A possible explanation

Drumroll please!

In the past few weeks I've had a bunch of very intrusive symptoms beyond the usual rampaging diarrhea I'm used to; rapid, pounding pulse, an additional 8-pound weight loss, a slight tremor in the hands, and just an overall feeling of malaise.  And, of course, this was all accompanied by 10-20 bathroom trips a day (but what's so exciting about that?).  I saw the doctor two days ago and she did some simple bloodwork and I got a call back from her today.  She said my thyroid has gone completely berserk; I'm extremely hyperthyroid, and she thinks I have Grave's Disease.  I was like, ***!? 

All my previous thyroid tests have been normal, so it doesn't necessarily explain my gut issues entirely, but evidently this is an autoimmune disease that will come on in the mid-20's and is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism.  It's not for sure that this is what is causing the overactivity of my thyroid in particular, but she said my TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) was so low that Grave's is the most likely explanation.  A regular TSH should be between 0.2 and 3.0; mine was like 0.001 or something ridiculous like that.

Hyperthyroidism symptoms include rapid heart beat, weight loss, dizziness, diarrhea, shakiness, etc.  Pretty much I'm a textbook case, which is hysterical, considering the runaround I've gone through in the past two years.  The lab is running more specific tests now and I should know something certain soon.  I can't believe there might be a logical explanation for what has been going on.

 

I don't mind questions, girl!  Maybe this will help someone else at some point.  1) I don't think this has been causing my diarrhea this whole time, since I've had thyroid tests before to check for this exact thing and they were always normal, but I do think it could be why I'm worse after having been better for a while.  2) There's no Grave's disease in my family at all, although my paternal grandfather had hypothyroidism and took Synthroid his whole adult life.  3) I could be treated with radioactive iodine, but would probably need to take Synthroid the rest of my life because most people end up with not enough thyroid activity after the treatment.  I could do surgery, but there's risks with that, and would also need to take Synthroid forever.  I'd rather avoid taking medicine for the rest of my life if at all possible.  The other option is taking some anti-thyroid medication for a few months, which is probably what I would try first.  I'm still rather uneducated though, so who knows. 

Maybe your thyroid is like my gall bladder--works some of the time, some of the time it doesn't. Took 3 hida scans to find my bad gall bladder, despite having the exact same symptoms for 5 years. Never can tell with those tests.

My mother's sister has Grave's disease. I think she's also been diagnosed with Crohn's, so it would be hard to figure out what's causing her bowel problems.

It's obviously not going to be easy to treat this, but if it is the underlying cause behind your erratic bowel movements, at least you do have SOME hope of treatment, which is always better than none.

It is a good mission to be on. Sometimes I get frustrated cause my Doctor seems to have Thyroid on the brain. He is a pulmonologist/internist and it is often the cause of many obscure things. He has mentioned intestinal problems as well as shortness of breath, general feeling of malaise, something not being right, etc. Good luck on your tests. Maybe you will want to be an Endocrinologist. I think it is a very interesting field.

Sounds like you need to be a Chinese doctor. I was reading an article on Slate Magazine from "The Medical Tourist" and she ended up going to China because of severe, untreatable pain in her shoulder and the Chinese doctors all told her that part of her problem was in her back, a slight heart arithmyia and all these other problems she'd been having in the rest of her body. Just by examining her a little bit, they told her all the problems she was having, in addition to the shoulder pain. She ended up getting some acupressure, acupuncture, and herbal treatments that made it some better, although she finally got relief from an American doctor who has this new treatment for joint and muscle pain by tracing it to the back and using injections of something-another into the back muscles to get them to unlock. In both cases, she was treated in the back, not in the shoulder where her pain was. So problems can definitely be interrelated, and where the pain is isn't necessarily where the problem is.

