Exercise, muscle loss and Graves Disease

[Guest guest]

Hi,

Graves' disease is known to weaken muscles, particularly those of the

shoulders and thighs. Exercising shouldn't have contributed to your muscle

weakness. Usually, we're told not to exercise because of the cardiac symptoms

we have. It would be hard for someone with GD to start an exercise routine,

but if they've already been exercising, they usually mention doing well

although they may have to take it easier than they used to. A number of

people on ATD's are runners. It all depends on the severity of your symptoms.

We're all so different. In my case, exercise has always helped me eliminate

stress.

I never stopped doing aerobics during exercise or treatment. I only sluffed

off when I became hypothyroid (from RAI--a mistake) and lost enthusiasm for

most everything.

[Guest guest]

I was diagnosed with Graves the first of Sept. In June I joined a

gym and started working out. I wonder if the exercise

exacerbated the Graves Dx. It seems no one knows anything

about the effects of Graves disease on muscle strength and

exercise endurance. I have been having trouble getting up from

a squatting position for about a year. My PT, exercise people at

the gym, etc., know nothing and make me feel bad because of

my weakness. Since I have been on Tapazole, my strength

seems to be returning though I have a long way to go. I'm also

sleeping better than I have in 11 years and actually feel calm. I

think I have benn undiagnosed for quite awhile. What does

anyone know about exercise and muscle weakness? I don't

think exercising when I was hyperthyroid helped me at all.

[Guest guest]

Muscle wasting is associated with Graves. At my worse I required a cane to

rise from a chair. I did not suffer serious loss of upper arm strength but

that will also occur. PTU checked the muscle weakness. The endo continues

to ask at each visit if I have any weakness in upper thighs or upper arms.

It is one of his standard questions. I have had bone density scans to also

track any loss of bone which is another side effect. I religiously take

calcium supplements in addition to seeking calcium through food sources.

Good luck!

Elaine (Virginia)

Exercise, muscle loss and Graves Disease

> I was diagnosed with Graves the first of Sept. In June I joined a

> gym and started working out. I wonder if the exercise

> exacerbated the Graves Dx. It seems no one knows anything

> about the effects of Graves disease on muscle strength and

> exercise endurance. I have been having trouble getting up from

> a squatting position for about a year. My PT, exercise people at

> the gym, etc., know nothing and make me feel bad because of

> my weakness. Since I have been on Tapazole, my strength

> seems to be returning though I have a long way to go. I'm also

> sleeping better than I have in 11 years and actually feel calm. I

> think I have benn undiagnosed for quite awhile. What does

> anyone know about exercise and muscle weakness? I don't

> think exercising when I was hyperthyroid helped me at all.

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Lois. Don't kick yourself (if you're still able to) over the exercise.

It's good for you. Your problem may be that you're very low in calcium.

After a few months of Graves I had a lot of difficulty doing stairs,

getting out of chairs and bed, etc. Among other things I started taking

1200 mg. of calcium a day (make sure yours has at least 50% as much

magnesium included) and I've been on Tapazole too so my body's no longer

leeching calcium from my bones. I feel much better and you're likely to

also.

OK, it's a little later and I see your question about being anti RAI. I'm

on a few other thyroid lists, comprised overwhelmingly of hypo patients.

I would much rather deal with being hyper. An MD on one list who treats

hypo patients says that when patients become hypo as a result of RAI (and

I think maybe surgery but more on that in a minute) the hypothyroidism is

much more difficult to treat. Your typical endo will downplay that. Your

typical endo will also not mention that RAI can bring on TED (thyroid eye

disease) nor provide a good reason why drs. in many other countries will

not push RAI on women of childbearing age.

Surgery is rarely considered as a viable option despite the fact that it

will not bring on TED nor carry the risks of radioactivity. We're all

looking forward to hearing from a member of this group who had surgery

due to circumstances that would have led me down the same path and

Caroline, hope you're recurating well.

Good luck,

Fay Young

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[Guest guest]

,

Did having the sub total surgery help with any of the crap the RAI puts us

through?

Jody

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[Guest guest]

Fay I had a subtotal bilateral thyroidectomy, and believe me it was a

piece of cake.

I decided to undertake surgery aproximately one year after having had

RAI, this to my eternal regret, as it contributed to the development

of Graves' ophthalmopathy (eye disease).

