carbimazole

[ursa]

I recently wrote in here that I had been diagnosed with a hyperactive thyroid.

I have now seen an endocrinologist who prescribed 40mg/day of the above for 28 days.

Has anybody else had experience with this drug?

[Hennerton]

Hi Ursa,

Yes, I was given this for an overactive thyroid. it worked very quickly so watch that you do not go the other way and become underactive. Ask for a blood test at four weeks and sooner if you feel as though things are not right. Many people are on this on the forum, so you should have several replies. Is there anything in particular you want to know?

If it suits you, it is possible to stay on it for years, so do not get persuaded into taking drastic action on your thyroid. just one thing to watch for, which I am sure has been mentioned, is that if you start with a sore throat and feel unwell, ask for an immediate blood test to make sure the medication is not having and adverse reaction. Good luck with it and I hope you start to feel better quickly.

[Fruitandnutcase]

Yes, I was taking it two years ago. My hospital treats Graves with block and replace. Enough Carbimazole to kill off your thyroid then Levo to get you back to a better level then after about eutpght months everything stops and they wait to see what happens. Hopefully remission.

I started with 20mcg a day for a month and my TSH stayed the same, my T4 changed slightly but not much different. I was then contacted by the endo whom I had not seen, I was told to get more carb and double the dose which I did. Well I had two months on 40mcg a day and by the time I saw the endo I had become quite hypo which was very unpleasant and an awful shock to my system SO - make sure you are tested after a month on it, you really don't want to become underactive.

Like Hennerton said watch out for sore throats etc. read the patient leaflet that comes with the carb very carefully, if you haven't been given one you can Google it and download it for yourself. Basically if you get certain symptoms you need to go and have your white blood cells checked out immediately. Don't be fobbed off. My pharmacist also said I should take vitamin C when I was taking the carb so I took Redoxon Slow Release 1000mcg vitamin C and zinc capsules which I found very good. Good luck.

I've been told that should I relapse I will be offered RAI but I definitely don't want that and as Hen says many people have taken carb for many years so don't be pushed into any decisions that you may later regret.

[ursa in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

Thanks folks!

I do have a sore throat which may be attributed to a virus that has been going round. I had it before the Carb.

I am now on my forth day of carbs and will 'watch myself'.

[Silver_Fairy in reply to ursa]

It might help to make a list of the symptoms you had before starting the Carbimazole, then keeping a diary, it's easier to see any differences then. As has already been said, make sure you have regular blood tests (unfortunately, this will depend of your Endo and how efficient they are!) There are a few symptoms that can be attributed to both hypo and hyper but there are plenty more that will help you see if you are going too far one way.

[Hidden]

Hennerton and F&NC speak wise words.

I would just add that 40 mcg per day seems like a high dose. But then it is only for a month.

I started putting on weight very quickly when I took it. So : watching for sore throat, any general unwellness AND weight gain ...

[ursa]

I finally got my result from my latest blood test on 29/12/2014.

Serum Free thyroxine T4 45.0 TSH <.01 (12/11/14 36.2 <.01)

I have now been on Carbimazole since 29/12/2014, and am starting to feel better.

How long will it be till my thyroid is somewhere within the normal range?

Over the past years, my readings for T4 were 15-19.