Prednisone and Graves’ disease

[Mstiles]

What does prednisone do to the thyroid?

I have Graves and/or Hashimoto,s but have been off Methimazole for a month. My levels have been in range for a month but TSH trending down

Have had persistent headaches and shoulder pain muscles for about a month.

I have an appt with a new endriconologist tomorrow, maybe my symptoms are that I went off the medication too soon and am going hyper again.

I saw a rheumatologist for the stiff and painful muscles and headache in a certain spot on the back of my head. He thinks PNR, polymyactica rheumatica sorry about the spelling I’m freaking out right now, and possible giant cell arteria. Inflammation of an artery in the head. He wants me to immediately take 40 mg of prednisone, the GCA can cause vision loss and blindness. He scared me so badly I’m afraid to not take it, but what if the symptoms are from hyper thyroid.

Sorry to be so unclear I’m just scared. Would the prednisone cause a thyroid storm?

[Mstiles]

The blood tests he did showed high sed rate and high creatine(? Spelling! Sorry not sure if that is right spelling). He said they showed a lot of inflammation).

[Mstiles in reply to Mstiles]

Is there a specific test for this? If you are having a hyper flare wouldn’t you also have these results of high sed rate etc?

[Hidden in reply to Mstiles]

Yes there is a specific biopsy which can be carried out - see link nhs.uk/conditions/giant-cel.... Also then follow the link from "corticosteroids" within the document to see why he's prescribed prednisolone.

An ophthalmologist can also check out any effect on your eyes.

[Mstiles in reply to Hidden]

Thank you no motmre T3. Yes ha told me about the biopsy said it was tricky to get the specific are where the inflammation was. I did take 15 mg of the 40 he prescribed prednisone last nite and slept some. The headache is still there but not bad this morning.

I hope this new endo can sort it out. Prednisone is such a difficult drug

[Mstiles]

Yes feels like when I was hyper with the addition of this painful headache in one spot. The rheumatologist didn’t mention a specific test for the TGA just the sed rate and creatine

Thank you for replying to my panicked message.

[Mstiles]

Yes the headache is what made therheumatologist prescribe the prednisone. I ended up taking 10 and the 5 and another 5 last night and it helped my head. d to do a lot of worrying, so I’m so glad you

Will see what the endo says today. I just hope I didn’t do it to myself by getting off the Methimazole too soon. I’m an anxious person anyway, and so im so glad you took the time to message me reallyfedup, nights are the worst!

[G2G2]

Did your doctor test CRP for high inflammation? Doesn't tell where the inflammation's located, but very high inflammation has to be treated with pretty high doses of steroids. Shoulder pain & headaches sounds like PNR, though pain can also be in other areas. Giant cell arteritis often shows as intense jaw pain & untreated can progress to vision problems.

[ripon1756]

I had an overactive thyroid gland problem and was given steroids for a very short time. I was later given a radioactive isotope which resulted in my thyroid gland becoming under active. Anyway 10 years later I was diagnosed with Avascular Necrosis and had both my hip bones replaced in 1997 and 1998 respectively. After my first hip replacement I was diagnosed with DVT in that leg and I later learned from a report by Dr. Glueck (an American doctor) that anyone with an underlying blood clotting disorder should never be prescribed steroids.

Steroids are one of the main causes of Avascular Necrosis.