Sometimes I think some of us are really sensitive to miniscule changes in our body's workings. Nothing shows up on the traditional tests, but I've been wondering if out bodies start having trouble in one area, long before it shows up on a lab test as abnormal.
Good luck with your testing. How much beta blocker are you on? I loved my Toprol XL, but it made me want to eat all the time, and took away my motivation and endurance. Hopefully you won't be on it too long, and you'll get your thyroid stuff all worked out, and you'll feel great! I'll hope that for you. :)

It's past 1 a.m. and I'm having trouble sleeping.  I've been a veritable insomniac for about a month now and it's driving me freakin' berserk!  Either I can't turn my mind off or my heart is pounding in my ears like a jackhammer.  These are evidently classic hyper-T (as I've been calling it) symptoms, since your thyroid is constantly pumping out fight-or-flight hormones (oh, and the fact that I've just about had it up to HERE with this whole ordeal probably doesn't help, either - although it's kind of nice to be able to blame all my mood swings on my berserk thyroid, LOL).

My scan today showed a three-fold increase in the amount of iodine uptake that is considered normal - so basically each test I take solidifies the idea that it's Grave's disease.  I was doing some critical reading today and realized that no matter what treatment option I decide on, I'll end up with ridiculously low thyroid function and need to be on meds forever and see endocrinologists every two months for blood work to make sure I'm not about to drop dead (being slightly melodramatic here).  Not exactly what I was looking forward to when I am about to move across the country for med school and get married and start all these new chapters in my life.  For freak's sake!

Ah, I feel better now...thank you so much for letting me vent.  I am the type of person that vents and then moves on, so now I can officially move on!  Love you guys.

Big hugs to you (((( Sarita )))) !!! I love your attitude about everything, I always have.   You seem to roll with the punches and make the best of things.   I, on the other hand, moan and gripe and turn super bitter.   I am determined to adopt your easy-goingness. Anyway… Sorry about your insomnia and restlessness.   Can you take some sort of sleeping pill?   What about Tylenol PM (or something of the like)?   Just remember that all this will make you a better doc.   Not to mention you will probably be quite popular among the med students.   Your issues might turn out to be a great learning experience for you and them. So what’s the next step for you?   More docs? I have to agree with Cathy… At least Grave’s can be managed.   Whereas your D and severe pain are totally sporadic and quite debilitating.   You may have to take pills for the rest of your life, but most of us take something or other anyway.   You’re going to have to buy a bigger purse to fit your giant pill box.   “You hear that rattling?   Here comes Sarah.”   LOL   I crack myself up sometimes. \0/ \0/ \0/ \0/ \0/ \0/

Back from the scan and ultrasound.  The scan was pretty consistent with what we saw yesterday.  The ultrasound was just about the most fun thing I've done in years, of course.  The tech poked around and said, "It looks kind of nodular," and I don't really know what that means, but she quickly ultrasounded herself (it was pretty funny) to show me the difference between mine and hers.  Hers was all nice and smooth-looking and mine looked like a bunch of pebbles.  I then went to the GI, who looked at the test results and said, "Woah, when you start talking about T4 and T3, I get lost...better talk to the endocrinologist." He said he didn't want to do anything else with my guts until I get my thyroid taken care of.

It was interesting, actually - we looked at my previous thyroid test records, and the first one was 1.1, the second 0.7, the third even lower...so it looks like over the past couple of years I have been developing this.  Which would make sense.

He also said that the day I had diarrhea 50 times recently was actually probably a thyroid storm, which is a kind of thyroid crisis that can actually be fatal in many cases.  LOVELY. 

Anyway, it's the weekend, which means no more tests/doctors/B.S. until next week!  Tonight Adam and I are headed up north to do some winter camping (in a public use cabin with no electricity/heat/water, just a wood stove, which makes things toasty enough).  For SURE I am bringing my fabulous purple pill box that contains the following: Advil, Tums, Atenolol, Vicodin, Bentyl, and Ambien.  Ambien is a very good friend these days to help with my sleeplessness, I just hesitate to take it every day, which is why I was up until 2:30 a.m. last night!

Gosh, Canyon, how would Sarita be able to tell if it bothered her stomach? If she pooped 21 times instead of her usual 20? ROFL!!!

Man, I have to stop being a potty mouth around here...everything I say ends up starred (as in, ***!)!  I'm like a sailor!

I don't think I have read any BETTER news lately than you getting a diagnosis --- FINALLY!!!!!!! I think you send send a copy of the report to Mayo and demand a refund....LOL.....LOL.....LOL

I know it's odd to be happy that someone is told they have such a condition, but it answers SO many questions! All the best to you Sarita! --Ides