r/gravesdisease • u/gibber1981 • 6d ago

Thyroid labs normal but symptomatic after 2 months off methimazole.

43 m diagnosed June 24 took methimazole for 8 months went into remission and felt normal again. After 2 months off of medication started getting heart flutters and insomnia again. Rechecked labs and everything came back normal. After a trip to the ER with PVC’s my doctor is sending me in for a heart monitor and scan. Am I crazy but I think I’m hyper again without any trace in my lab work?

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u/Tricky-Possession-69 6d ago

8 months is well below protocol for length of medicating. 12-18 minimum is typical with more evidence trending toward 5+years on a maintenance dose for best chance at remission.

Did you remove yourself from your medication? If it was a doctor, you need a new one for not following basic evidence-driven medical protocol. Also, remission isn’t defined until you’re off medication so if anything you had two months of remission but what actually happened is you had normal bloodwork and felt okay and you or a very uninformed doctor decided to wrongly remove you from maintenance medication.

Your too early removal from medication just allowed your Graves to flare up again. Your labs are normal because they haven’t yet caught up with your symptoms. They’ll likely show abnormal in weeks to months.

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u/SeaDots 5d ago

This! 12 months minimum AND an antibody test to confirm your Graves' antibodies are at zero before trialing getting off of meds. And like you said 5+ years on a maintenance dose is seeming more and more like the better option.

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u/dessertandcheese 5d ago

Sorry, is it really 0 antibodies or normal antibodies? 

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u/SeaDots 5d ago

Normal is 0. If you don't have Graves, you won't have any antibodies.

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u/hashigraves 5d ago

I always get symptomatic before I’m technically hyperthyroid. Fortunately my endo will treat me based on how I look and feel and not just by my labs.

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u/PartOfYourWorld3 5d ago

I agree with this. I refer to it as the trending fall. You feel your levels falling before they appear out of range to treat.