Hi. I can understand the memory issues. I was diagnosed with GD with hyperthyroidism in 2010. I started college March 2009 and finally graduated this October. It was difficult, but I wanted it so bad I kept going. I don't know if you do college online or not, but your college should have something to make accomodations. I did mine online. They had no idea what GD was, so after two years and with only 4 months to graduate I gave up. That doesn't mean you should. GD is not that common, only 2% of the population has it. I think it's time those medical professionals should wake up and learn more about it.

Good luck with school.

Teri_Odegaard
I understand where you are coming from. I recently graduated from college. It wasn't the easiest thing I ever did since I was diagnosed with GD. To this day I still have problems with my memory (doesn't matter any tricks or notes don't help), thinking processes, and concentrating. The specialist I have seen say there is “nothing” wrong with me. My provider says there is, but he can only go so far. I'm so tired of the “lack” of answers it stinks. I have found out more online than all the specialists I have seen. Even when I take the printed version to them they have no idea what I am talking about.

Just how do you go about convincing a “specialist” you have these symptoms when even “they” can't find anything?

My doctors have been willing to admit the problems are real, but there's nothing they can really do other than try to get they thyroid hormones in the best spot. Good on you for getting through college with GD, that's a huge accomplishment!

Thanks. With GD not being common it is difficult to explain to people what it is and the symptoms. I know there is a wide range of symptoms and since everyone is different GD affects everyone differently. My doctor says to think about a “somatoform disorder”. It's where you have symptoms and there is no known medical cause for them. Really now it was like here is a list of possible symptoms with GD (there is actually over 60 different ones) and now your telling me I have what? I also do know that one symptom can be “neurological issues” and specialist I have seen know this and tell me that GD is not the cause. I just take one day at a time and accept what I am able to do (some days not much).

Hi, I'm new here and your post was the first I read. I'm truly amazed at the similarities. I was diagnosed with GD in September 2010 and had RAI a few weeks later. Ten years earlier I had a very traumatic birth of my only daughter and lost a very large volume of blood. I really don't know if that had anything to do with the onset of the GD, I only mention it because it took me a really long time to recover from that, more than a year (if ever, I never really felt the same after that). Then I had my gall bladder out a few years later, and then 1 year prior to my GD diagnosis, I had a hysterectomy, with one ovary left. Immediately after the hysterectomy, I started to lose weight, slowly at first but on the one year anniversary of the hysterectomy I had lost 30 lbs. Right about the same time as the GD Diagnosis and the RAI, my boyfriend deployed to Afghanistan. I'm kind of glad that he was gone during the worst part of it all. Following the RAI, it seemed like I went from hyperthyroid to hypo overnight, and the pain was excruciating. I started on a low dose of levothyroxine. my hair fell out, my memory was gone, I'm sure there were other symptoms but I can't remember them. I hated the endo i was seeing and stopped going, luckily my General doc is good. She tested my vitamin D and B levels and both were practically non-existent and switched me to Armour. I think deficiency in those two vitamins is common in GD. It took about a year and a half to get the Armour dose adjusted to a good spot, but I did start to feel better. My hair grew back, the mucle pains have mostly gone, I have a reasonable amount of energy back. My memory still sucks though. I'm happy to have found this forum, I wish I found it sooner.