Thyroid problems just gone

[Clementine55]

Hello all. A while ago I was having a lot of issues concentrating, had extreme exhaustion mixed with episodes of being hyper, crazy moods swings and was always hungry. Got my thyroid tested and it all showed hyperthyroid. Went to an endocrinologist who believed I may had Graves Disease. They scheduled a thyroid uptake scan for me. The results on the scan were completely normal. At this time I was feeling a bit better. My doctor seemed confused but said that thyroid problems fluctuate and to just schedule another appointment in a few months. I decided to just go to my regular doctor to get my blood work done since it was cheaper. All my blood work that I have had done was still pointing toward hyper, but the numbers were inches slowly more toward the normal range. The last test I had done about a month ago, all my thyroid tests were normal except for the TSH, which was 0.01. I guess I am just confused, no doctors seem to be able to give me any concrete answer of what that could mean. My mom keeps insisting that it was stress that was making my thyroid all crazy, but I have never heard of that being a cause for thyroid issues. As of right now I feel great, I have gotten on anti depressants to help with anxiety and general depression, which is something I have always had, but seems to have gotten worst with all the thyroid drama. The blood work I had done was the whole shebang, every possible test you can ask for I got. Anyone have any experience with thyroid issues just going away? My concern is that it is turning toward hypo and I could actually have hashimotos instead of Graves. Help?

[jezebel69]

Hi Clementine - your mum is right. Stress is a big factor in the operation of the thyroid. Its all in the big mix of hormones. I'm sure someone else here will explain it better than I can.

[jezebel69]

I guess I should add that looking back my very first thyroid issue was attached to my first pregnancy (a very stressful time in my life) then to pretty much every stressful time after that until it stopped functioning fully and I needed continuous thyroid meds. My thyroid got tired is how I saw it. Finding good productive ways to alleviate stress in your life will help your thyroid to function as it should. It can be helped by making sure your nutrition is good and provides all the vitamins and minerals that your thyroid needs. You'll find all that on this site

[Hidden]

Hi Clementine. Maybe you have had thyroiditis, caused by one of the viruses that can lead to an overactive thyroid? If so, the good news is that this is transitory.

I had this, years ago now. My thyroid gland was swollen, I had a high temperature, and the swelling caused a 'dump' of T4 hormone into my blood stream.

The typical pattern (which I had) is a sudden onset of hyperthyroid symptoms - a fast pulse, high temperature, anxiety, thirst - everything was racing, leading to exhaustion. That continued over several weeks, but tapering off.

Now what then happens is that the pituitary gland detects that the body has too much of the T4 thyroid hormone in its bloodstream and reduces the amount of TSH it is producing - the "messenger" hormone that tells the thyroid how much T4 hormone to produce.

Many people then have a brief period when their thyroid is underactive, until the TSH brings the levels back up again.

My endo says to work on the pituitary taking at least 6 weeks to get the body back in synch. That is because it has to detect the levels are high, reduce the TSH sent out (and it doesn't just switch off, it tapers off), the thyroid needs to receive the message and taper off T4 hormone production, then the pituitary re-detects the T4 levels and realises they are getting low, and sends out more TSH, which mean the thyroid then has to taper up the hormone produced.

The pituitary is great at gently nudging the thyroid levels to keep them steady. If you think about it, for most people, the only variable is the amount of iodine they get from their diet, which is needed to make T4 hormone. A gentle 'thermostat' that can respond to minor changes in intake is perfect. It's not so good though at responding to dramatic changes.

That six weeks applies whether you are adjusting to a new medication dose, or recovering from a thyroid virus, or adjusting after having a baby.

The timescale before I felt fully well again after thyroiditis was from June to December. But after the first six weeks, I was able to get on with life so long as I took care.

The reason I am still interested in thyroid illness is that I also had a thyroid nodule, and this got worse after the virus and eventually became a problem. But that was just coincidence.

In a way your mother is right. I was in my mid-twenties when this happened. The GP believed I had had glandular fever over the previous few months, and should have had a break from work. And I had taken on more responsibility at work and home at the same time as studying for exams! So stress was definitely a factor, maybe I wouldn't have got thyroiditis if I'd had chance to take more care.

If you have Graves or Hashimoto disease your blood tests will show antibodies to thyroid hormone. That is because both those diseases are auto-immune conditions. The body reacts to substances that are actually healthy, the immune system attacks them.

If you don't have antibodies that's great, because while auto-immune conditions can be managed they tend to be life-long conditions.

Graves Disease is so common that doctors tend to assume any thyroid problem is Graves first. They come across other thyroid problems less frequently, especially as some are transitory and just sort themselves out, so there is never a definitive diagnosis other than "now sorted".

If there was a "Patience Pill" it would be great right now because it may be a few weeks before you are entirely well and you just need to wait and get retested.

But based on what you have posted, the outlook is good! The best thing you can do now is "take gentle care".

[shaws Administrator]

This is a link which may be helpful.

nhs.uk/Conditions/thyroidit...

[greygoose]

Did they test your antibodies?