Molly b.'s Goiter and Hyperthyroid Page

Index Page

Section one

Goiter and Hyperthyroid - my personal experience story

Ultrasound Comparison - results
before and after thyroid treatment

Misc. bits of thyroid information

Frequently Asked Thyroid Questions

Section two

Answer my Thyroid Poll

Miscellaneous information about this website

Section three

Links

Molly b.'s Goiter and Hyperthyroid Page 1

   I hope the following information will be of help to anyone who has a hyperthyroid condition.
   Hyperthyroid disorders don't always require the same treatment that I had.
   Multinodular goiter is treated differently than Graves' Disease - I had no medication options.

   Molly b.
February 2007

February 1997: I started waking up early. At 6 instead of the usual 8 or 9 am. I blamed it on the noisy people next door. I was extremely tired by afternoon. I blamed it on lack of sleep. (My husband has Periodic Limb Movement Disorder and it wasn't diagnosed until July 1998 - but that's a whole other webpage, when I get around to it). The family complained that I was grumpy. I snapped, "I am not!" I was absent-minded, and often felt like my IQ level had dropped. I'd been overweight for a few years - in hindsight, very possibly hypothyroid but never diagnosed, reaching a weight of 140 pounds. Until that weird overweight thing, I'd weighed 110 pounds from the age of 12 until I was 40. I thought the weight gain was our family trait of 'middle age spread'. Suddenly without any dietary changes, I had to buy smaller sized clothes every 3 weeks or so. I would feel ravenously hungry at times - as though I hadn't eaten in 3 days - although I might have eaten a sandwich, or even a complete meal a couple of hours earlier.

May 1997: I went to a doctor about feeling faint, dry eyes and weight loss. A series of blood tests showed that I was hyperthyroid. An appointment with a specialist was scheduled for October. I was given a prescription for Ativan, to take as needed, for 'anxiety attacks' which were really just rapid heartbeat reactions caused by the hyperthyroid symptoms. Five months is a very long time to be hyperthyroid with no treatment. Long term untreated hyperthyroidism can result in heart damage and more. If you have a hyperthyroid condition, don't delay getting it treated. I wouldn't have waited 5 months, if I'd had a choice. (This is what health 'cutbacks' do.)

June 1997: An ultrasound revealed that I had both a multinodular goiter and a thyroid cyst. There was a family competition going on here, I guess. My mom had a goiter for years and exhibited hyperthyroid symptoms. She had a thyroidectomy in 1971. My older sister had a cyst removed in the 1980's. She was euthyroid (had normal thyroid hormone levels) but the cyst was interfering with her breathing.
The doctor prescribed Synthroid for about a month in an attempt to flood my thyroid and trick it into no longer producing thyroid hormone. It didn't work. I guess my thyroid was too smart for that. (Some sources say this is not an appropriate treatment for hyperthyroid patients.)

October 1997: I went to the specialist. By then I'd lost about 25 pounds, (from 120 lbs. in May, to 95 lbs.) If only I could bottle and sell 'hyperthyroidism weight loss' products. Except that it would be a health risk. The specialist ordered a Technetium 99 test. There was no need to fast before this test. This is a real blessing to anyone who has the 'starvation symptom' of hyperthyroidism! A radioactive substance was injected into my arm - I'd worried it would be injected directly into my thyroid. Within minutes the lab technicians were able to observe the iodine traveling through my thyroid. There were no 'cold ' areas, which would have indicated further testing was needed for thyroid cancer.

November 1997: The specialist's secretary called and told me I would be started on 20 mgs of Tapazole per day.

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