anita said:Hello J,Jill, all, I have not been visiting the group at
all after my RAI. I was given 150mci and I isolated myself
for about 10 days. Nausea, depression -the works.
Now I am on 137mcg of thyroxine and seem to be
feeling better.
I dont know if anyone remembers but I had a weird problem
with sleep, which is what brought me to the thyroid forum
in Jan 2003. Palpitations, jerks etc., which hit me on
sleep onset and when I woke up in the morning. It would
usually be accompanied by slight pain in the cancer area.
The strangest thing is -those symptoms have come down
CONSIDERABLY since my RAI. I had an excacerbation in the
beginning of may -about a month after my RAI, but since
then not much of a problem. That ofcourse is relative- I
am still waking up with palpitations, funny tickle in the
heart, startling awake, sensitive to noises etc., BUT its
som much lesser than before. I am thrilled! Also a little
scared that it could have been because of the cancer- and
why is it happening ? if they missed it -what else can it
do to me etc., But I know since the best and only
treatment is RAI- there is nothing else to be done.
But I am tired a lot. That is bad, because my mental
energy is much higher than my physical energy. So I feel I
must do more than I CAN. My memory is a little shot- that
I hear is NOT a side effect of RAI, BUT I did not have to
go hypo for my radioactive iodine, so I have no idea why I
have bad memory.
They are telling me I have to go back for my DFSP surgery
and I am loathe to do it. I have had enough of this and
want my life back, I'll take it as it is... Just wanted to
say hello and send hugs out to all that need it. Anita
Hello Anita, Since you're a "no-show" on the other
newsgroup, there's a few things I wanted to add. I still
find it hard to believe that you don't have sleep apnea.
When you were tested, were you sleeping on your side or your
back? Did they attach wires to your legs to monitor for
twitching and other forms of "restless leg"? If so, that
should be mentioned on your sleep study results. If they
didn't check you for that, IMO that's not a full sleep study
and should be redone. Stress and lack of and/or poor sleep
can sure cause memory problems.
I mentioned stress earlier but there's other possible causes
of some of your symptoms. I don't know what palpitations are
(feel like) but I may have told you I was getting a tingling
feeling late in the day for months last winter. It's gone
away now and perhaps it's because my thyroid is more in
range since the recent medication dose change. So perhaps
some of it is your thyroid, it's mentioned here amongst
others allsands.comheartpalpitatioOpen ↗
wod_gn.htm
Sleep starts are mentioned here evms.edudisordersOpen ↗
parasomnias.html They seem to think that they're harmless,
but if you're connecting them to the cancer, they're not
harmless. They could be contributing to your lack of
physical energy. Actually if you're brain is too filled with
information (brain overload) and late in the day, that too
can cause sleep quality problems. So I hope you can "turn
off " your brain early in the evening and see if some of
these problems resolve. I'm not denying you've had a tough
time for quite a while now and your system is still
adjusting. If some of these don't adjust, you may want to
have a general practitioner do a checkup and follow your
heart issues, and maybe do some bloodwork to make sure
you're not deficient in anything, like B12 for instance. If
the doctors agree, perhaps a mild sleep medication would
help. Did I mention there's also an ultrasound (I think)
that can be done of the blood vessels up the side of the
neck. I think that checks that there's good blood flow on
each side of the neck to the brain. (Sorry, I forget the
name of the test - maybe Carotid doppler ultrasound ?).
Also at least twice since my thyroid was dx'd, I distinctly
remember pointing out that I had pain in my thyroid area. I
don't know what caused it nor do I know what made it go away
(nobody could explain it). It just was. but when I look up
"thyroid" and "pain", Google gives me websites about
"thyroiditis" which is exactly what I had. Which makes me
wonder if a mild anti-inflammatory might help you, if
permitted at this time.
I'd like to see you feeling much better and ready to face
the DFSP surgery as soon as possible. I hear ya that you
want your life back, Anita. You've had a rough time for
several years now, but we can't go back and change what's
happened and seems to me you'd want to get on with the
surgery and then leave all this behind and get on with
healing and the rest of your life.
It's up to you, of course. I'll support you whatever your
decision. I'm here for you and reading, whenever I can be.
Keep in touch as you can. Hugs J
