Hi, My name is Jonah and I have Subclinical Hyperthyroid

[Jonah]

Hello all, my name's Jonah and I am 20 years old.
I've lost a lot of weight by accident recently, dropping from 119 to 99 pounds, and in an attempt to look at every possible cause, my TSH was checked, and came in at 0.2, with a reference range of 0.4-4.5. My doctor says that the previous time it was tested was two years ago, when it came in 0.56.
I do have some mild symptoms that could be hyperthyroidism (rashes, restless, hair thinning), but nothing screamingly obvious. My T3 and T4 numbers I don't know, but the doctor said that they were both in the normal range, but probably not what my body would ideally like to see.
I have an appointment for this Friday because the doctor said I should come in to further discuss this issue. I am trying to figure out what exactly I should be asking.
The reason I have an endocrinologist already is that I have type 1 diabetes, which is an autoimmune disorder. I do a pretty good job with it, but lately it has been harder than usual.

Also, I have a question for you. I have been looking online at things about Graves' disease, and I want to know: if a person with Graves goes into remission either spontaneously or after treatment with medication, what is the likelihood that the hyperthyroidism will come back within ten years? If I ignore this now and it goes away in, say, a year, is it likely to come back in a few more years, or is it more likely that it would go away and never come back?
And another question: how long would it take for me to start gaining wait if I took methimazole?

,
Jonah

[Mike]

Hi Jonah,

I was hyperthyroid for more than 8 years and was just living with it all fine until I went the to doctor and they said I am overactive and they can fix it....trust me......it's been such a terrible journey since then.

Your levels are not bad and TSH of being 0.2 indicates a mild hyperthyroidism which can either be controlled with medicine (All those medicines have a lot of side affects so check) or with diet. Trouble is, after medication, there is no guarantee that your thyroid wont become overactive with time. It may never come back or it may come back and even stronger so no one knows.

I dont know much about diabetes but overactive thyroid is usually caused by ani-bodies in the body which try to attack your thyroid and in return, thyroid thinks it has to work more to produce or keep up with the hormones levels in the body.....quite complicated process and no one knows why it happens.

You wont be able to gain much weight with overactive as most of the resources will be used with any beneficial affect...same like a car with foot on accelerator but without gear. Too much noise, use of resources but going no where.

You are very young so I would advise to understand and read a few books and try controlling it with diet first of all and then with medication. Ultimately they will suggest you to remove your thyroid completely but think one million times before doing it as after that life is going to be so much worse.

[Jonah]

I saw the endo Friday and symptoms were worse. Pulse up, weight down, tremor in my hands and feet and tongue. He drew blood again, to test for antibodies as well as to retest TSH, also gave me a form to get an iodine uptake scan. He says we need to treat this, but first need to know what disease I have, and we discussed the medications available to supress thyroid function (PTU and methimazole).
Guess what? It turns out my endocrinologist himself has thyroid disease! During our conversation he mentioned that he used to take PTU, and I didn't ask him anything about it at the time, but I think I will later.
Anyways, that's where I'm at now.

P.S. I asked him about diet and he says for now I should probably avoid things with iodine added, but not to worry about it too much.

[Thyroid Guy]

Hi Jonah welcome to the site!!

It makes such a difference to have a doctor who actually understands, I have great faith that because of that, your gonna make a good recovery!!!!


Let us know what your blood tests say

Nice to meet you

Ric
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