Hello, I was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and graves over a year ago. My blood results were off the scale with T4 and T3 being too high to measure, TSH was 0. It took around 6 months to get under control with carbimazole at 40mg, once my labs went in range I was dropped to 20mg and this has held them fairly steady with the occasional drop/raise of T4. I read about the importance of my T4 staying in the upper 3rd and that's where it is. Sorry, don't have the specific numbers to hand but it's at the high end of normal.

My main problems are anxiety, depression and anger. My mind is always racing with a million things passing through my mind all day, every day. I get very depressed and cry a lot. I have angry outbursts and break things around the house. I have a DIY list a mile long from all the things I've broken. I saw my doctor about it and he trialled me on several anti depressants but they either didn't do anything or made the anger/anxiety worse. It seems when I'm not down, miserable and crying I'm angry and pumped up. I wondered what others found useful with this and what exactly is causing it?

I'm seeing a counsellor but it's useless, I may as well talk to my dog about my problems. I thought about trying the levothyroxine and carbimazole mix or surgery? Maybe my levels are still to high? I don't know but I can't carry on like this, my life is unbearable.

Please help.

Hello - We're fellow patients here, not docs, but following is a bulletin from the GDATF that talks about some of the mental/emotional aspects of Graves':

(Note on links: if you click directly on the following link, you will need to use your browser's “back” button to return to the boards after viewing, or you will have to log back in to the forum. As an alternative, you can right-click the link and open it in a new tab or new window).

http://gdatf.org/about/about-graves-disease/patient-education/whats-wrong-with-me/ [gdatf.org]

You should start to see some relief, though, as your levels stabilize. Also, please keep in mind that the “normal” range is fairly wide for thyroid hormone levels. Some patients feel better at the top, middle, or bottom of the “normal” range. So just because your doctor says your levels are “normal”, that doesn’t mean those levels are *optimal* for you.

If your doctor is *only* looking at labs, and not quality of life, do you have the option to get a second opinion? I'm guessing that you are overseas, as methimazole is the more commonly prescribed drug in the US, while carbimazole is more common in Europe and Australia.

Take care – and please check back to let us know how you are doing.

Hi,

I understand the anxiety, depression, and frustration. I never dealt with anxiety until I got Graves. It's scary to feel like you can't control your body's reactions to circumstances (like constricted breathing from anxiety). Did all of this come on for you with Graves? In other words, you didn't deal from the above as seriously as now? That would be the case for me. I think getting your levels stable should help a lot. When were your last labs? If your numbers fluctuate a lot, I definitely think that can contribute to mental stress and unrest.

I've run the rollercoaster of emotions since having this illness. I opted for surgery bc I couldn't continue on methimazole due to liver issues. Maybe considering surgery isn't a bad idea for you? or RAI? Maybe it would be easier to balance your hormone levels without a thyroid and give you some consistency so that your body and mind can focus on getting well and back into normal instead of riding the roller coaster of out of whack hormones. I don't know- like Kimberly said, I'm not a doctor. But, if methimazole wasn't keeping me fairly stable, I would look into other options. It's not easy no matter how you look at it, but we have to find the best option that will give us ourselves back. Good luck!

I think it started around 6 years ago. I was under a lot of stress with family and a long term relationship had just ended. From what I have read it seems times of emotional stress can start the graves ball rolling. I was probably mildly depressed at the time but nothing like this. I wasn't angry or anxious either. It steadily got worse over that time but I wasn't diagnosed until 2010, after developing a goiter. I had a lot of the other symptoms including weight loss, hand tremor, out of breath etc over that time. My last labs were 2 months ago, I was initially going every month but now it's every 3 months. I'm not against surgery as such I just think it's a last resort.

Could it be caused by any or all of the following;

T4 still to high, would be more comfortable with my levels being lowered to mid-range or less.

T4 levels not staying steady, up and down a lot, not by a large amount but still unsteady.

Time it took to get diagnosed, graves melting my brain over a long period of time.

Just trying to work out what my next step should be. Has anyone had these problems and they resolved? How did you resolve them?

Thank you

GD can really mess with so much more than just your physical state. Recovering from my first bout with GD (on ATDs) took about 3 months AT normal levels to start to notice that things were improving. It took about a year for me to feel totally well. I first went to my Dr. because I was 8 months postpartum and could not stop crying. I cried all the time at anything and everything - even driving to work by myself and sitting at my desk. Needless to say, I couldn't concentrate at all. The odd thing was that I didn't feel like I felt sad or depressed but I assumed that that it must be Postpartum Depression because I had no idea what else it could be. (My husband will tell you I was also rather cranky.) I chaulked up all the other symptoms as normal postpartum issues. My Dr. put me through the whole depression questionaire but thankfully she also picked up the tachychardia and had me do blood work. As I said, I did get well again. I had a healthy second pregnancy and baby and I enjoyed a several year remission. I recently relapsed but I think I caught it fairly quickly and am back on an ATD. I am already feeling much better.
It does get better.
Laurel