Dear Khalilah, 

I hope your post has received a blizzard of replies, but in case not I am 
replying personally.  I was very moved by your plea;  I had Graves Disease and 
remember what it was like, although I have been in remission for years.   

Your note seems to say you were already diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, yet 
were apparently not treated for it, which is hard for me to understand.  It 
puzzles me that a doctor would diagnose you but not treat you.  How did this 
happen?  Nearly all of the symptoms you list, anxiety, palpitations, feeling hot, 
swollen thyroid, etc., can be caused by Graves Disease, an autoimmune 
hyperthyroid condition which can endanger your life if severe and untreated.  
It is very treatable, and not by sending the patient "to the psych ward"! 

You have a choice of treatment options, and since you say "... I am going to 
ask my doctor to put me on an anti thyroid medication", you may already know 
it.  The most common treatment in the U.S. tends to be partial or total 
destruction of the thyroid gland, often by swallowing radioactive iodine, which 
stops the hyperthyroidism but usually makes it necessary to take thyroid 
hormones for the rest of your life.  Another method is the "anti thyroid 
medication" you mention.  That is the therapy I chose, and in my case IT 
WORKED, and I now take no thyroid-related medication.  The intent of this 
therapy is to suppress the thyroid gland to relieve the hyperthyroidism while (it 
is hoped) whatever is causing the autoimmune problem runs its course and 
eventually resolves itself.  Early in my treatment I was also given a beta-
blocker to control the rapid heartbeat.  I don't know how long most people 
must take the anti-thyroid meds, but I took propylthiouracil for about 3 years, 
and a friend of mine with Graves took the same medicine a few months longer 
than I did.  While taking it, there were unpleasant side effects.  Suppressing 
the thyroid often induces hypothyroidism, and I gained weight very rapidly.  I 
was unable to lose the weight until I discontinued the propylthiouracil, and 
then I got back to normal weight.   

There is no guarantee anti-thyroid meds will work for you, but if not, you still 
have the option of taking the more drastic step of destroying your thyroid.  
But PLEASE DO NOT SETTLE for just treating the symptoms, especially the 
panic attacks and anxiety, without first eliminating hyperthyroidism as the 
cause.  You are not mentally ill!  If your endocrinologist is not sure what is 
wrong with you, I know there are diagnostic tests that will show if you have 
Graves.  I am betting if you have Graves Disease that nearly all of the 
symptoms you described will go away once you are properly treated. 

KM 




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