u/mmbbtt

I’ve never had issues getting my blood drawn. Always super easy, painless, and the same spots in my arms always have blood quick. Recently it’s been so hard and the usual spots never work anymore, but they always say it doesn’t feel like scar tissue causing the issue. So they have to end up doing my hands or forearms and then I get bruising and lightheaded.

Today she did a spot on my inner forearm which was painless but after one vial it stopped giving blood. A couple hours later I noticed the spot was sore and when I took the bandage off there was a tender firm lump. Not necessarily painful, but a tender lump with some darkness underneath. I assume it’s a hematoma and the color I’m seeing is the blood pooled under my skin. I’ve felt and feel completely fine otherwise, besides the spike in anxiety after seeing it. I applied a bandage for some pressure and I’m icing it now. I’m hoping it’s nothing to be concerned about but the thyroid anxiety spiked and it’s hard to shake now. I’ve never had this happen when getting blood drawn, but also never get it drawn in this spot either.

I feel like all the weight gain is the cause for the difficulty finding my veins or something. It’s so frustrating.

Anyone else have any insight or tips on hematoma lumps and bumps from blood work? Thanks!

My resting heart rate seems to consistently be between 70-82 which is good, especially compared to what it used to be when I wasn’t on methimazole lol.

Does anyone feel like their heart beats heavy to the point when you’re sitting or laying there you really feel it beating in a way that makes you wonder if it’s beating really fast and if you need to take a beta blocker? It’s hard to explain the sensation, but then I’ll check my heart rate and it’s not particularly elevated or that I know I need to take a propranolol. It also doesn’t seem like it’s beating out of sync or anything either. But, does anyone else experience this sensation? This heavier beating resonating in your body that’s hard to ignore. Do you still take a beta blocker even though your heart rate is pretty normal? Does it help?

I do have GI issues like GERD and indigestion. That would cause a pressure sensation in my chest that I feel like would also exaggerate the heart sensation. I was recently put on Pantoprazole a few days ago and most of my GI symptoms have subsided on the surface level, thankfully. I do wonder if I’m still having mild symptoms since I did just start the GI meds, and that’s why I’m having the chest/heart sensations still going on…

My blood pressure was pushing stage 3 hypertension last night and I wasn’t feeling well, so I decided to go back to the ER (last time I went was 2? weeks ago). I have labs I did for my endo on Monday but they won’t come back for a week or so, and I just felt like I needed to go to the ER to get quicker labs and figure this out especially because my BP was so high.

The doctor at the ER this time was absolutely fantastic! One of the best ER doctors and doctors in general I’ve ever met. She knew so much and was so attentive and invested in figuring out everything. At first while we were waiting for labs to come back she suggested my symptoms sounded like POTS and suggested one of the best doctors to make an appointment with for it in a different medical group but she said he could be booked out 9 months which was daunting.

Once the blood work came back she came in and was like well your levels are strangely really low. And me never knowing how to read the labs I was like what does that mean and she said all of these thyroid labs mean you’re hypo. She tested TSH, T3, T4 Free. She looked at my last labs from my endo in June to compare even though those labs are a bit old, but I felt the most normal and most like myself in June so it’s a good comparison. She also mentioned all of my symptoms line up perfectly with hypothyroid as well and since I’ve never been hypo some of these are new symptoms to me which is why I’ve been feeling so strange. I’ve also been rapidly gaining weight more so recently in comparison to the slow weight gain over the past 8 months I’ve been on 15g methimazole. I also have been experiencing symptoms that both hypo and hyper share like anxiety so that’s not new to me.

I am going to call my endo tomorrow to explain the findings. I’m hoping they don’t just say well we want to wait for our labs to come back and actually take action and adjust meds instead of waiting.

I’ve known I had Hashimoto’s antibodies but my blood work always presented with Graves so I was aware that I could swing hypo but I never have in the 15 years I’ve been diagnosed so this is all new to me. 15mg is also the highest methimazole dose I’ve been on. Max has always been 10g.

Anyone else experience this?

When I google if you can take propranolol and cbd together I get lots of info that says no. I took 12.5mg of cbd 5 hours ago because I thought it would calm the anxiety I’m having from a Graves flare up. I don’t know if it really did anything, my heart rate is still up and I’m still feeling anxious, plus my blood pressure is still elevated. I only took 12.5 mg because I haven’t had cbd in a longggg time and especially never during a Graves flare up, so I just wanted to test the waters. But now I want to take propranolol to get my heart rate down so I can calm down and get to bed.

Does anyone have experience with a similar scenario? Since I only took 12.5mg of CBD and it’s been 5 hours, will it be ok to take like 20mg of propranolol now, especially since my blood pressure is still elevated? I’m worried it’s going to drop my blood pressure or something…

I’m having what I assume is a flare up the past couple of weeks. I did new blood work yesterday that I have to wait on. The propranolol isn’t really doing its job too well and I’m still waking up with nighttime panic attacks as well as feeling off and panicky during the day as well, along with a bunch of other symptoms I’ve discussed in previous posts, and my doctor is just not helping.

