I had a medical adventure this week.
After a number of medical tests and enough blood draws to make a vampire fat,
we're finally zeroing in on what has happened to me in recent months.
I have suddenly developed a hyperactive thyroid,
and yesterday's and today's tests should indicate what is wrong.
Right now I'm radioactive, LOL!
Sky Ridge Medical Center
Lone Tree, Colorado, USA
October 20, 2021
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved
I went to Sky Ridge Medical Center for an outpatient
Radioactive Iodine Uptake Scan (RAIU),
for a twenty-four hour test over two days.
This test determines a patient's thyroid function as opposed to its anatomy.
The first thing I did was swallow two radioactive pills
containing a small amount of radioactive iodine,
a radiotracer that a gamma camera can detect.
I couldn't touch the pills with my hands.
I had to drop them into my mouth from a special container.
My body identifies the radioactive iodine as iodine
and sends it to my thyroid to be processed into thyroid hormones.
Then I had to wait six hours while the radioactive iodine headed for my thyroid.
No problem! After nine hours of fasting and not being able to have even a sip of water,
I raced for the hospital's Starbucks!
Starbucks ~ Sky Ridge Medical Center
Lone Tree, Colorado, USA
October 20, 2021
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved
And there was a witch with a broom on a Starbucks sign,
I had no time this week to create art.
Starbucks ~ Sky Ridge Medical Center
Lone Tree, Colorado, USA
October 20, 2021
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved
I had planned to go to Park Meadows Mall to shop for some new clothes,
because I hadn't seen the inside of a mall since the beginning of Covid.
But the truth is, I was too tired to face walking all over the huge mall.
When your thyroid runs amok, all kinds of unpleasant things happen.
Your heart races, your breathing is fast and shallow,
you contend with fatigue, muscle weakness, heat sensitivity,
tremors, and difficulty sleeping.
The thought of trying on clothes was overwhelming.
I was so excited that I was losing over three pounds a month.
I thought I had figured out how to eat healthy meals
and lose weight after Terry's heart attack in April.
And now I know it was my hyperactive thyroid in action. 😱
Why buy new clothes if I might puff up on thyroid medicine in a month?
So I plugged my phone into a charging station and hung out.
Six hours later I was lying on a moveable examination table
with my arms immobilized and my knees raised.
Russ, a friendly, knowledgeable, and calm tech,
slid the table into the machine and positioned an imaging scanner
above my throat to record the radioactivity emitted by the radiotracer in my thyroid.
All I had to do was lay still for seven minutes for each position of the scanner.
The scanners are like Geiger counters.
The radioactive iodine taken up by the thyroid emits gamma rays.
A gamma camera detects the gamma rays,
and the gamma rays are turned into an electrical signal and sent to a computer.
The computer builds a picture of the different intensities
of the gamma rays in the thyroid, in shades of grey and white.
A gamma scan is also known as a scintigramm.
A) normal thyroid, B) Graves disease, diffuse increased uptake in both thyroid lobes,
C) Plummers disease (TMNG, toxic multinodular goitre), D) Toxic adenoma,
Then I had a second test sitting in a chair.
Russ placed a probe against my neck and took more gamma measurements,
followed by the probe placed on my thigh for additional gamma measurements.
Photograph of a typical probe counter used for thyroid uptake exams.
The patient sits with the camera directed at the neck for five minutes,
and then the leg for five minutes.
This time the computer generated images of the radioactivity
in a blue or background wave and a red or radioactive wave.
By subtracting my thigh waves from my neck waves,
the radiologist can determine how active my thyroid is,
the larger the subtracted red area, the more activity in my thyroid.
Today I returned for a second probe of my throat and thigh.
The two probes, 18 hours apart, help the radiologist understand
the functioning of my thyroid better.
In the past few months, I have experienced increasingly bizarre double vision.
It's really freaky watching your two-headed stylist working on your hair,
with her upper lips talking between her lower eyebrows.
Mr. Bean doesn't come close!
Based on my worsening double vision,
my doctor and ophthalmologist think I likely have Graves Disease,
but I won't know until I get the results of my tests.
Maybe Monday!
So why would I share his?
The thyroid is a very important gland!
It creates hormones that enter the bloodstream and travel to every tissue in your body.
The thyroid hormones regulate how your brain, heart, muscles, and other organs function, and they control how your body uses energy and stays warm. thyroid.org
Untreated thyroid problems can be life-threatening.
Thyroid symptoms are often mistaken for symptoms of other conditions.
I had had my annual THS (Thyroid-stimulating hormone) test in November,
and my results were normal, like they had been for decades.
So my doctor initially looked in other directions: heart, lungs, abdomen, and blood panels.
Between two sets of blood tests,
I had my freaky hairstyling event and raced to my ophthalmologist.
He coordinated with my doctor, and I had an immediate THS test.
My THS levels were barely detectable,
meaning my thyroid was hyperactive and producing too much thyroid hormone.
In a few months my THS levels had tanked.
Before I left my doctor's office, my doctor ordered
a more extensive thyroid blood panel and scheduled me at Sky Ridge for a RAIU.
If you are experiencing concerning symptoms, and you are not finding answers,
be proactive and ask for a thyroid blood panel.
An abnormal THS test can signal that something is wrong.
Additional thyroid blood panels can confirm it.
I hate medical mysteries, especially concerning me.
If you can get a diagnosis, then you can address the problem.
You can be sure I'll address mine, whatever the diagnosis.
Stay happy and safe!
Till next time ~
Fundy Blue
On the Bay of Fundy
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved
