athlete and Graves Disease: I was listening to... - Thyroid UK

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athlete and Graves Disease

Fruitandnutcase profile image
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I was listening to 5 Live early this morning and someone was talking about an athlete Kirani James who had had Graves Disease sportsmax.tv/index.php/athl...

Having had Graves’ disease myself and knowing how weak I felt you can only admire him for succeeding after all he’s been through.

Just found this about his treatment - although I’m not sure the only way to cure it is to remove / wipe out the thyroid

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Fruitandnutcase
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jimh111 profile image
jimh111

Gail Devers also had Graves'. Her recovery was remarkable in that she was a 100m sprinter, a race that requires a great deal of strength.

Fruitandnutcase profile image
Fruitandnutcase in reply tojimh111

I came across her name too after I posted this. Like I said having had Graves and I’d say Ive made a good recovery - I’m still in remission and I’ve still still got my thyroid - I am in awe of those athletes for getting back on form again. 😊

SamB22 profile image
SamB22 in reply toFruitandnutcase

Wow, such resilience they have. so pleased to hear you are in remission - how long have you been? Were you on carb. It’s nice to hear some good news on someone in remission xx

Fruitandnutcase profile image
Fruitandnutcase in reply toSamB22

I’ve been in remission since 2013. I was treated with block and replace - the treatment took exactly 12 months. I spent the first three months on carbimazole - I took 40mg carb a day on its own for three months then started taking levo as well as the carb - I started on 50mg levo and was taking 100mg when I stopped. It is good isn’t it to hear of others who have gone into remission. x

SamB22 profile image
SamB22 in reply toFruitandnutcase

Yes, it gives hope😀 x when you started with the levo aswell as carb did you have any additional side effects? Just that my bloods were heading to underactive and maybe the endo might put me on it x

Fruitandnutcase profile image
Fruitandnutcase in reply toSamB22

When I started I was taking 20mg carb a day then after four weeks I had a blood test. My levels hadn’t changed much after that so my endo wrote to me telling me to get more carb and double up to 40mg a day. By the time I actually saw an endo I had become quite hypo. The doctor I saw said to start the levo and stop the carb for ‘a few days’ - I stopped for five days - then I went back to both carb and levo for the rest of the time. I used to know when I needed an increase in my levo because I used to get hyper symptoms again.

At first I thought I was going hyper again but someone on here said I was probably needing an increase and they were right - I was.

Good luck with it all.

My initial thought was 'I wonder if the Graves was linked to the physical stress of all that training'.

I'm aware that sounds a but like victim blaming but my thyroid completely gave up after I ran a half marathon; I pushed my body too hard. I wonder if Graves is similar.

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