after about 3 months, so if you experience the horrid taste symptom, it will eventually go away.
Many people can take PTU/Methimazole for years with no problems, so once you get your TSH back to normal, they will scale back your dose, and then put you on the lowest dose that you can be on and maintain normality.
I am one of the unlucky few who got a liver problem with PTU, but had taken Methimazole first so the liver problem may have been from that drug, and just didn't get better when I switched over. I have been thinking about trying PTU again, once my liver enzymes go back to normal for good.
I hope you feel better, soon!
Heather

Hi Ladycass...Ive been on PTU for 8 months now and It seems to work well for me. I started on 300mg a day and have had 2 reductions of 100mg a day. Im now on 100mg a day. I divide it by 4 so that Im taking 25mg 4 X a day. When your on meds you still go hypo. When that happens you have to remind yourself that ,that is a good thing. What its saying is the drugs are working and your thyroid needs less meds to maintain. When you go hypo you need a meds reduction. Deb is very right when she tells people to keep a log of your symptoms and dates. Once you start to recognize your unique symptoms you can take charge of your recovery. Also, make sure you get a copy of your blood results for your own file and for information here.

Even though I am doing well in my recovery, I still have bad days. The ups and downs of this disease, even when your on meds, is very frustrating. I just had a bad 2 week bout of it. So, know that things will get better and its a process not a quick fix. Good luck with it, and just message me if I can help in any way...Kathy

So many people (myself included in the early days) took the Doctors/Endos word as 'gospel' and would go for blood labs every 3-4 weeks.
In the time, because of being drug sensitive, I found myself going from Hyper to Hypo in 3 weeks flat and boy, is that hell! lol.
The best way to do things is log yr symptoms each day or each time you notice a change...ie..crappy feeling, feeling good, bowel change etc.
Then if you have brain fog which is a absolutely side of Graves (hehehehe) then you can look back at yr logs and say...oh I was on the dosage of ?? meds then and decreased it because of those symptoms.
Its a good guideline.
It actually stops a lot of the HELL days.
I used to dcrease basically by 5mg or 50mg every 2 weeks if I felt good and labs were decreasing and TSH coming up or vice versa...increase by 5mg or 50mg (depending on PTU or Cabimazole (CBZ) if feeling hot, or hyper symptoms.
This is a good way to do things but also dont forget to get yr Labs done BEFORE you decrease.
I hope its made a difference to you Kathy...as you seems to be doing really good.
I never went longer than 2 weeks on a dosage as I found I would either get HELL days (Hypo or Hyper).
These meds work pretty fast and most think that they take 4 weeks to change levels...they dont.
I am only going by my experiences in the last 18 months and found myself learning so much about this disease and Graves.
Hope that helps :)
Debs