One year ago today I got labs back telling me that I probably had Grave's disease. My right eye was puffy, my blood pressure was climbing, I was trembling, hated loud noises, had hot flashes all the time, and so on. A trip to the endocrinologist on Dec. 4 nailed down the diagnosis, and I went on Tapazole, 40 mg. every day. That rapidly sent me in the hypothyroid direction, and while I was no longer shaky, I couldn't think very fast or well. With a med change and dosage adjustment, I hit the hormonal sweet spot in April, but by that time my eyes troubled me, with an uneven appearance, redness and some double vision.
My eyes have been in the plateau phase lately, seldom feeling dry, looking less red, puffy and retracted. But they are still not back to what they had been, and may never be.
A friend of mine who had Graves' 30 years ago still has one eye that will not close quite right . . .
My labs of late have been a little funky, with FT4 levels low, but I'm working on it. Things are not perfect—my fingers hurt, my shins are affected, too—but in general, things are much better than they were one year ago.
2 comments:
Hi Beth- Good to get an update! Wow! I hit the one year mark too back in early October. I think over all, you and I are lukcy- dare I say it? as far as our eyes are concerned. I know I feel that way. So far, things continue to go well. I still have periodical twitching in my left eye and a little puffiness but I can't complain too much. So it sounds
like the redness has decreased a bit for you? I think for me, this time next year I will feel significant less anxity if nothing more dramatic has occured. I mainly have the red eyes in the morning right after I get out of the shower...
I hope that you continue to do well. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanks, Kelly for the well wishes. You know, I think red eyes are a normal result for coming out of the shower! Or so it seems to me--I've had Graves' since 1993, so maybe I forget.
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