I was just thinking if CBD gummies might be something good to try to help with the anxiety, high BP, heart rate, etc. I used to have some but I’ve been out for over a year because I never felt like I needed them. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try, but curious if others share similar experiences and if CBD has helped them exponentially or not.

Thanks!

Does anyone have any endocrinologist recommendations they really like a lot in Georgia. I’m in metro Atlanta, but I’ll drive over an hour for a good one. I used to love the practice I go to but the girl I’d see moved out of the country and I haven’t been satisfied with who they’ve paired me with now.

What do you do when you wake up in a panic attack and can’t get your heart rate down? Body is tingly, chest is tight, legs are itchy, experiencing indigestion and gerd symptoms at the same time, as well as got full body chills and couldn’t get warm.

Been on 15mg methimazole for 8 months and levels were looking better but have been staying on the same dose. Last labs were done in June, just did more bloodwork today but won’t get results for a minute to see if anything has flared or changed, but I’ve been experiencing weird symptoms lately and this is the first time since I’ve been untreated that I’ve had a panic attack in my sleep and woke up in a jolt with these symptoms. I haven’t had one of these since I was untreated and super super hyper so I’m surprised I had one while on meds for so long. So that’s why I think something has changed with my labs for sure.

I took 20mg propranolol to help bring my heart rate down but then realized I should probably take 40mg to actually work well, so I took another 20 an hour after, and I don’t have anything else to take besides Pepcid for the GERD and indigestion. I’ve told my doctor about these symptoms but she just is like we have to wait to see your labs and isn’t helping in any other way.

What do you guys do when you’ve experienced this?

I’ve had graves for 15 years now. Always been bad about keeping up with methimazole, but I officially got back on them for good around the end of last year.

I’ve been super consistent about taking methimazole and I have felt infinitely better. Heart rate lowered, BP lowered a bit, most of my anxiety went away, I was able to exercise properly again, drink caffeine again, all the good things. All good things come with the bad though, like the excessive weight gain, etc.

In the past couple weeks something has definitely changed. Maybe I’m having a flare up. I’m definitely more inflamed, I’ve been having symptoms of what I thought could be asthma (still not sure, I have an appointment for that scheduled next month). I’ve been more short of breath, anxious, swollen, having weird feelings in my body that are hard to explain, very lethargic, sleeping a ton, and more. Definitely having a hard time functioning.

I went to the hospital the other week because I felt like I was going to pass out, had chest pain, and just felt so weird, but didn’t notice my heart rate being high. It was sitting at 80 bpm in the hospital. Not sure what it was but I had been having an extremely heavy period and they chalked it down to just low blood pressure, my iron levels were fine apparently. I’ve also been having cold hands and feet randomly when it’s like 80 degrees.

Anyways, my GERD symptoms have also been off the chart and I’ve been extremely bloated 24/7, hard for me to eat a big meal, etc. I’ll start having indigestion symptoms randomly too.

I’ve started to wonder if I’m having a graves flare up, since I’ve been feeling so well the entire year I forgot what it’s like to not be stable, and along with the GERD symptoms I wonder if the indigestion and acid reflux I’ve been having is causing anxiety which is then causing me to panic about other minute feelings in my body and then it all kind of spirals from there…but maybe it’s just GERD making me feel this way and I’m not having a flare up…I’m not sure. I started to wonder if it’s also asthma because of the way my breathing and airways feel tight and like I’m unable to get all the air I need sometimes, but I also wonder if it’s invisible anxiety causing that from GERD. I don’t have another lab scheduled til my appointment in a month and don’t have asthma and allergy tests scheduled til next month either.

I have noticed just the past couple days if I do feel like I’m having indigestion symptoms and start feeling weird in other places with anxiety, I’ll take some Kaopectate (helps with indigestion) and sometimes I’ll start to feel better right after. Sometimes if I feel like my airways are tight I’ll take a Zyrtec and Pepcid as well to see if the breathing stuff is just allergy related. It’s hard to tell what works and what doesn’t.

I guess this is kind of just a rant, but I’m sure some of you can relate somewhat to some of these symptoms. But has anyone with the GERD issues gone to a gastroenterologist and been able to do anything to fix those issues? Or is it just a side effect of Graves that’s just another one of those things that comes with it? I’m sitting here confused on what doctors to go to for the symptoms I’m experiencing because I just can’t tell what is Graves related and just truly what is going on with my body in general so I’m not sure what to do.

Hoping more tickets get posted up on cash or trade, but wanted to post here if anyone is planing on selling their tickets soon so I can keep an eye out or you can give me link to your tickets! Thanks!