Graves Disease

[Carriefaith]

As most of you already know, I've been diagnosed with celiac disease for almost 2 years now. The first year was a struggle and I slowly got better. I have been doing great; however, lately I've been having these mysterious reactions which I have been blamming on gluten. My worst symptoms right now are a racing heart and heart palpitatations for no apparent reason. This morning they were so bad that the room spinned, I got really sweaty, felt like I was going to vomit, and then I felt like I was going to pass out. I also am extremely tired for no reason, I feel brain-fogged, and I have been having a few GI problems. Graves disease is common in people with celiac disease and my grandmother had graves disease when she was younger (she had surgery), so I am suspecting that I may also have graves disease. I know that some of you have graves disease and I was just wondering if my symptoms are common. I have booked an appoitment with my doctor to get tested. However, if the results are negative and the symptoms are from gluten, then I don't know what I'm going to do. I appear to be micro sensitive to gluten since I react to products that others don't. If small miniscule amounts of gluten are causing all these problems, then I would hate to see what would happen if I ate a piece of bread!

[Ursa Major]

Carrie, I had the same symptoms for years, but since I've been supplementing with potassium and magnesium, they have improved so much, that I now rarely get heart palpitations. Low potassium will especially cause heart palpitations I've been told by a doctor at the hospital.

My heart used to skip and race so badly at times (up to 200 beats a minute, lying down), I thought my heart would stop. I'd feel so terrible!

So, why don't you try either eating high potassium foods (by the way, watermelon contains a ton more potassium than bananas), or take supplements, and see if you might improve. I hope you figure it out!

[Carriefaith]

Carrie, I had the same symptoms for years, but since I've been supplementing with potassium and magnesium, they have improved so much, that I now rarely get heart palpitations. Low potassium will especially cause heart palpitations I've been told by a doctor at the hospital.

Thanks for reminding me about the magnesium and potassium. I had learned that they helped about a year ago and I had completely forgotten! I'm going to take one of my calcium magnesium supplements right now. I also had watermelon today!

[Rachel--24]

Hi Carrie,

I had Graves and my main symptoms were headache behind my eyes...a pressure almost like my eyes would pop out, headaches, dizziness, hotflashes, sweating and trembling. Also I had an enormous appetite. I was diagnosed with Graves long before I found out I had gluten intolerance. I had the Graves under control for a long time but all of a sudden the symptoms wouldnt go away even with my medication. I ended up getting my thyroid nuked cuz I was desperate for relief. It ended up not helping and I still had alot of symptoms to this day. I was just found to have an intestinal bacteria infection which I believe was probably the reason for my symptoms this whole time and my thyroid wasnt really to blame. If I were you I'd definately get my thyroid levels checked. I also felt like I was over-sensitive to gluten but now I'm thinking I'm just symptomatic because of this ongoing infection I've had. Check out the thread that has the radio program about gluten intolerance. Alot of it basically tells my story.

[Carriefaith]

Thanks for your advice Rachel, I'll take a look at that thread.

[Carriefaith]

Ursula, thanks again for your advice. I took a calcium and magnesium supplement before I went to bed and my heart is feeling better.

[jerseyangel]

Carrie--Please keep us posted. Good luck at the doctor

[Carriefaith]

Carrie--Please keep us posted. Good luck at the doctor

Thanks, I will post my results and I'll keep you guys updated on what the doctor says.

[Random Guy]

i have graves and had all the symptoms you posted about

how about hands and legs trembling. are you experiencing that?

my graves is fine now that i'm on meds for it. it's not a huge deal. there's a lot worse diseases

good luck

-rg

[Carriefaith]

how about hands and legs trembling. are you experiencing that?

No, I haven't had hand or leg trembling. I'm glad that the disease can be controlled though.

[Ursa Major]

Carrie, I am glad your heart is feeling a bit better already. But don't forget the potassium - actually, when you see the doctor, have him check your potassium levels, that way you know where you stand with it. Especially because potassium supplements are bad if you don't have low potassium, it is possible to overdose. And potassium overdose can lead to kidney failure.

Last May my potassium level was very low, due to constant diarrhea, and my heart was going absolutely crazy, it was scary, to say the least.

Because all through the summer I couldn't tolerate any supplements - my intestines rejected just about everything I ate - I ate a lot of watermelon, I seemed to be okay with that. And by the fall my potassium levels had gone back up to normal. So, you don't necessarily have to take supplements to keep your potassium levels at normal levels. Here is a link (and there is a lot of info on the Internet on food sources of potassium) to give you some natural sources of potassium - and you can't overdose on those!

Open Original Shared Link

[Nancym]

I had Graves too. Lets see... rapid heart beat, pounding heart, palpitations, itchy skin, hair-trigger temper, huge startle reflex, tremors in hands (eating soup was NOT fun!), sweating and diarrhea were my main symptoms. I hope you are ok! Don't let them rush you into RAI, shoot for letting it go into remission.

[Ursa Major]

I had Graves too. Lets see... rapid heart beat, pounding heart, palpitations, itchy skin, hair-trigger temper, huge startle reflex, tremors in hands (eating soup was NOT fun!), sweating and diarrhea were my main symptoms. I hope you are ok! Don't let them rush you into RAI, shoot for letting it go into remission.

Nancy, I had ALL of the above symptoms, with the exception of the hand tremors (even though I sometimes had that problem, just not consistently). They all went away when I stopped eating all the things I am intolerant to!

