Disclaimer: I am in consultation with my primary care physician and will be talking to an endocrinologist about my health issues, and I am not seeking medical advice.
I recently sat down with a psychiatrist in an attempt to address some anxiety issues. When she pulled up my chart, she noticed that my thyroid levels were off at my last physical in November, and she ordered another thyroid panel. Those results also were skewed: The TSH level was negligible both times, and my free T4 was at nearly 3 ng/dL.
I read the Wikipedia article on hyperthyroidism and noticed that it could account for the intolerance to heat I’ve been experiencing, as well as the muscle tremors whenever I try to hold a limb still for any length of time.
For those of you who have hyperthyroidism, what sort of symptoms do you experience, and what treatments have and have not worked for you?
Vodkapundit (Stephen Green) has hyperthyroidism and talked about his symptoms here.
(I used to have hypothyroidism (lately my symptoms seem to have disappeared) and my symptoms were basically opposite of what Green describes: I was very sluggish, appetite down, not interested in anything, tired all the time.)
Fatigue and generalized anxiety. (Felt really burned out)
Intolerance to heat, which is no joke in the summer in the south.
Excessive appetite.
Heart palpitations.
Insomnia.
Rapid weight loss.
Tremor, especially when trying to stand still like when waiting in line, using a urinal, etc.
Oily skin and hair
Initially I was placed on a beta blocker to get my heartrate to a reasonable level and a large dosage of methimazole, which is a thyroid inhibitor. After a couple of weeks I went off the beta blockers and then gradually my methimazole dosage went down to a very small dosage. I take half of the smallest dosage available now.
I don’t feel like I have many symptoms at all now.
Many doctors will want to excise the thyroid or destroy it with radioactive iodine. It is unclear why this is preferred, because anecdotally it seems to be more difficult to balance your levels with replacement (synthroid) than by maintaining inhibitor drugs. I would encourage you to explore all the options if your endocrinologist seems eager to take a destructive measure.
Good luck! Whatever happens, you should feel MUCH better with treatment than without.
I don’t have any first-hand info but my cousin was just talking about his Graves disease last night. He mentioned weight loss, fatigue, buckets of sweat and trembling. He also said he took meds to control it and felt great but his liver function tests came back bad and he ended up having his thyroid radiated.