I did not want that depth charge any longer inside my gorge!. That's

why I went through surgery.

If you have any questions just let me know, and I'll do my best to

reply. Though, if memory serves me, there must be some posts where I

spoke about surgery.

> Hi Lois. Don't kick yourself (if you're still able to) over the

exercise.

> It's good for you. Your problem may be that you're very low in

calcium.

> After a few months of Graves I had a lot of difficulty doing stairs,

> getting out of chairs and bed, etc. Among other things I started

taking

> 1200 mg. of calcium a day (make sure yours has at least 50% as much

> magnesium included) and I've been on Tapazole too so my body's no

longer

> leeching calcium from my bones. I feel much better and you're

likely to

> also.

>

> OK, it's a little later and I see your question about being anti

RAI. I'm

> on a few other thyroid lists, comprised overwhelmingly of hypo

patients.

> I would much rather deal with being hyper. An MD on one list who

treats

> hypo patients says that when patients become hypo as a result of

RAI (and

> I think maybe surgery but more on that in a minute) the

hypothyroidism is

> much more difficult to treat. Your typical endo will downplay that.

Your

> typical endo will also not mention that RAI can bring on TED

(thyroid eye

> disease) nor provide a good reason why drs. in many other

countries will

> not push RAI on women of childbearing age.

>

> Surgery is rarely considered as a viable option despite the fact

that it

> will not bring on TED nor carry the risks of radioactivity. We're

all

> looking forward to hearing from a member of this group who had

surgery

> due to circumstances that would have led me down the same path and

> Caroline, hope you're recurating well.

>

> Good luck,

> Fay Young

> ________________________________________________________________

> YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET!

> Juno now offers FREE Internet Access!

> Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit:

> http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.

[Guest guest]

Hi ,'

You need to copy this post onto the atomicwomen board. Great info. I hadn't

realized Dr. Gofman had written a new book. I'll have to get my hands on it

too.

[Guest guest]

> ,

> Did having the sub total surgery help with any of the crap the RAI

puts us

> through?

> Jody

>

Jody,

The " only surgery " cases I know from, feel far more better than the

RAIed people. With difference.

In my case, RAI had already caused big damage. Not only the eyes

stuff. Chollesterol and tryglycerid levels went sky high right after

having RAI. And some other things. F.i. one of the things that amazed

me the most was the anatomopathologic analysys report I got after

surgery: My thyroid, which was proven diffuse, had mutated into

(tiny)-multinodular.

It had been acting inside my body for one year, and ... although

doctors use to say that it is not dangerous just because its short

half-life (aprox. 8 days), in fact the short half-life means that

most I-131 taken into the body will decay in the body rather than

being excreted and also means a lot of radioactive decay of I-131

within the thyroid gland, releasing unavoidably molecular-destructive

gamma radiation to nearby cell molecules.

Besides, if we think that it takes about 18 minutes for all the blood

in the body to pass through the thyroid gland, we can suppose that

these gamma bombs can hit litterally any cell in the body.

So, I'm glad I did the operation, even one year after RAI, as

according to all data I have been reading, it continues to act for

many years.

Regarding lypid abnormal values, I commented to Daisy-Elaine two or

three months ago at atomicwomen's, that I suspected RAI could be the

cause of my abnormal lypid values, since I had not done any lifestyle

or dietary changes (my diet is really anti-chollesterol!). No genetic

predisposition either. So it had to be RAI (or levothyroxine, but I

rather thought of RAI). I saw no other possibilities.

I also had saved several abstracts that called my attention as it

seemed to me they could be pointing in that direction.

Well, my intuition seems correct. Some days ago I found that Prof.

Gofman has published another book titled " Radiation from Medical

Procedures in the Pathogenesis of Cancer and Ischemic Heart Disease "

Regarding ischemic heart disease he says that " Medical radiation,

received even at very low and moderate doses, is an important cause

of death from Ischemic Heart Disease; the probable mechanism is

radiation-induction of mutations in the coronary arteries, resulting

in dysfunctional clones (mini-tumors) of smooth muscle cells " .

Isn't it sarcastic?. Docs pushing towards RAI use to say their

patients they are at risk for heart attack if they don't zap their

thyroids. When reality shows that palpitations and all the rest can

be easily controlled and reversed with ATDs, with no harm for the

heart. While having RAI means damaging coronary arteries, and this

seems to be pretty more serious, doesn't it?.

