Graves Disease

[KaitiUSA]

For those of you that know I was dignosed with Graves Disease(hyperthyroid) in March of this year because my levels were slightly off. It has been off since before I was diagnosed with celiac. Anyway, it was in beginning stages so I did not need treatment until levels increased.

Well I went in this month for a checkup to see where levels were and levels went back to completely normal. This surprised us all but obviously the gluten free diet allowed in not to get worse before (as it was off before I was diagnosed and then stabalized when I got on the diet)and now helped get the levels back to normal.

My doctor is still convinced that I have Graves Disease in beginning stages and she thinks that it will show dramatically in one of my blood tests sooner or later so they will check it every 3 months or so.

For now, I will just be happy not having to take drugs...I do think I have a minor thyroid issue still because I do have a few minor symptoms but way better then before I will say.

I just wanted to share that the diet can make a difference in other disorders that may have been caused by celiac.

[Guest nini]

YAY!!!!! So happy for you Kaiti!!!!!

[SueC]

Hi Kaiti,

That is very good news!! I treat alot of people with Graves Disease. I work in Nuclear Medicine and we do alot of the diagnosing (along with the bloodwork) and radioactive Iodine thearapies for Graves. It is never good to have it but it is treatable for those who do. I am glad your levels normalized and hopefully they will stay that way. Just keep a close eye on your TSH. If it starts to drop you may want to have a thyroid scan and uptake done.

Sue

[Guest mlwaller]

Congrats!! That is fabulous. My mother had her thyroid removed years ago after struggling with graves disease, I wish we would have found out sooner that we had celiac and she could have seen the effect it might have had. My sister was also just dx'd with graves this spring, after giving birth. I have finally convinced her to get a blood test for celiac disease after sharing articles from this board about the connection. I will tell her about your update! Hope everything stays good for ya! Best wishes,

[KaitiUSA]

Hi Kaiti,

That is very good news!! I treat alot of people with Graves Disease. I work in Nuclear Medicine and we do alot of the diagnosing (along with the bloodwork) and radioactive Iodine thearapies for Graves. It is never good to have it but it is treatable for those who do. I am glad your levels normalized and hopefully they will stay that way. Just keep a close eye on your TSH. If it starts to drop you may want to have a thyroid scan and uptake done.

Sue

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks everyone

Sue-

I will definitely be keeping an eye on it. The TSH was down pretty low for a while and then once I got on the diet it stabalized and never got worse. The TSH this time around went up but its still on the lower side of normal(just barely normal..but nevertheless it still went up ) so it is something to for sure keep an eye on especially since I still have minor symptoms of it.

Thanks for the advice on it...its good to know people from this board who are familiar with it and treatment.

I know it's treatable but I would much rather have it treated this way then have to get drugs or anything radioactive but hey you got to do what you got to do to keep yourself healthy so if it comes to that I will get it treated after looking at options

[SueC]

Hopefully things will just keep getting better on their own! I agree with you that I would much rather treat without drugs of any kind but it is good to know there are some treatments out there. Keep us posted! and if you need any info on the treatments I would be glad to help (hopefully you won't )

Sue

[KaitiUSA]

Hopefully things will just keep getting better on their own!   I agree with you that I would much rather treat without drugs of any kind but it is good to know there are some treatments out there. Keep us posted! and if you need any info on the treatments I would be glad to help (hopefully you won't  )

Sue

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks so much Sue. I will definitely be in contact with you about that if things take that direction.

[watkinson]

Hi Katie,

Actually I was HypOthyriod before I got diagnosed for Celiacs. It also cleared up by itself in about 6-9 months after going gluten-free. I actually lost about 25 pounds effortlessly. My doctor explained that because I was so nutrient deffient that my body thought I was starving, so it shut down and treid to hang onto all the fat it could. I ended up at the same weight I was before I started getting sick about 120-125.

It's funny...it seems like a reasonable expaination, but then why do celiacs also go hypErthyroid?

Our bodies are amazing, God has his way of challenging each one of us in our own way. I am thankful also to not have to have gone on meds, and am thankful you are off of them.