Hi everybody, im a 22f and just got diagnosed with graves last spring. I’ve never used Reddit before but have seen a lot of your guys posts on this Graves’ disease sub, and just wanted to ask for some advice. I’m in college pursuing a masters degree, and actually what led to me being diagnosed is that I had a HUGE extreme depression last school year during the winter break. I felt like I was going crazy, never have felt that depressed before or even dealt with depression. I was experiencing mental breakdowns and just crying almost everyday which almost led me to drop out of college all together which I know is dramatic lol. I also lost like 20 pounds that semester, and was eating the same way which I was like that’s odd but also didn’t mind it lol. I went to the doctor, she prescribed me Wellbutrin and then did blood work and found I had Graves’ disease which I think caused these symptoms. Also being in school with this is super difficult because I always stress myself out and it is just super stressful. Idk if school could have caused it or what, but I also am really not great with keeping up with my meds. I also found it shocking that 22 is pretty young to be diagnosed with this, and I find that concerning too. I also have had severe migraines since a young age, but I’ve seen some posts that graves could also have an impact on this. I know it can be put in remission, but I really don’t even know a lot of the disease. I guess I’m just asking for advice navigating this fairly new diagnosis and also with the thyroid eye disease I’m super scared for that. My endo says it doesn’t happen to everyone but is there any way to prevent it or no? I’m really trying to avoid getting my thyroid removed but it is still really enlarged and although I haven’t been consistent with the meds my last bloodwork came back that my levels were lowering and was pretty good. I also have heard it affects ur heart and I do get heart palpitations as well, I’m just lowkey scared and am asking if there’s anything you guys have done that has helped the disease wether meds or not? Thanks

My biggest problem with Graves' is excessive sweating, especially in the morning.

I wake up, take a shower and start my day. Right after shower I start sweating so much as if I was hiking in a rain forest.

Sometimes this happens during the day, too, people around me do not understand why I am sweating so much.

Methimazole (Thyrozol 10mg) helps with the tiredness, but I have not yet found out how to deal with this crazy sweating.

Good morning everyone! I have a long backstory I want to share and get opinions while I'm waiting for lab work to come back!

So around February of 2025 I started feeling slightly lightheaded, but could still function. After a year of tests (t4 was elevated 6 times it was taken, was told we'd watch and recheck, tsh in normal but lower end of normal the whole time, t3 was normal but only checked twice) In May of this year they found a severe b12 deficiency. I had 5 daily injections for that then 2 weeks later everything went south. Severe lightheaded, constant chest pressure, weakness in arms and legs, frequent SVTs and PVCs (they said was normal) hair thinning, loss of libido, periods got lighter and less day, extremely cold feet, heart racing if I'm in direct sun, can't sleep (they told me I have sleep apnea probably) I had asked my Drs if it could be a thyroid thing, with the t4 being constantly higher. They said it wasn't high enough to mean anything. We have extensive family history of graves disease (2 aunts, 3 uncles and about 14 of my cousins have it and my grandma passed from medulary thyroid cancer, which all the Drs knew).

I finally was able to see an endocrinologist who said basically the fluctuation in my t4 and tsh could signal early hyperthyroidism and I may have had it for awhile but treating the b12 (she suspects pernicious anemia or autoimmune gastritis as the cause tho I haven't had it confirmed yet) she said a lot of people with one autoimmune disease end up having 2. So she thinks treating the b12 just brought out the severe symptoms from graves. I'm waiting on some of the advanced thyroid labs to come back but while I'm waiting I wanted opinions on if that could be what's going on?

Symptoms are extreme lightheaded, blood pressure spikes when I stand, constant chest pressure, PVCs, hair thinning, I've lost 35 pounds in 2 months without trying, freezing cold feet, racing heart when in heat, weakness in legs and arms but I don't have the normal racing heart, I actually have sinus bradiacardia (my resting heart rate is 52, sleeping is mid 30s) is why I'm so confused about it. Thank you to anyone that takes the time to reply or read this, I'm so nervous! I've been in and out of the ER so many times for the extreme lightheaded and chest stuff (echo, EKGs and chest X-rays come back normal)

My TSH was under 0.01 for about 2 or 3 years . I was on 20 mg of methimazole and numbers were still high. I got a new specialist , did a bit higher meth dose of 25 as well as added 2 Brazil nuts daily for 30 plus days . My TSH had finally moved in range and I’d actually become hypo. I’m now on 15mg and have to follow up.

The endocrinologist was also surprised by the drastic change and could not conclude it was the brazil nuts as it’s not an “official “ graves treatment

I’m posting here in case anyone has not tried adding Brazil nuts & wants to .

