Last time I blogged my symptoms of Graves Disease (GD) were melting away. About week 8 they started to pick up again, culminating at week 13. This past weekend I had many symptoms: thinning hair, heart palpitations, exhaustion. I started upping my PTU dosage, taking double my meds over the weekend just to control my symptoms, which didn’t allow me to sleep and made me feel awful because they seemed to exacerbate my pregnancy symptoms of exhaustion and nausea. I went to bed a 7:00 p.m. on Saturday night and woke up at 8:00 a.m. Sunday morning, with a brief awakening at 2:00 a.m. where I had to read a chapter of my book to fall back asleep (Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell – the 3rd book of his that I’ve read – all amazing!).
The good news: I had a “dating ultrasound” at 10.5 weeks and I actually saw the baby and its heart beat so I felt fairly comfortable that I wasn’t going to miscarry. We told our parents at 12 weeks. We haven’t told our friends yet, but I’m also starting a new career so I’m not broadcasting my pregnancy for that reason too. Although, I have started to show (a month earlier than my first pregnancy). I’m still a little heavier than the first time around – I lost all of the baby weight but gained 10 pounds after the miscarriage, for some mysterious reason, even though GD was in full effect.
The bad news: I don’t know if GD has anything to do with it, but the exhaustion and the nausea are way worse with this pregnancy than with my first. After my epic sleep on Saturday, I feel a little better. I’m cruising into 2nd trimester so hopefully the worst is behind me.
Graves Ophthamology update: my eyes got a little worse with the increase in GD symptoms, but haven’t fully relapsed (i.e., photosensitivity remained fairly constant).
Graves Disease Diary 