Hi Ducky;
Thanks for your very nice e-mail. I'm sorry to hear you have Graves disease but rest assured its very manageable. I just started with a little swelling on 1 eye lid and it puzzled every doctor I have seen, my family MD finally diagnosed that I had a thyroid problems and send me off to an Endicrinologist who after ultrasounds etc. found that I had 3 growths on my thyroid (they were preventing the thyroid from normal production), so neither over or under active but he put me on medication (no Prednisone) to start shrinking these nodules while at the same time stop the progression of the Graves disease. After a couple of ultrasounds and to be on the safe side we decided to used the RAI treatment to let the thyroid die off and I would receive a supplement instead, the Eye Specialist could not operate on my eyes (Graves) to restore it to normal unless the thyroid had settled (basically he could not operate on a moving target), I had the surgery on my eyes last October 15, with grafts in the lower lid and lengthening of the upper lids and that was a great success. In the interim I am still waiting for the thyroid to die off so I can receive the dosage of supplement that my body needs but its doing it very slowly (had RAI procedure done Feb, 2007) so basically my bodies hormones are confused and my metablism seems to be stagnating which is pretty normal but frustrating. Have to go for a blood test every month to see if it has died off more and then increase the medication, so my system is always playing catch with the thyroid. Now that I gained this weight my frame is just not big enough to hold the weight and its taking its toll on my knees big time. Thats it in a nut shell. Tell me about your Graves please, what and how and have you had eny procedures done, love to hear from you since everyones experience is different. How are YOU doing and managing because its not fun.......could be worse though.
Ciao for now
Hi Bits;
Just saw your email coming in, thank you and yes I hear you, sometimes we think we have received all the answers but then you find a site like this and find out that other people have different experiences and that reading these only makes you wiser. I saw you wrote that you have RA and assume that its active, I was diagnosed with having it in my system but its not active and I hope it stays that way. Are you in a lot of pain from the RA Bits?, and I can only assume that your suffering from arthritis as well. Its definately not fun but knowing that others are dealing with the same issues makes it somehow more tolerable I find. Are you taking supplements to deal with your issues?, I have always been very much into "health supplements" and find they definately help so I motor on hoping that the problem will soon be history (whishfull thinking) but we have to stay positive. Anyway keep me posted if you like of course, here is to good health.
Cheers
This is a very nice forum.
I have had left knee problems since Junior High School. I recently had my fourth surgery and become a candidate for suppartz. My right knee is strong and healthy 38 years old and my left knee is very unhealthy 55:) My doctor recommended two types of injections. The first is Synvic and the second is Hyalgan. Does anyone have any experience with either of these? My doctor's office also suggested that I buy them from distributors outside the US such as Canada or Turkey?
Thank you.
Post Edited (Judilyn) : 10/31/2008 10:55:15 AM (GMT-6)
Dear friend,
I too, have Graves Disease. I too, have torn the meniscus in my knee. I was so, so discouraged that in my attempts to get healthier, by exercise and due to an accident, I had developed a knee problem (torn ACL, side ligament, torn meniscus, chipped knee cap). My orthopedic surgeon's response was "you're old, you don't really need the ACL anyway... so I suffered for years with an unstable knee, unable to get fit!!
Finally, I had excrutiating pain in my knee. I went back to the same surgeon who decided now he couldn't operate on me since I wasn't happy that he didn't fix the knee the first time. UG! And he charged me!! It NEVER occured to me to get a second opinion!:) Someone at work gave me the name of a different doctor. He saw my knee, the x-rays, and the MRI. He scheduled the arthroscopic surgery for the next week!! It took only 2 hours start to finish... and within 2 weeks, my knee was usable again. I now have my knee back! Unfortunately, the extra strain on my other knee caused the other meniscus to tear and I will go in to have that fixed immediately.
Go Find Another Surgeon!! One that only does knees! It will make all the difference. I, too, am going through the process to stablization from Hyper thyroid to hypothyroid... and thus far have not gained one ounce. I don't eat when I am not hungry... I do what exercise I can... my hands, face, and feet still look swollen... but I am now on the road to recovery.
Go get a second opinion!! Go get the surgery... You won't regret it :)
Anngel
