Graves disease and eye symptoms
Common Questions and Answers about Graves disease and eye symptoms
graves-disease
Hi, I am a 28 year old woman and was diagnosed with graves disease 3 years ago. I have commented o many forums regarding my problem but would like your advice. I was treated with radio active iodine in 2006 and then became hypothyroid, I now take 150mg of levothyroxine daily. I have never suffered from graves opthalmology as far as i'm aware.
For the last 6 months I have had a chronic daily headache. This started 3 days after purchasing new glasses.
Last year I was diagnosed with Graves disease and had a radioactive ablation done in April. Sometime around March of 2009, my eyelids became puffy and my eyes were usually watery. I called my Endocrinologist and asked if this was related to my thyroid and she sugg. I visit my Primary Care Dr. I did and he followed an allergy path. I finally went to an allergist who said that allergies may be playing a role, it was not the primary cause.
The initial symptoms of eye disease are frequent tearing and a dry, gritty feeling on the eye surface.
Upping your thyroid meds might be the cause of your anxiety (is the doctor upping them or are you increasing the dose according to how you feel?). Get your thyroid levels tested, then make a decision with your doctor where to go from there.
Usually, surgery is the preferable option if someone has Graves thyroid disease (because RAI can sometimes make eye disease worse if already present). Graves Eye Disease is caused by different antibodies than the thyroid disease. They are related, but having one doesn't necessarily mean you'll get the other.
I coped with this for a year and half and then started having eye problems. Pain in rt. eye and hurt and IOP was elevated. I first went to regular eye doctor who referred me to his friend, and opthalmologist. I was put on eye drops for the elevated IOP then with out any findings of glucoma but was told that I was a "suspect" for glucoma. No eye problems previously.
I was diagnosed in January and saw eye doctor in February. The eye involvement is called Thyroid Eye Disease (TED) and there is much info on the web. The only treatment that I know of is drops for the dry feeling and sleeping elevated at night. You can try cold compresses for the swelling. Eye involvement has to be one of the most scariest parts of Graves disease. Hang in there!
I believe the statistic is less than 50% of those who have Graves thyroid disease develop any symptoms of Graves Eye Disease. Each is caused by different sets of antibodies. Some people get eye disease without ever having thyroid problems. And, of those with Graves/thyroid who do develop eye disease, only about 5% of those ever develop serious enough eye problems (bulging, eyelid retraction, double vision, optic nerve issues) to warrant surgery.
RAI will cause a temporary worsening of thyroid eye symptoms when you carry the antibodies and usually more so in smokers! Thyroid eye disease is going to do what it wants to do, to anyone it wants, anytime it wants and as often as it wants, as long as a person has the antibodies and that is, thyroid eye antibodies.
Taking prednisone might help temporarily alleviate the symptoms, but unfortunately does not derail the eye disease.
I've had symptoms of dry eyes, random itching, tiredness, and dry skin for no apparent reason since February. In April, my eyes started swelling up severely on the upper lids, and I had daily pain behind my eyes and headaches. After trips to multiple doctors, I was finally diagnosed with thyroid eye disease due to my hashimotos thyroiditis that I have known about and taken meds for about 12 years. My meds adjusted were adjusted about 2 1/2 weeks ago.
My interenist suspected Graves, ergo the reason for the tests. My concern is that I have some of the classic symptoms of Graves, but my test results show me to be in the normal range.
I'm wondering if others have had their values fall in the normal range but second level testing (e.g., radioactive iodine test) revealed a problem.
s disease, then still not feeling well, and finally diagnosed with graves disease and vitamin D deficiency. Then came Graves eye disease, not severe and under control. So yes have levels checked, I had only TSH checked in Feb of last year, and it came back in normal range, when i had my physical my tsh was 0.00 so they tested T3 and T4 and they were not normal. Good luck, it is a slow process, and i get depressed about it often, it is not a disease with an easy cure, it is a long battle.
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