Graves' Disease Support Group
Graves-Basedow disease is a medical disorder that may manifest several different conditions including hyperthyroidism (over activity of thyroid hormone production), infiltrative exophthalmos (protruberance of one or both eyes and associated problems) and infiltrative dermopathy (a skin condition usually of the lower extremities). This disorder is the most common cause of...
hi you all sorry its been awhile, I had to quit my job I couldnt do it I just felt so bad. My problem now is I ended up getting really sick, runny nose and sore throat, the runny nose went away but the sore throat was so bad I lost my voice and over a week. Went to the dr and he put me on prednisone for my lungs ( I sounded congested I guess ) he also put me on sulfamethoxazole-tmp and mucinex bp liquid. Now 8 days later I feel worse as in worse before I started taking medicine for my graves disease, which I was in remission now I am not sure anymore. Please help any info, can any of these drugs affect my remission? thanks
Here's an old thread from here that is similar that might be of interest:
http://www.dailystrength.org/c/Graves_Disease/forum/10788950-sulfa-antibiotics
Sorry your feeling so poorly. I've only been really sick with a cold or flu thing once since remission and I wondered the same thing. Then I had a good talk with myself and reminded me, that the stress of worry is a bigger risk factor than the cold itself. Such a hard thing..to try and keep myself calm and not worried. Mine happened early on, so the Graves' thing was still on my mind more than now. The only thing that worked was distracting myself with TV comedies or my hobbies.
Turned out okay, and anymore I really don't even care if I were to slip hyper again..because this time I will have a clue, get labs, nip it in the bud with a small dose of my PTU. I now know to get my FT4 every four weeks, and exactly where within the reference range I need to be. And I know exactly how to adjust my dose to do that. There will be no more over dosed Pam. because I do exactly what I'm told. Being experienced is a very good thing here.
I've known several friends over the years that have relapsed Every one of them caught it early, had an easy time and each time they relapsed their time needing their ATD has been shorter. It was only after seeing people like this, friends I had gotten to know over time and can trust, that I was able to not worry anymore about potential hyper. Now hypo.. that I worry about sometimes.. I really, really hate hypo.
I had to look up your first drug there. Looks fine. Better than not treating the reason you needed it. Sometimes we have to do, what we have to do, ya know. :)
Here's the link I picked.
http://www.webmd.com/drugs/drug-64007-smz-tmp+ds+oral.aspx?drugid=64007&drugname=smz-tmp+ds+oral
Prednisone ..yes it can make you feel hyper after awhile, but then it switches and you feel the other way. All depends on the dose and time on it. I hate the stuff, and love it. It can heal..and it can make you crazy. But it works. I spent a lot of time on it when I was an Ulcerative Colitis patient, and then needed to use it at a high dose for about a year when my TED was so bad. Prednisone is used successfully by Graves' patients, so don't worry about it being a cause of a relapse. Hated having to take it, but it did allow me to avoid emergency eye surgery..so it's a miracle drug in my view.
It suppresses the immune system, and also can suppress TSH.. So if you were to have labs today, and see a low TSH.. it might be from the prednisone .
I guess the thing to work towards, after this illness passes, is to find out why your feeling so badly every day. Did you maybe slide a bit to the hypo side ? If so finding a doctor that understands Graves' patients and is willing to prescribe replacement hormone would be the next job. That and maybe check for low vita D, low B12, and if you might be anemic? All those can feel much like mild hypo. You need a doctor that doesn't just pass this off as you being depressed ( lots of them do that sadly...who wouldn't be depressed going through all this... but depression is rarely the cause of not feeling normal ) and is willing to find out what's wrong and help you get better.
(((hugs)))