Help doctor just referred me to endo as overactive thyroid dont understand any of it.Put me on meds can anyone explain in simple terms what

Its all about as I not medically minded at all just know I feel awful thankyou

[Duchy82]

Your thyroid is a gland in your neck that makes several hormones (the main ones are t4 and t3) which are involved in a lot of processes your body does to make it function properly the main process it affects is metabolism but there is lots more it interacts with and not all functions of the thyroid are fully known. If you have an overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism) your body makes too much t4 and t3 some of the symptoms can be weight loss, intolerance to heat, anxiety, goitre (swelling in your neck), bulging eyes and many more. check out the thyroid uk website for more detailed info.

The doctir will have probably based this on a blood test in which t4 and t3 are really high and your tsh (a hormone your brain makes to control how much hormone your thyroid makes) really low or undetectable. He has send you to an endo as they will be better qualified than your gp to treat you properly. The medication of choice is carbimazole which will block your thyroid from making too much hormone if you then go underactive they will replace it by giving you t4. But someone else should be able to explain the possible treatments better than me. Hopes that makes a little bit of sense.

[Clutter]

Look on the thyroid gland as the engine of a car. Yours is overactive ie your engine is over-revving. You'll be medicated to bring it back to normal. This is complicated because too much carbimazole will make your thyroid underactive and too little will leave you over-revving.

Regular blood tests to measure your thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), T4 (stored thyroid hormone which your liver converts to the active form) T3 (active form of T4 circulating in cells) will determine your dosage, initially every 2/3 months until your optimum dosing is achieved.

If you keep a diary of dosage and improvement/deterioration of symptoms you'll learn to recognise when you're over and under medicated. ALWAYS insist upon print out of test results and lab ranges. You'll find them invaluable to track your progress.

Overactive thyroid is usually due to an autoimmune disease aka Graves disease.

[Hidden in reply to Clutter]

Tha kyou for your reply clutter seems I have alot to learn!

[samlous]

Hi p1pp1ns, I am as confused as you & have been diagnosed with over active thyroid since Jan. Thanks to Clutter for making things clearer. My endo has reduced & now increased my carbimazole & said I need to consider my options (operation or rai) which has upset me as I don't understand it all, I am waiting to see my GP to discuss & see if she can make it any clearer to me! Good luck x

[Hidden in reply to samlous]

Hi samlous glad its not only me thats confused by it all! I dont have my endo (see learning the lingo) yet dont know what the waiting list is like .Am waiting for carbimazole to kick in .hopefully will be soon!