menopause and graves

[ling]

can menopause cause graves?

thank you

[Fruitandnutcase]

Don't know, I was 64 when mine started. That seems to be older than the age I've seen in books and articles. I think I probably had it for quite a while before I eventually fell to pieces and was was diagnosed.

I must say I hadn't felt good for a few years before being diagnosed, for a start my husband used to joke that I had no thermostat. I knew or felt I had some sort of auto immune problem and checked out loads of things like Sjorgens etc but somehow or another I never found Graves.

I had an early menopause (mid forties) although I was on HRT for quite a while and when I stopped that I was finished with all that so I wasn't really aware of my menopause.

I did have my thyroid checked in my forties - fifties. I was always on the chunky side, couldn't lose weight, felt a bit sluggish, I felt I had the symptoms of an underactive thyroid but I was told by a rather surprised GP that I was actually borderline overactive.

Apart from not being able to lose weight and memory problems - I couldn't remember names etc which made life a bit difficult - I felt ok, that was around the time I was on HRT.

All that was many years ago, I didn't know then what I knew now so I never asked about blood test results or levels, just assumed I was fat and left things as they were.

In my case I think my Graves was probably caused by extreme stress but there was something going on at menopause time too so who knows.

[faith63]

Menopause and Puberty can trigger all autoimmune diseases.

[faith63 in reply to faith63]

Oh and extreme stress too.

[ling]

thank you for all your replies.

Fruitandnutcase -

thank you for sharing your story. it sounds very familiar. may i ask your present status? is the condition under control or in remission? did or do you have a fast heart rate? thank you

[Pippins2 in reply to ling]

Hi Ling, my Graves started around time of menopause, infact my GP was treating me gor menopausal symptoms which eventually turned out to be Graves symptoms. I also believe though that it was stress that triggered mine.I had a fast heart rate and palpitations amongst my symptoms but beta blocker medication helped to control it, I am now in remission ,

[Fruitandnutcase in reply to ling]

I'm in remission. I looked at my dates again and I was first diagnosed in November 2012. I stopped my B&R treatment in November 2013 and have been in remission since then although I have a sneaky feeling I'm becoming hypo - I'm still 'within the range' so my GP is totally unconvinced so I'll see what happens. I do my own blood tests with the Blue Horizon fingerprick testing which is how I know things are creeping up.

Did I have palpitations! Until I was treated my whole body felt like it was one enormous pulse. I could feel my pulse by putting my hand on my stomach. It woke me up every night, I couldn't bear for my husband to put his arm across my stomach in bed at night. It was dreadful. There were times I thought I was having a heart attack or maybe an aneurism. I was also so tired I was in bed by 6.00pm most evenings. I had pensioner friends in their eighties who had more stamina and stayed up later than I did.

I saw a doctor in the August before I was finally diagnosed and she looked at me (sceptically) as I was describing my symptoms then said she thought I was needing my holiday. I came out of the consultation almost crying with frustration. I also had the shakes. I couldn't even hold my camera still long enough to take a photograph.

Eventually I saw a different doctor at the end of November the day after I had almost killed myself and a friend while crossing a busy dual carriageway - it was dark and a car came up seriously fast just after I had pulled out and my reactions definitely weren't what they ought to have been. I saw the doc the following day - deep down I knew I was really ill - fortunately this time the doc knew exactly what was wrong with me - I had blood tests the next day and the day after that I came in and found a phone message from the doc saying I had a very overactive thyroid, with antibodies, that she had left a prescription for carbinazole at Reception for me, had booked an appointment with an endo and wanted me back for more blood tests in a month.

Carbinazole is the first part of block and replace treatment - I took carb on its own for three months before the thyroxine was added in until eventually I was taking 40mcg a day of it along with 100mcg of thyroxine eventually all of that is stopped - just like that suddenly - one day you're on it next day you're not then it's a case of wait and see what happens.

Anyway, after the first month on it my bloods hadn't changed all that much and certainly not enough for my endo because I had a letter from her telling me to double up on the carb I was taking. Unfortunately I didn't have any more blood tests until the week I was due to see the endo (three months after I was diagnosed) by which time I had become quite hypo which wasn't good - my hair fell out, my fingernails disintegrated etc and I didn't feel good at which point I discovered that you can (or I could) get palpitations when you are hypo too!

I wasn't able to take beta blockers for the palpitations because I have asthma so I just had to wait until things kicked in although when I had them when I became hypo I was given amitriptyline which stopped them then the endo raised my thyroxine so after that when I got palpitation because I was needing more thyroxine ( usually about 4 weeks after my dose was increased) my doctor would give me a slight. Increase to tide me over until I saw my endo.

Who would have thought you get palpitations when you are hyper -and palpitations when you're hypo. First time I thought I was becoming hyper again but some wise person on here explained that I was probably just needing an increase of thyroxine and they were correct.

Gosh I have rambled on - hope it answers some of your questions 😀

[ling in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

thank you very much Fruitandnutcase for sharing.

just a short one first since its a pretty busy time at the moment.

indeed its true one can have palpitations regardless hyper or hypo. i'm finding that out right now. depressing.

and a word on the subject of stress. the body just doesn't process stress well at all. i realise on hindsight when i'm stressed my body is completely wiped out after that. i can actually become physically ill after the stressful episode and feel just awful. its like the body cannot stomach the stress. i'm still trying to figure out how to deal with this and at the moment, short of trying not to get into stressful situations, i'm quite at a loss. any suggestions would be welcome.

and oh, stopping caffeine was a big help in the first week or so, and i imagine its generally been of help.

[ling]

many thanks Pippins2 for your message.

thank you so much for the info. its encouraging to hear you are in remission

my condition confuses me. since first diagnosis in jan this year, i've gone from slightly hyper to slightly hypo after carbimazole and still the doctor tells me at the last test results, i still have graves and the problem is with the carbimazole being too effective in suppressing the thyroid and if the next blood test comes back the same, i'll have to come off carbimazole. so does that mean i'm getting better? i don't think so judging from the symptoms still present ???? ... vexing

[Fruitandnutcase in reply to ling]

I found it quite difficult to know exactly how my body was feeling at the beginning when I came off the meds. I suppose your body has been haywire for so long you almost don't know what is right.

I also think - not medically qualified though so I could be wrong - that once you have got Graves antibodies you always have Graves.

I've been trying to be gluten free to try - I've read that a GF diet can calm down the antibodies - although I doubt if I will ever be tested again for antibodies so I'm not sure how I'll know if it's working