I just googled Graves disease and found this list of symptoms.

Symptoms

* Fatigue

* Weight Loss

* Restlessness

* Tachycardia (rapid heart beat)

* Changes in libido (sex drive)

* Muscle weakness

* Heat intolerance

* Tremors

* Enlarged thyroid gland

* Heart palpitations

* Increased sweating

* Blurred or double vision

* Nervousness & irritability

* Eye complaints, such as redness and swelling

* Hair changes

* Restless sleep

* Erratic behavior

* Increased appetite

* Distracted attention span

* Decrease in menstrual cycle

* Increased frequency of stools

on this site: Open Original Shared Link

And the only symptoms I didn't have before finding out about Celiac disease and the intolerances to lectins and salicylates (which includes the nightshade family, in fact, they fit into both groups) is the enlarged thyroid and weight loss.

[Carriefaith]

I'll ask if I can get potassium and magneium levels checked and thanks for the list of symptoms. I do have a lot of those symptoms, probably about half of them.

Don't let them rush you into RAI, shoot for letting it go into remission.

I'll keep that in mind if I get a positive result. Is the RAI radiation treatment?

[Rachel--24]

I had Graves too. Lets see... rapid heart beat, pounding heart, palpitations, itchy skin, hair-trigger temper, huge startle reflex, tremors in hands (eating soup was NOT fun!), sweating and diarrhea were my main symptoms. I hope you are ok! Don't let them rush you into RAI, shoot for letting it go into remission.

Yeah...the trembling sucked! I remember everytime I'd go in for a follw-up they'd lay a piece of paper across my hands to see if the paper could stay still. I had all your symptoms too...I forgot to add hairloss though. I had alot of hairloss. My eyes hurt alot...I was sure they'd end up bulging but they never did. The Endo. would measure my eyeballs with some kind of gadget that hurt my eyes.

[Carriefaith]

Is eye redness common? I notice that my eyes are red and sore sometimes.

[Rachel--24]

I dont remember if my eyes were red at all. If they were it might have been from lack of sleep. The Graves caused me to be "wired" so I didnt sleep all that much even though I was physically exhausted. Sore eyes and pressure right behind my eyes was my worst symptom.

[Lisa]

This thread really frightens me. My hands and arms shake every day. Some times it's hard to type and my hands are all over the keyboard. I do not think it is celicac issue but related but a buy product of... Please help me find the related............. This truely frightens me. I will expand later.

If anyone knows the answer, please let me know. I am thinking of an MRI. Scared!!.

[Carriefaith]

This thread really frightens me. My hands and arms shake every day. Some times it's hard to type and my hands are all over the keyboard. I do not think it is celicac issue but related but a buy product of... Please help me find the related............. This truely frightens me. I will expand later.

If anyone knows the answer, please let me know. I am thinking of an MRI. Scared!!.

Don't be scared Everything will be alright. Maybe you could get tested for Graves? It seems as though Graves can be easy to control and it is related to celiac disease.

[Rachel--24]

Lisa,

Graves Disease is very easily treated. Graves was a walk in the park for me. Not a big deal at all. A thyroid test can let you know if its a problem or not. Have you seen a neurologist? I would definately see a neurologist about the shakiness if all is well with your thyroid.

[Carriefaith]

I went to the doctor today and he suggested that I am having wheat allergy reactions, not life threating though, thank goodness. In addition to having celiac disease, I also have a wheat allergy and I've noticed that I get allergy symptoms after I suspect an accidental gluten injestion. However, I seem to get these episodes over foods that most people with celiac disease can tolerate so that is why I've been concerned (I guess this makes me micro-sensitive and the ultimate wheat detector!). Anyway, my doctor told me that I shouldn't be eating at restaurants anymore or eating food that I haven't seen being prepared. I guess I'm also going to have to be really careful with mainstream foods. I am having an allergy blood test done for 30 foods to make sure that I'm not allergic to anything else and I am also being tested for thyroid trouble. I'm going to try and go into the hospital and get the blood taken tommorrow. I'll post my results when I get them. Thanks for listening.

[Rachel--24]

Carrie, I'm glad you're gonna get some testing done. I was wondering if you're wheat allergy could be a cause of you're reactions...rather than the Celiac. I guess it could...so now maybe you could *sniff* out those McD fries for us??

[Carriefaith]

I think that the problem is an allergic reaction to wheat. But I'm glad that I'm having the testing done to make sure that there is nothing else going on. I actually ate out at a safe restaurant the day before I got the serious reaction. I've eaten there many times without getting sick, but I guess this time I wasn't so lucky.

I guess it could...so now maybe you could *sniff* out those McD fries for us??

I actually get sick whenever I eat them! But I'm from Canada and our fries have always apparently been safe

[Carriefaith]

I got back some of my bloodwork yesterday and I found out that I am allergic to milk. I always new that I had a milk intolerance/allergy and I have been avoiding dairy 100% for about one year now. I'm just glad to have an official test now, so I'm not tempted to try eating something with dairy in it someday.

I did some reseach on wheat and milk allergies and heart problems (racing heart and palpitations) are associated with a wheat allergy, so it seems like I was reacting to wheat.

[thomas3000]

If you have an allergy to wheat, I don't understand how you could be reacting to it since you are gluten free!!HMMM... Have you been checked for infections? That should be your next step..I would contact check out www.biohealthinfo.com and have them refer you to a doctor in your area..It sound like you might have an infection or even more than 1.. Good luck to you!!