Fitness and hyperthyroidism

[annio123]

Hi I’ve just been diagnosed over active thyroid, given Carbimazole and propanolol. I was wondering to continue with normal Cardiovascular fitness regime? Thanks

[LisaCr18]

Hiya. My advice would be to speak to your doctor/consultant who diagnosed you with your over active thyroid.

My consultant said no cardio exercise until my levels came down. He said it could be dangerous.

Please ask first before starting anything.

In the beginning he said i could do low intense to start with.

[annio123 in reply to LisaCr18]

I will do, thank you very much

[madge1979]

I’m so jealous .. 🌸

When I was diagnosed ( Graves ) after years of neglect by my Doctor ...I was virtually on my knees and could hardly walk .. never mind exercise .

When I did try to go for a walk or climb stairs I had to lie on my back for an hour to recover . It took its toll on my heart and lungs .

Research as much as you can to make sure you are not putting your organs at risk by exercising.. .. why not content yourself with slow stretching and maybe a cycling 🚴‍♀️ machine to start with if you have that amount of energy .

It is beneficial at this stage to take rest also.. your body has been through trauma .. be kind to it .. but mostly be kind to your very precious Thyroid Gland 🦋. It has tried to look after you since birth.... and is under threat at the moment.

Good Luck annio

Mx🌹

[annio123 in reply to madge1979]

Thank you for your reply, I will read up but I think i'm still in a little shock as i have always been very active but now its so hard. I thought it may help me you see x

[pennyannie]

Hello Annio and welcome to the forum :

Can you please give us more information :

Can you please give us the medical evidence of a postive antibody test and a diagnosis of what you have been diagnosed with and what your medication is based on, and the results of your first blood test at diagnosis.

Your thyroid has gone a bit haywire and your natural body clock gone into overdrive.

The AT drugs will be blocking your thyroid hormone production and as your own levels slowly come back into range your symptoms should reduce and you feel more comfortable.

At this point in time I would not suggest any exercise regime that puts further pressure on your body and you will need time to rest and recover.

It might be a good idea to also get your core strength vitamins and minerals tested and run tests for ferritin, folate, B12 and vitamin D as despite eating healthily your metabolism may have been running too fast for your body to fully gain the nutrients from your food that you need during this diffucult first phase of the disease.

If you do have Graves you might like to dip into the Elaine Moore Graves Disease Foundation website - there are sections on both the mainstream medical options and the more holistic alternative options you may like consider.

Graves does seem to be a poorly understood and badly treated AI disease and it will be in your best interests to read up and become your own best advocate.

Your thyroid is the victim in all this not the cause - the cause is your immune system attacking your body - and you can directly affect this by looking at how you can calm down your own immune system, thereby calming down the antibodies currently attacking you.

[annio123 in reply to pennyannie]

Hi and thank you for your reply. I have not been given any information, only that I have Hyperthyroidism. I am still in shock but will definitely follow it up with my consultant.

[pennyannie in reply to annio123]

Oh, ok,

If there is no visual sign of a swelling around your neck and you have no problems swallowing we can probably rule out a goitre as causing these symptoms.

That realistically, probably leaves two autoimmune thyroid conditions to consider : Graves and/or Hashimoto's Disease.

Both these AI diseases start the same way with your thyroid being attacked by your immune system, causing symptoms of hyperactivity, and it's because the thyroid is such an important gland, the body's engine, that some symptoms can be said to be life threatening.

However whilst Graves is a continuois attack and hyperactivity with Hashimoto's the attacks are transient and spasmondic over a period of years.

So it is necessary to identify through an antibody blood test, which AI disease you have as the treatment prescribed for each condition is different.

There is an antibody unique to Graves that needs to be positive and above range as the medical evidence needed before treatment with antithyroid drugs, like Carbimazle are prescribed. It is generally identified as a TSI ( roughly translated as a stimulating ) number above range or a TR ab ( roughly translated as a blocking ) number above range.

So, this is the first piece of the puzzle, identify the cause of this hyperthyroidism, and I hope I've helped a bit equipping you with a question or two.

The Carbimazle should be blocking your own thyroid production and your symptoms should start easing off and the Propranolol is a beta- blocker to calm down your heart rate and stop the palpitations.

Please come back with any questions you may have, it's a difficult time as your whole body / brain has been thrown up in the air, and it doesn't necessarily all fall back down into place as quickly as you might think or want.

