Hi Everyone - I've been out of the loop for a while but I'm back and want Friends!

[Patti Treadwell Unruh]

I'm a 60 yr old Mom of two adults in their 30's and still married to their Dad - 34 years now. I was diagnosed with Grave's Thyroid Disease at the age of 24. That's when I was able to finally understand one of the reasons for my long-time battle with Anxiety and Depression - sorry to say though that I still suffer from both and still have problems with post Grave's hypothyroidism. The anxiety comes and goes in spurts even though I've now been on thyroid, psych and blood pressure meds since the early 80's. They do help control some of the awful panic episodes but I'm still nervous a lot, have some Social Anxiety, OCD unwanted thoughts and Performance Anxiety which is not too good when you're a music composer and play keyboards in a band!! Lately, the symptoms have seemed worse than usual. I'm also having problems keeping a stable TSH level also. No one knows why. My thyroid replacement med dose has been changed 3 times during the past year alone and it seems my anxiety and depression go up and down with the changes. I think my Psychiatrist and Endocrinologist are both as stumped as to why this happens. Anyway, it does my mind good to communicate with others so I'm hoping some of you will "Friend" me on here and trade posts back and forth when you need someone to text with. Thanks!

[em1]

Hello there my mum has graves disease to so I know how your feeling As I've been through all this with my mum,I'm in my late 30s to and have suffered with anxitey a long time,this fourm is a great place to know your not alone :)

[Patti Treadwell Unruh]

Thank you em1 - nice to know I'm not alone in this battle!! How is your mum doing? Does she have the eye protrusion of the disease? That's been the most challenging problem of all for me - I've now had 6 surgeries and the drastic change of facial look was so hard to bear when it happened at age 24. I've learned to live with it through the years but it was really tough! Thanks again for writing back - hope you are doing better with your own anxiety. My 31 yr old daughter also suffers from it - and my 32 yr old son suffers bipolar disorder - so I guess it does run in families, which is unfortunate! But - we all have life challenges so we just do the best we can (with a lot of help from meds and Friends!) Have a nice Easter - God Bless. :)

[Dahila]

Patti welcome to the forum, now I have company of almost the same age;:)))
Do you think the Grave's disease was the cause of anxiety or is? Or maybe it is two things completely separate. The forum is a good place to be:))

[Patti Treadwell Unruh]

Hi Dahila - Thanks for responding to my post! Glad to be your age related Friend on here! :) Grave's disease runs in my Mom's family but I was adopted and didn't know that until finding my birthmom when I was 38! I do remember having anxiety problems before the Grave's hit me at age 24 so not sure which cause which in the beginning. I know I was under a lot of stress when it hit me though so I guess if you're predisposed to it, stress and anxiety could make it manifest. I do know that once you've been diagnosed with it, anxiety from then on can certainly play a big part in the total picture. I've had trouble keeping my TSH levels stable whenever I'm going through anxiety and/or depression periods. All in all it's just a big circle of triggers that keep my body confused and messed up!! At this age of 60 (almost 61) it's confused enough on it's own!1 Haha!
Tell me about yourself sometime and what brought you to this forum. Thanks again Friend - :)

[em1]

My mums doing much better now she has her meds sorted out,you just need to find the right mix and dose to be on and that can take a while I know,graves disease can cause anxiety because of it affecting the thyroid which because my mum has had so we have to be tested every so often
Mine was borderline the last time I had it checked so I will
Have to go for another test soon.