What is Hyperthyroidism
Hyperthyroidism (or "overactive thyroid gland") is the clinical syndrome caused by an excess of circulating free thyroxine (T4) or free triiodothyronine (T3), or both.
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My name is Bobby and on August 23rd I found out I have Hyperthyroidism. My TSH was .04, T3 Tot was 234 and T3 Free was 4.0 and I ended up in the hospital for 2 nights because of my heartbeat. The day I was released they started me on Methimazole 2 times a day at 10 mg each time so 20 mg a day. 2 days later they upped that to 40 mg a day. One week later I ended up in the hospital another 2 nights because of my heart and the reading on Sept 2nd was .01 on my TSH and T3 Tot was 289 and T3 Free was 6.1. After release I was kept at 40 mg of Methimazole and they upped my beta blocker Toporol to 100 mg a day. About 4 days ago they lowered my Toporol to 50 mg and might change to another drug soon. They think I had a reaction also to the Toporol. I have not had any blood test done since 2 weeks ago. After 3 weeks I think I have noticed a change of about 10 to 30 % for the better but I still have restless sleep habits, chest discomforts but no pain, shortness of breath and overall tiredness. The Tremors have calmed down a lot, the rapid heartbeats are not there but I still have some occasional pounding heartbeats, muscle soreness in the legs have calmed down also. I do have episodes from time to time when I feel like going to the ER but they tend to calm down after laying down a while.
The Question I have has to do with The Time line of recovery and the Medication Methimazole and how it works? 1. Since I'm on day 22 or 23 of taking Methimazole. When will I start to notice changes in me. The Pharmasist said it takes about 4 weeks for things to start improving and overall about 6 to 8 weeks for my body to get rid of the excess Thyroid hormones and for me to start feeling much better. 2. Is Methimazole all ready limiting the output of thyroid hormones and is it just a waiting game now for my body to get rid of the excess? I still feel horrible at times but not as bad as I was. Just frustrated at how long this takes and just wanted to get some feedback as to what's going on and recovery times. Thank you, Bobby Posted on 09/15/09, 07:09 pm |
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Hi Bobby:
Welcome to the board. I also post at Graves' Disease which is another great place to post at cuz more people post there. Can you add the lab ranges to go with the tests you had done? Every place(state, town, and Country) can use different ranges for these tests. To answer your questions, yes, it does take about six to eight weeks to lower down the thyroid levels with the amount of MMI (Methimazole) you are taking. At six weeks from the start of the meds, it would be a great idea to go and get labs of the Free T3, Free T4, and TSH to see how you are doing. If you are at the mid ranges for the labs, your doctor should lower you down otherwise you'll go hypO quickly which is not fun to be at. Then continue to lab every six weeks as you lower down the MMI as your Free Ts stay in the mid ranges, at least. I do tell people they should take their ATD (antithyroid drug) in divided doses of two or three times a day. You are doing fine with twice a day, I am sure. We do not lab according to the TSH as it is messed up by thyroid antibodies. I hope your doctor will know that the the MMI is dosed according to the Free T4. The beta blocker is dosed according to the Free T3. You will have thyroid disease for the rest of your life, so research at Hyperthyroidism as well as Graves' Disease by reading all old posts/threads. It's up to you to be proactive with your disease whichever way you go with: surgery, RAI or staying ATD indefinitely. I've opt to stay on ATD indefinitely for myself while I can. I have been on very low dosed MMI for over six years now. I currently take 3.75 mg per day in three divided doses. I have gotten down as low as 1.875 mg per day. Have you had thyroid antibodies tests done to see if you have Graves' Disease? Take care... :-) 
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Yes I should have posted this in The Graves Disease area and if you can move this over there it would be OK with me. I don't have in my hand the thyroid antibodies test results but I will call over to the hospital tomorrow and see if I can get the results from nearly 2 weeks ago. I wish I knew what my readings were now.
This past March my levels were about .350 TSH but they bounced back up and I felt OK at the time but I wasn't. I know since the summer of 2008 I've lost about 70 lbs without dieting or doing lots of excersises. This past June I started having Dizzy spells or Light headed spells and they progressed into Tremors, then anxiety and rapid heartbeat. It was so bad I was thinking Suicide but seeked help at a Local Hospital and glad I did. All I know it's been rough on me but I do see some improvement now. Like I said I have spells every day which include the shakiness and chest area feeling awkward. My sleep habits are still bad and tomorrow I will call my endo doc to see if they can change my bp medication toporol to something else. Since I'm on day 22 of taking the drug Metamazole. You said at 6 weeks things should change inside me by how much? Will it appear overnight or will it be a gradual change from now to then? I am just curious as to what to expect. Thanks for the reply mmztcass Bobby
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Hi:
I'm afraid you will have to move your post over to the Graves Disease board if you want it to go there as it is your post. :-) You can write the same thing or add some other things if you'd like. It's up to you. Another thing to look at is your diet. If you take a look at the Graves' Disease board, you'll find a number of my posts and others posting on the diet. This is spread over a few months worth on what is a trigger, how to find out about your trigger by using a small notebook and the generalized foods/drinks/environmental triggers to avoid and such. This will help your thyroid to heal faster and stay more even keeled without getting off track and getting ill again. Again, we have to look at the complete picture of using the thyroid labs of the Free T3 and the Free T4 to know what's going on. The TSH is not a reliable test to go by when one has a thyroid disease since our thyroid is falsely skewed by thyroid antibodies. It is also six weeks behind with letting one know how they are feeling. Your doctor should have run the free Ts tests when the TSH was bouncing around for you back then. {{{hugs}}} :-)
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