Hello. I am in need of some assitance making sense of these results. If the doctor could let me know what he thinks, I'd be eternally grateful.
I am 39 years old and have a 13 month old daughter. I had severe hyperemesis gravidum during the ENTIRE pregnancy. I lost about 25 pounds during the pregnancy due to it and of course dealt with fatigue, etc. About 3 months post-partum I was still extremely fatigued and lost much more hair than was normal. My hair dresser told me she'd only seen chemo patients lose that much. It was coming out at the roots and breaking/dry. I still thought it was due to the hyperemesis and I just needed time to replenish my reserves. After just a couple weeks of exercise I had to stop because I was so easily winded, heart racing, etc. I have no tolerance for heat (but sometimes my hands and feet are ice to the touch), frequent stools (4-6 times a day), tingling in my hands which wakes me when I sleep sometimes, neck and back pain, problems sleeping, muscle fatigue and soreness, and the nausea never went away. It did subside drastically; but never totally went away until about 2-3 months ago.
I finally told my GP, who was farming me out to specialists for each symptom that a body just doesnt fall apart like this. I asked to have testing done and she ran a hormone panel.I was told that the results were all normal. I was referred to a cardiologist for the heart racing (88-135 beats a minute resting). He said my heart is in excellent shape after doing a stress test and EKG (thank God!).
Here are my test results:
3/12/08: (GP tested these)
free t4: .88 (reference range: .59-1.25), tsh: .32 (.34-4.82) cholesterol: 229 (<200), LDL: 162 (<100), All others were in the Normal range (DHEA, FSH, LH, Progesterone, Prolactin, Testosterone, Estradiol)
I was seeing an Endo for my diabetes (type 2) when he noticed the goiter, then saw March's test results in my file which the GP had sent over. He put me on simvastatin for the cholesterol, requested an ultrasound of the thyroid since he felt a large goiter. Then he requested more blood tests which resulted in the following results:
04/05/08
TSH: .15 (.34-4.82), thyroglobulin antibodies: <20 (reference <20 IU.mL), thyroid peroxidase antibodies <10 (<35 IU/mL), T3 total: 165 (60-181 ng/dL), LDL Cholesterol 177.
He then asked for an RAIU which showed 5% uptake at 4 hours and no nodules.
At my follow up visit with the Endo last week, he told me that the tests seem "atypical" for Graves (I have a family history of Graves); but that since my heart rate is still so high and I am having a hard time functioning with the symptoms getting worse (excessive energy, occasional fatigue, brain speeding, trouble getting to sleep, serious irritability, etc) he wanted to give me something to "calm down" my thyroid. He ran a final test to see if the results had changed:
05/19/08:
T4, Thyroxine: 8.5 (4.8-13.9) and TSH is now down to 0.11 (.34-4.82).
He put me on 5mg of Methimazole 2x per day. And I don't see him again for 2 months.
If I dont have the antibodies, can I still have Graves? If it is just transient thyroiditis, shouldn't he be treating the symptoms instead of giving me anti-thyroid medication?