Goodbye Thyroid

I had my blood drawn this week for follow up on Radioactive I131 treatment for Grave's Disease(hyperactive thyroid). I am 10 weeks after treatment.

My free T4 levels have dropped below normal. I went from 2.58 at treatment to 1.91 six weeks later to .79 this week. Normal range, according to my doc, is 0.91-1.71. I was immediately put on 75 mg Levoxyl once a day with more blood work in another four weeks.

Yeah, I've been feeling pretty lousy the last week. I think there were about 10 days in the last month I thought, "hey, I'm feeling good!" and my muscle tone started to recover a little.

Then I started freezing all the time (all this cold and damp, I thought) and the blues like no tomorrow (ditto weather) and tired tired tired (who isn't this time of year?)

Now I get to look forward to medication daily for the rest of my life. But I do get to phase off the propanolol, oops are you still on that? three days of a gradually reducing dose and that will be ended...three times a day was a nightmare, especially the afternoon one and sometimes the night one too! So yay to that, right?

well, considering I had free T4 of 5.7+ from October through January, I guess I deserve a little crash. I sort of wish the crash was in the winter, but sometimes things are outside of our control...

Wednesday

It's been just about a week since I took the I131 treatment. The treatment takes 1-6 weeks to kill the thyroid. Usually in the interim patients continue with their anti-thyroid meds to prevent a spike in thyroid hormone as the dying thyroid releases the stored hormone.

As I had a rare reaction to the meds, I am not on any, and I am experiencing hyperthyroid symptoms. More muscular/neurological stuff, like back pain out of nowhere that turned into curl up in a ball stomach pains.

My back is still a little cranky this morning and an ankle is now protesting.

My brain is very scattered; I am having a hard time accomplishing anything but the must do's.

The total body fidgets are back.

Total exhaustion.

I am not even sure what the Dr.'s plan is. All I can remember was something about, "see you in six weeks."

I am not sure the natural methods will work when I go hypo, since technically there won't be a thyroid to stimulate. I will be on Thyroxine, I believe, so unless there is naturally occurring thyroxine I will be on pharmaceuticals. Even if there is natural thyroid hormone, if I took it that might effect my prescribed dose.

****

The roads here are a mess. We had about 3-4 feet of snow pack, then we had torrential rain and temps in the 40's for two days. There are orange cones and road barricades all over the place, from where the road flooded over and washed out the road, or turned to ice the night before as it was flooding, creating these crumbling iceburgs across the road in places.

Parts of my road, which is dirt, are nearly impassable without 4 wheel drive (which I don't have). As the top layer of road thawed, the water and muck stayed on top, making mire pits in low sections.

I'll have to take my camera out and get some pictures of a real Maine spring. :)

Wednesday

I go for my treatment tomorrow. I am a day behind, since Monday was a soppy wet snow supposed to turn to rain that made me not want to risk a wreck to drive to town to swallow the test pill.

So I took the test pill yesterday and went back for a scan today and go back tomorrow for the big dose.

I find it so ironic, ne, Karmic, that an anti-nuc greenie like myself is facing nuclear medicine. No hesitation. That or get knocked out and go under the knife and hope the surgeon is competent enough not to slice my vocal cords or the thymus gland. Nope, just swallow a pill. Not have a breast removed, or a limb amputated, or half my face taken away, it's just a pill. Or maybe two pills.

And a whole list of recommended precautions, apparently I could shed radiation from my saliva and stuff that comes out the other end, so I have to keep my eating utensils separate for a week, and throw out my toothbrush in a week, and wipe the phone off after I use it, and flush three times everytime I go...but the scientist in me wonders how to handle the volumes of drip that comes out my nose working outside in the cold? What about the tissues and gloves and yes, ok, shirtsleeves?

My favorite part, and I had the fellow from nuclear medicine giggling nervously along with me, is that I get a dr's note in case I try and cross international borders in the next month and set off the dirty bombs alert...lol. well, the geiger counter...

One most likely thing that will happen is that I will go hypothyroid and have to take a pill everyday for the rest of my life. But the meds I was taking came to 7 pills a day and crashed my white blood cells, so I guess I can happily take one a day forever to avoid that!

I suppose some comfort might be gained from hearing that George Bush senior and his wife Barbara both had this treatment for hyperthyroidism.