Something else I did was increase vitamin D levels, but again the supplementation was not something she tied to the number changes.

Posting this here, has anyone had any experience with swollen lymph nodes?

Hi All, how long did you have to take beta blockers ? My doctor said will be needed till levels are back normal. What is your experience ?

I relapsed and started treatment 30mg thyrozol & 5mg propanolol x twice a day, 6 days ago. I noticed I feel doozier than usual, and especially I have headaches that seem to appear mostly when I go out to do light effort, such as walk.

Does anyone else deals with this? Could be a symptom or a side effect of the medications? I do not remember headaches when I was first diagnosed.

Anyone here who feels pressure in the eye/s if you feel stressed about something? Huhu. It is hard for me to control my emotions and I easily get stressed over things. Any tips? 😭😭😭

Hi everyone,

I got diagnosed with Graves’ disease in July after a hospital admission with a heart rate of 170bpm resting and was immediately put on carbimazole 30mg and propanolol.

I have now had a blood test last week which had resulted in showing my thyroid levels are now extremely under active, endo have called me and arranged an emergency appointment with thyroid consultant tomorrow.

Has this ever happened to anyone else?

Thank you!

What supplements do you take?

28M. Recently been telling my doctors about how I am considering a TT and I get mixed answers from each of them. For context I been Dealing with this for 9 years or so and have a 20cm gland(no nodules). Been mostly euthyroid for the last 2 years.

Endo and PCP want me to keep my thyroid and take antithyroids meds. Mainly citing surgery complications and fatigue. Cardio suggests TT to protect the heart ( I had an Afib episode a year ago).

As far as complications I am not too worried since I have a very experienced surgeon who would perform the procedure.

Fatigue is a bit concerning since I’m a bit unaware of what the severity of it will be. Like will I fall asleep while driving, not be able to play sports, or be exhausted at work all the time?

personally I’m tired of the symptoms and taking heart/BP medications and now my liver enzymes have been out of wack over the past year and I’m curious if that has to do with being on anti-thyroids for 8 years.

Has anyone with a TT experienced the fatigue or any drawbacks to the surgery? How has the TT influenced your long term health?

Does anyone else add an oral probiotic along with their meds? Even before I was diagnosed in late August I took a probiotic capsule (i take Phillips colon health, its a very straightforward probiotic) and after being prescribed atenolol and methimazole i asked if it was okay to take and my endo's nurse said yes, its actually a great idea to take these, she said it can help the meds work due to the thyroid gut axis connection. Google IA agrees. Curious of anyone else's experiences with probiotics with Graves.

Not sure if anyone else has experienced this, growing up I’d get the occasional cold sore here and there during high school and college years then never had an outbreak in 10 years until I was diagnosed with graves. I assume I was probably slightly hyper for a few years until I was properly diagnosed (by making the mistake of not getting yearly bloodwork for a few years…eek)

Feb 2025 I was diagnosed with graves and was in severe thyrotoxicosis and had to be hospitalized, thankfully it only took about 3 months on methimazole to finally get back to normal range. Anyway since then and since being stable I’ve had 4 cold sore outbreaks :/ which again I haven’t had in at least a decade. I read there is some evidence that high t3 binds directly to the hsv1 virus promoter gene and locks to virus into latency. Has anyone else who has hsv1 and graves noticed a similiar correlation?

I’ve had Graves technically since July 2023, but was not able to be fully diagnosed until March 2024 due to waiting for the endo appt. I was borderline hypo for a year and then switched endos, went hyper for maybe 1-2 months because I stopped the methimazole to get my thyroid numbers back up. It took 2-3 months for that to even happen. Since this past March I have been on a much better dose and my levels have been good, they lean on the higher end but that’s where I’ve felt best.

In the roughly 7-8 months I spent consecutively hyperthyroid I experienced muscle atrophy/weakness. My glutes looked concave compared to normal, my lower body was insanely weak. I became shaky if I did more than 20 minutes of anything strenuous. I gained some muscle strength back from basic activity but I’ve still not completely got back to normal. I’m overweight and the same weight I was before the thyroid stuff started (I lost about 30-35lbs without trying while hyper but a good chunk of it was muscle, gained the weight itself back) but I was never this weak.

Now I am constantly getting sore. I’ve been dealing with a chronic lower back pain for about a year now that makes me feel stiff as a board in the morning. I only find relief if I sit down and lay my chest to my legs to extend my back. My hamstrings get sore. I can’t wash/wax my car without my arms and hands becoming incredibly painful for days after, it’s like a deep sore aching that has kept me up before. I’ve felt random throbbing pain in other places too but usually on my extremities. I don’t really feel like I CANT do things, but my body has serious issues with recovering from activity. I can’t even walk for too long without my hips killing me.

