Off meds...how should I feel???..Is this normal??, - Question and Answer Forum - Elaine Moore Graves' Disease and Autoimmune Disease Education

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Tuesday, February 07, 2012

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Welcome to The Q&A with Elaine Moore. Registered members are invited to ask any question of Elaine Moore on autoimmune diseases, Graves' disease, other thyroid diseases and subconditions, laboratory work, traditional and complementary medicine, triggers and environmental influences, thyroid and immune disorders in pets and animals, and other relevant areas of inquiry.

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Off meds...how should I feel???..Is this normal??,

8/31/2010 8:27 PM

KarenM

Joined: 8/31/2010

Posts: 2

Off meds...how should I feel???..Is this normal??,

Hi Elaine,

I've been taking tapazole for 2 1/2 yrs... 5 mg for the past year. My Endo is the best I could find but he only does Thyroid II profile on labs, which has been in normal range since last lab April 2010. I've had bilateral orbital decompression surgery in 09'...my left eye is the problem child, that let me know when TED is stable or not. Left eye look the same size as right when things are good...it looks slightly larger when flared up.

I saw Endo 8/19/10, I told him I felt better prior to taking the 5mg tapazole pill in a.m., which afterwards, I felt tired. I was constantly very cold, skin really dry but mainly low energy. He decided to take me off meds for 10 days to see what happens. Labs drawn 08/19/2010. I felt okay for 10 days but i'm taking chantix and had PMS...very, very irritable. 08/29/2010 he ultrasound my thyroid gland..he said it's mildly enlarged but look normal...very minimal damage. Labs drawn 08/29/2010..he told me to stay off meds for 6 weeks ( He said this without knowing lab results after 10 days off meds). He said if I'm not in remission we will talk about OTHER options..oh, no! here goes the fight to keep my thyroid, if this don't work.

Elaine, I need to know, if how I feel is normal?....I'm sweating and hot at times, then I'm cold (wearing sweater right now). My skin is really dry, heart palpitate sometimes, weight stable, heart rate fluctuate 60-80, hand tremors when I'm nervous but I can breathe to calm myself down, after stopping chantix, I feel calm..no urge to smoke, usually i'm anxious, even on meds. I had a night sweat episode which has never happened, I'm 39 y/o not quite going through menopause yet. My left eye slightly larger proir to stopping meds, then retreated after stopping meds, now left eye is back and forth. It's been 12 days off meds, is it normal to fluctuate between hyper and hypo symptoms? Will my thyroid stabilize? or Is it trying to decide which way it's going to go?...OH! also my throat has been sore since stopping meds..if I talk too much my throat gets very sore..when I palpate my thyroid it does'nt hurt...but why the sore throat? I don't have a cold or anything like that.

When I receive Labs from 8/19 and 8/29 I will post with next question. I will need some advice, I'm sure of it. April-August I did'nt have the funds to pay 200.00 for labs every 6 weeks..so rediculously expensive!.but important.

April 2010:

T3 uptake 34.5 (20.0-38.5)

T4 (Thyroxine) 7.5 (4.4-12.4) Endo graphs this one, he said he don't want it to drop below 5.0

Calculated T7 (FTI) 2.59 (1.05-4.50)

TSH <0.1 (0.3-5.1)

Thanks so much!!!!

9/1/2010 3:49 PM

Elaine

Joined: 8/1/2008

Posts: 3166

Re: Off meds...how should I feel???..Is this normal??,

Hi Karen,

The FTI test is obsolete and so is the uptake. It would be better and less expensive if you had FT4, FT3 and TSH levels, and with every other lab just the FT4 and TSH.

It's never a good idea to stop ATDs abruptly unless you're on a very low dose like 1.25 mg or your labs are showing hypothyroidism. From your April labs, your dose could have been decreased to 2.5 mg because you always want to be on the lowest dose needed to keep FT4 at least at mid-range and preferably closer to the high end of the range. The FT7 or FTI is sort of an approximation of what the FT4 would be. With your TSH still suppressed, you probably weren't ready to stop meds just yet.

Ideally, you would get down to 1.25 mg daily or every other day and then wait until you started secreting TSH normally to stop meds. You could still do this by getting back on a 2.5 mg dose first.

Chantix and stopping smoking itself both affect your symptoms. Throwing in the factor of stopping ATDs makes it hard to determine what is causing individual symptoms. I suspect your throat is from your gland enlarging from your still being hyperthyroid and the inability to regulate temperature is also related to hyperthyroidism. Once you get the labs it'll be easier to tell what's going on. For now I'd say you're not feeling normal and it probably has to do with fluctuating thyroid hormone levels and the Chantix. Once you're truly in remission or at least properly managed with your meds you'll feel better and your eye symptoms will improve. Best, Elaine

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