Help for my dad please...

[slhalluk]

Hi everyone, i'm on here for my dad (aged 64 still working full time)... No idea who else to ask and i'm getting increasingly worried about him and the endless 'drama' that he is still dealing with 13 years down the line...! Not sure what yr allowed to ask on here with symptoms etc but wouldn't mind someone helping with advice... He's said he's just tired of it all now and the constant hospital/GP appoitments.

He had had radioactive iodine to kill thyroid 5 years ago, Graves disease with endless eye ops to tighten the muscles and now he's due to have another one on both eyes again to chisel the bone in eye sockets to help his eyes go back so he can close his eyes... All the time dealing with Dr's who are just messing around with his thyroxin (200mg) and his symptoms are horrendous... We just need some help please Thank you x

[shaws Administrator]

Welcome to our forum and it's good you are caring for your father as he must be really unwell and no-one really understands how terrible it is to know you are taking medication but are feeling very bad. What's worse is the doctors are unaware either.

What you should do first, is get the latest copy of your Dad's blood test results for his thyroid gland, with the ranges, and post on a new question for members to comment. I have hypothyroidism but others who have Graves and/or TED will comment.

For many people levothyroxine doesn't make them feel well, may give them more clinical symptoms and particularly with your Dad's eyes complicates things even more. Even though both Graves and Thyroid Eye Disease (TED) are hyperactive, they are both different conditions.

If your Dad hasn't had a recent thyroid gland blood test make an appointment for the earliest a.m. and he shouldn't take his medication until afterwards. Also ask for a Vitamin B12, Vit D, iron, ferritin and folate to be done too as we are usually deficient. If your Dad hasn't had a test for T3, ask for this to be done. If his TSH level is 'in range' the lab may not do T3 but it would be worth having a private test done and there is a pin-prick one available.

There are nearly 20,000 on this forum and we have had similar problems to your father, although there are several million in the UK with either hyper or hypo conditions who appear to be doing o.k. but there are many with no access to the internet so life must be quite miserable if they are feeling unwell.

Does he take his medication on an empty stomach first thing with one glass of water and take his breakfast around 1 hour later? He should as food can interfere with the uptake of levothyroxine.