[annio123 in reply to pennyannie]

Thankyou for the information. I’m a little frustrated as work are making go off sick. My consultant stated hyperthyroidism. Is this an autoimmune or Graves only? Sorry I’m new to all this and frustrated with work as I will lose a lot of unsocial hours payment

[PurpleNails Administrator in reply to annio123]

Hyperthyroid means your thyroid levels are high. The cause should be determined. Graves stimulates the thyroid over a prolonged time. Hashimotos or (autoimmune thyroiditis is the term used in U.K.) attacks and destroys thyroid which ultimately causes hypothyroidism but can cause transient hyperthyroidism. Both of these are auto immune. They can be confirmed with testing antibodies. Thyroid Stimulating Immunoglobulin (TSI) and TSH receptor antibodies (TRAb) for Graves. Thyroid Peroxidase (TPO) and Thyroglobulin (Tg) for Hashimoto's.

Has your symptoms caused you to take sick leave or affected your duties at work? I’m surprised your employer is making you take leave . It doesn’t seem fair if it hasn’t come at your own request. You likely could benefit from time off and relaxation until you are well again.

[pennyannie in reply to annio123]

Well, you need a definate answer as to what you are being treated for as Hashimoto's starts off the same way as Grave's and they are both autoimmune diseases.

To distunguish between these two AI diseases you need your antibodies tested, as the treatment for Graves is with antithyroid drugs, like Carbimazole, whereas the treatment for Hashimoto's will ultimately be Levothyroxine T4.

We have seen people on this website treated with Carbimazole when in fact they had Hashimoto's so you need to check the appropriate Grave's antibodies TSI/TR ab are positive and have confirmation of this medical evidence.

Graves is said to be stress and anxiety driven AI disease and can be triggered by a sudden shock to the system like an unexpected death of someone close to you, or possibly a car accident. There is said to be some generic predisposition and if you look to your wider family, maybe a generation away from you might find someone there having had thyroid disease.

Your body and brain and have gone into overdrive, and you need to try and calm down as the more you get wound up, the worse your symptoms will become.

I fully understand this is a very difficult time for you, and some of this information will go right over your head.

Have any of your symptoms abated since going on the AT drugs and beta-blocker ?

You are not well, and do need to be signed off from work for a little while - I understand this again brings financial pressures to the fore, and is the last thing you need right now, but try and be accepting as you have very little control over anything, at this point in time.

[Cat4health]

Hi, Sorry to hear about your diagnosis. I completely agree with Lisa above, speak to your doctor. However for context I have had graves flare ups twice over 3-4 years each time and I always worked out, even competed internationally but it's about listening to your body and only going so far. It's already stressed out so try not to add too much more stress

[annio123 in reply to Cat4health]

Hi and thank you for your reply. I am trying to do just that although it's quite difficult when you are constantly on the go x

[Fruitandnutcase]

Hi annio123, I was just like madge1979, by the time I was diagnosed I was on my knees. It was in November and in September I had been told ‘I was needing a holiday!’ I was needing a lot more than that.

Anyway to answer your question. Before Graves I used to do a lot of long distance walking but that stopped, I could barely stand up, well I couldn’t actually if I got down to ground level I had to be helped up again either by my husband or a nearby tree/chair/ fence or whatever.

I did continue at the gym I used to go to twice a week, I turned all the machines down to a low level and I kept going t my Pilates lesson - my teacher is a qualified physiotherapist so she adapted everything for me. I wanted to keep going to both because I liked the people and the social side of it all and I didn’t want Graves to beat me.

I was taking 40mcg carbimazole every day but no propranolol because I have asthma. My treatment on block and replace took a year and eventually I got back into walking although it took a while to build up.

I imagine you could probably try and tick over like I did - you could ask your endocrinologist what they advise (I didn’t) but don’t expect too much from your body and I definitely wouldn’t force things.

[Marz]

How were you diagnosed with a hyperthyroidism ?

[cazmania7]

Hey, I had Graves and exercised like mad. I felt great. The problems started for me when I took RAI and became hypo.

I guess we are all different. I just had some shakes and anxiety with Graves but I barely noticed.

If later down the line they promote RAI consider it carefully.

[Northwoods_girl]

As others suggest, check with doctor. Will share some of my own GD experience. It was because my running efforts/performance changed that I finally went in to doctor and was diagnosed. Heart rate felt different (faster and off kilter somehow), leg muscles different/shaky. Harder to do a 5K run, let alone longer distances. My heartrate definitely was higher than it usually was during exercise. Also, much harder to cool body...it was as if my normal "cooling" system wasn't working...even though I was hot, I wasn't sweating as much to cool off. Best of luck to you.