Out of Control Hormones

[Guest guest]

I'm new to this group but not new to Graves. I first knew I had

Graves about 8 years ago now.

This may be coming from the male perspective, but the experience

would be shared equally by all.

I'm would like to know if others have had a similar experiences. To

put this into perspective my T4 sampled about three weeks before ATD

treatment was started was 110 (normal range 10 - 20)…. silly me

thought I was only a bit stressed and went on three-week vacation…

the blood test was the day before I left.

Anyway the short story was I started to develop " breasts " after the

ATD started (about 2 weeks).

My son freaked me out when he said " Dad you are growing boobs "

I was very bony at the time… I had dropped about 10 kilos in about 3

weeks (despite an enormous amount of food consumed. ) I was 70kg to

start with before the weight loss. Hence anything that added bulk to

me was very easy to see. I looked somewhat like a young girl with an

eating disorder.

After some discussions on this my physician informed me that this was

a result of the body converting excess T4 etc in the hormone

oestrogen…. apparently the two are very close…..

The net result I was one stressed out male with PMT…. not good

company.

I would be curious to learn what impact the hormone imbalance has had

on others…. (I'm sure that my s*x life has also been impacted on)

Some thing else which was explained to me at the time was the reason

for the headaches…… you may be interested in.

This to needs to be put into context…. I was actively training for

Triathlon at the time I started to notice things going wrong....

there fore I was lean and consuming a lot of food. After one bike

ride, I could not lift my feet off the ground to drive the car home.

I had to pick up my legs with my hands…after siting in the car. I had

completely exhausted all my muscle fuel reserves. This is when I

stopped training (I basically was incapable any way. This about 3

weeks before my blood test.

Apparently what happens is the body as it needs extra fuel will start

to convert proteins into glycogen….(ie the muscle wasting) when

there is not much left, guess what.. the brain is made out of

protein….apparently when you are at the end of your available fuel..

the body starts to cannibalise itself.

Some other not so funnies where….

Palpitations that shook the bed (my wife could feel it)…it also made

my teeth clack together when trying to sleep. To be honest I felt

very " mortal " at the time.

Thanks for listening

Mitch