I am going to order the book, because if there is one person in the

world

who is able to shed light on the subject this is Professor Gofman. He

is a world authority in radiation and health. Either radiation,

lypids, heart disease have been under his focus long ago.

His backgound is impressive. Some of his credentials:

-He is Professor Emeritus of Molecular and Cell Biology, University

of California at Berkeley.

-He is also on the faculty at the University of California Medical

School at San Francisco (UCSF).

-Ph.D. (1943) in nuclear/physical chemistry, with his dissertation on

the discovery of Pa-232, U-232, Pa-233, and U-233, the proof that U-

233 is fissionable by slow and fast neutrons, and discovery of the 4n

+ 1 radioactive series.

-Gofman completed medical school (1946) at UCSF, where the faculty

and his classmates selected him to receive the annual Gold-Headed

Cane Award for having the qualities of " a true physician. "

-In 1947, following his internship in Internal Medicine, Gofman

joined the faculty at U.C. Berkeley (Division of Medical Physics),

where he began his research on lipoproteins and Coronary Heart

Disease at the Donner Laboratory. At the time, only two types of

blood lipoproteins were known: Alpha and beta. By devising special

flotation techniques with the ultracentrifuge, he and T.

Lindgren and co-workers at the Donner Lab began to reveal (1949-1950)

the great diversity of very-low-density, intermediate-density, low-

density, and high-density lipoproteins (VLDL, IDL, LDL, HDL) which

truly exist in the bloodstream.

Their work on the chemistry of lipoproteins (e.g., the cholesterol-

rich and triglyceride-rich varieties), and on dietary experiments,

and on epidemiologic studies, soon produced evidence that high blood

levels of the LDL, IDL, and VLDL lipoproteins are a risk-factor for

Coronary Heart Disease.

-In 1954, Gofman received the Modern Medicine Award for outstanding

contributions to heart disease research. In 1965, he received the

Lyman Duff Lectureship Award of the American Heart Association, for

his research in atherosclerosis and Coronary Heart Disease. In 1972,

he shared the Stouffer Prize for outstanding contributions to

research in arteriosclerosis.

-In 1974, the American College of Cardiology selected him as one of

twenty-five leading researchers in cardiology of the past quarter-

century.

-In the early 1960s, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) asked Gofman

to establish a Biomedical Research Division at the AEC's Livermore

National Laboratory, for the purpose of evaluating the health effects

of all types of nuclear activities. From 1963-1965, Gofman served as

the division's first director and concurrently as an Associate

Director of the full laboratory. Then he stepped down from the

administrative activities in order to have more time for his own

laboratory research on Cancer and chromosomes (the Boveri

Hypothesis), on radiation-induced chromosomal mutations and genomic

instability, and for his analytical work on the epidemiologic data

from the Japanese atomic-bomb survivors and other irradiated human

populations.

By 1969, Gofman and a Livermore colleague, Dr. Arthur R. Tamplin, had

concluded that human exposure to ionizing radiation was much more

serious than previously recognized.

Because of this finding, Gofman and Tamplin spoke out publicly

against two AEC programs which they had previously accepted.

activity. The AEC was not pleased and by 1973 de-funded Gofman's

laboratory research on chromosomes and Cancer.

He returned to teaching full-time at U.C. Berkeley, until choosing an

early and active " retirement " in order to concentrate fully on pro-

bono research into human health-effects from radiation.

His 1981, 1985, 1990, 1994, and 1995/96 books present a series of

findings.

His 1990 book includes his proof, " by any reasonable standard of

biomedical proof, " that there is no threshold level (no harmless

dose) of ionizing radiation with respect to radiation mutagenesis and

carcinogenesis --- a conclusion supported in 1995 by a government-

funded radiation committee.

His 1995/96 book provides evidence that medical radiation is a

necessary co-actor in about 75% of the recent and current Breast

Cancer incidence (USA) --- a conclusion doubted but not at all

refuted by several peer-reviewers.

To end up with this long post, nothing better than Professor Gofman's

words:

" I feel that at least several hundred scientists trained in the

biomedical aspect of atomic energy --myself definitely included-- are

candidates for Nuremberg-type trials for crimes against humanity

through our gross negligence and irresponsibility. "

" Now that we know the hazard of low-dose radiation, the crime is not

experimentation -- it's murder. "