I thought maybe it was a nutrient problem so I’ve started having more protein, but it hasn’t helped much.

Has anyone else experienced this sort of muscular issue post diagnosis? Im already on vitamin D supplement (1 high dose a week) and that helped resolve what was apparently some bone pain I was having. Magnesium and potassium, all of that has looked okay. I see my PCP in a couple of weeks so I plan to discuss all this with her so she can run whatever labs she needs to run. I’m mainly concerned there is something else going on that’s been underlying with the graves since autoimmune loves to happen in 2s and 3s.

T4 is normal but TSH is 7.33. He is starting me on 50mcg Levothyroxine. Here’s to the next part of the journey….

Hi! I’m Sania with Leapcure. If you or someone you know is living with Thyroid Eye Disease (TED), a new clinical study may be worth exploring.

Researchers are evaluating an investigational treatment, called MHB018A, for adults with moderate-to-severe TED, including individuals with both active and chronic forms of the condition.

The Leapcure team is supporting this study by providing 1-on-1 support, answering questions, and helping interested individuals connect with a study center if they may qualify. Interested in learning more? Start here: https://lpcur.com/rgravesdisease3

I have been on Methimazole for 2 years now. I had a dramatic hair shedding episode after initially starting treatment (hyper to hypo for what felt like an eternity but was really probably 4-5 months). I stayed on the same 7.5mg dose after leveling out for about a year. My hair was growing back, all was good. This February, I reduced to 5mg bc my labs were creeping up (TSH went from 2.4 to 1.7 in 2 months, T4 and T3 largely unchanged). No hair loss, all good. In August this year, I got great news that my antibodies are negative so doc wants me to wean off meds)! So, I reduced to alternating between 2.5mg and 5mg (I wanted to do this very gently and gradually). In a month, my TSH dropped from 2.7 to 1.7 and T4 and T3 were largely unchanged. My hair has started falling out pretty dramatically again and I am devastated. The only other life thing that is different with this reduction is that I’ve been moving 6 hours away with my husband and toddler. Probably a little more stressed than normal but I wasn’t really that stressed about it when I reduced my dose. It has only just now been stressful with the actual act of moving.

Please please tell me this isn’t going to last 6+ months like it did last time and that I’m not going to lose 50% of my hair again 😭

Hi all, first post here I’ve been with my gf a while and we’re both getting on in life child wise I’m a 32m and he’s 30f and I’ve been diagnosed with Graves’ disease for the last 5 years (I know it’s a long time it’s through my laziness and poor treatment from doctors/hospital) and the topic of children came up a while ago and me and gf started trying to convince, after a couple of months my gf looked more into Graves’ disease and discovered it affected male fertility which was news to me at the time.

A couple months down the line the topic comes up often and our sex life is healthy but I know she’s getting upset that we can’t conceive or the chances are really low she’s expressed to me how much she wants a baby but she’s an impatient person, I’ve tried to explain to her through my research that it should normalise within a year and we can keep trying but lately she doesn’t want to discuss into detail as it stresses her out, I’ve tried offering bringing her to my next consultation so she can ask question and we can both better understand but she’s refused to come with me, I recently moved in with her full time so I’ve swapped my doctors and hospital to one that’s hopefully more on the ball so I can get this sorted out as fast as possible.

Just wondering if anyone has had a similar experience or has any advice regarding what I could do to ease my girlfriends worries thanks in advance

TLDR: gf is getting more upset she can’t get pregnant as easily/at all and is refusing to come with me to find out more info about Graves’ disease.

I have had the palpations, the heat intolerance, weight gain and then loss, ANXIETY, pain behind the eyes, etc. I’ve also had for the past 6 or so months random, intermittent ear muffling in my left ear. It comes out of the blue, feels like I’m landing on an airplane and hearing goes out a bit. I asked my endo if this could be related to Graves’. She looked at me, like docs do, like she’d never heard such a thing but I’m convinced it’s either Graves’ or perimenopause. I’m 51. Anyone experience this? I’m on anti-thyroid drugs know, doing an US tomorrow, and my uptake test said there are no nodules.

TED is one thing. But does anyone have, if not have, a very different face with Graves’? I’m talking wide face, huge cheeks, chubby neck, whatever it is.

I thought I’d get used to it, having been diagnosed since May 2025, but my labs are so up and down my body just seems to get worse over time. Having a huge identity crisis feeling like I’ve lost the things that made me attractive. Not even mentioning the insane weight gain.

I think I’d just like a moment to moan and wallow about vanity with fellow Graves’ folk. We’re surviving by being resilient every day, sometimes it’s okay to complain, y’know?!