Hi everyone!

I just wanted to drop a little note of encouragement to all you fellow GD sufferers.

It was a difficult decision for me to choose RAI. I had serious concerns about ablating my thyroid, for all the reasons listed in other posts. Initially, I was taking methimazole and metoprolol but I developed terrible muscle cramps, all over my body. The pain was INTENSE. I had natural childbirth and on a scale of 0-10, with 0 being no pain and 10 being transition labor, my muscle cramps were about an 8. I just couldn't function normally.

And yet the disease was causing side effects that were, quite literally, ruining my life. If you don't have Graves, it's hard for you to understand it but if you do have it, you understand when I say I was suffering from surges of sorrow and rage. And the muscle weakness and exhaustion coupled with sleeplessness only made it worse. The Graves has made me unhappy and unreasonable. And worse, in my opinion, is that it has robbed me of my creativity. I just can't abide that.

I felt like I wanted my life back. Like everyone here, I read a lot of stuff on the internet and I was truly terrified by what people have said about RAI. I'm not discounting what they have experienced. I'm just saying not everybody has as rough a time.

I took the dose 2 weeks ago. I was told that I should experience nothing more than a sore throat, if that. However, I did have some mild symptoms. I did have some nausea 2 hours after the dose. The 2nd day, I had a bad night with a very rapid heart beat and weakness and severe anxiety. It would have been nice to have a xanax to take . That might be something worthy of considering if you decide to do RAI. I have also had some intermittent nausea, moderate in nature, but this is occurring less and less.

So, I still have the long road ahead of me but so far it's been much better than I thought it would be.

I wish everyone well. I truly do know how hard this disease can be and I keep you all in my thoughts.

Thanks for reading.

Patti

Hi Patti - Thanks for sharing your story…please keep us posted!

Congratulations on taking a big step to wellness! It does feel great to finally make the decision and “bite the bullet” I think! I too worried a lot about choosing between RAI & surgery. I opted for surgery and had my thyroidectomy 7 weeks ago tomorrow. It feels really good to be on the path to being healthy & being “me” again. Whatever treatment choice we make, it's always great to feel like we're heading in the right direction! Thanks for sharing; let us know how you're doing!

Alexis

Keep us updated Patti! Thanks for sharing your story.

Thanks for posting this Patti! I had my RAI yesterday morning and so far no symptoms. My dose was only 10 mci (I believe that is the proper term). Do you know what your dose was?