Re: Medication.
Posted: 18 Dec 2019, 15:21
Even though I have been registered as disabled with ME/CFS for nearly 20 years now and also have osteoporosis and osteoarthritis I have not been taking any regular medications (apart from occasional over the counter painkillers). That changed earlier in 2019 when I was finally diagnosed with hyperthyroidism on top of everything else. When it was eventually discovered I was quite ill with multiple symptoms including an 'at rest' heart-rate in excess of 100 BPM.
The 'normal' procedure these days is to kill the thyroid gland in-situ with radioactive iodine but as I live with multiple animals, including several cats, I was not eligible for treatment as the radioactivity in my body would have been harmful to them! So the only option then was surgery but before I could have surgery I had to take medication to reduce and then control my heart-rate as it was dangerous (possibly even fatal!) to operate without it.
The issue is that my pituitary gland is not producing any TSH hormone at all (totally undetectable in blood tests) and this hormone is used to regulate the two hormones produced by the thyroid gland (T3 and T4) which in turn control the function of multiple organs throughout the body, which is why I felt so ill as multiple organs were acting up at the same time. The effect is much like a car engine with the throttle stuck open in neutral, the engine is racing but you are going nowhere!
I was initially placed on a beta-blocker to reduce my heart rate to 'normal' levels and then once that was controlled I was started on thyroid control medication to replace the missing TSH hormone. It was quite a balancing act as I had to decrease the beta-blockers while trying to find the right dosage of Trapazole to get me settled. I am now at a point where I have balanced the thyroid function and only use the beta-blockers if I get a sudden spike in resting heart-rate.
Unfortunately, I cannot be on the current thyroid medication long term as it can lead to liver and/or kidney failure so I have to see my endocrinologist and ENT surgeon (two different guys) in March so that they can make a decision on whether to carry on with the meds or put me under the knife to surgically remove the thyroid. I would then have to be on meds for the rest of my life to provide the hormones (three of them) now missing from my body. I also have to have blood tests done every three weeks in the interim to make sure the current meds are not causing irreversible damage.
The good news is that the current meds are working fine and my T3 and T4 are back to 'normal' levels (the TSH is still undetectable though) and the beta-blockers are there just in case.
The 'normal' procedure these days is to kill the thyroid gland in-situ with radioactive iodine but as I live with multiple animals, including several cats, I was not eligible for treatment as the radioactivity in my body would have been harmful to them! So the only option then was surgery but before I could have surgery I had to take medication to reduce and then control my heart-rate as it was dangerous (possibly even fatal!) to operate without it.
The issue is that my pituitary gland is not producing any TSH hormone at all (totally undetectable in blood tests) and this hormone is used to regulate the two hormones produced by the thyroid gland (T3 and T4) which in turn control the function of multiple organs throughout the body, which is why I felt so ill as multiple organs were acting up at the same time. The effect is much like a car engine with the throttle stuck open in neutral, the engine is racing but you are going nowhere!
I was initially placed on a beta-blocker to reduce my heart rate to 'normal' levels and then once that was controlled I was started on thyroid control medication to replace the missing TSH hormone. It was quite a balancing act as I had to decrease the beta-blockers while trying to find the right dosage of Trapazole to get me settled. I am now at a point where I have balanced the thyroid function and only use the beta-blockers if I get a sudden spike in resting heart-rate.
Unfortunately, I cannot be on the current thyroid medication long term as it can lead to liver and/or kidney failure so I have to see my endocrinologist and ENT surgeon (two different guys) in March so that they can make a decision on whether to carry on with the meds or put me under the knife to surgically remove the thyroid. I would then have to be on meds for the rest of my life to provide the hormones (three of them) now missing from my body. I also have to have blood tests done every three weeks in the interim to make sure the current meds are not causing irreversible damage.
The good news is that the current meds are working fine and my T3 and T4 are back to 'normal' levels (the TSH is still undetectable though) and the beta-blockers are there just in case.