I was diagnosed with Graves Disease at 15 (although I’d clearly had it much longer) and Diabetes at 30. I wanted to know about peoples experiences with having both diseases.
I was on Methimazole for 7 years before my bodies T-cell count cut in half over 6 months. I had to be taken off methimazole, my thyroid was irradiated, and I was put on hormone replacement, Levothyroxine. I was on Levothyroxine alone for about 8 years before I was diagnosed with diabetes by hospitalization with DKA, this March 2015.
It’s a bit disconcerting because I’ve gotten really hungry in the last two weeks. I connect hunger to when my thyroid levels have increased. I also didn’t recognize my diabetes coming to full head because I was over medicated on my thyroid medication. I was wasting away and I thought it was my thyroid levels being out of wack.
On top of this, I also lost 7 pounds last month. Although my TSH was checked two months ago, in the last week my blood sugars have gotten irregularly more efficient. I’ve also been really hungry, the question of whether it’s just my body more efficiently dealing with glucose or thyroid issues is a waiting game. My levels are going to be tested again in August.
Nonetheless, I hoped to see if anyone else has had experience with dealing with both auto-immune disorders and what they’ve experienced.
hi betsy, I got it the other way around: first my body attacked my beta cells and I stopped making insulin, then decades later it attacked my thyroid.
thyroid is a piece of cake (I love to hate that pun) compared to blood sugar control. once settled down, thyroid is a 1-pill a day deal for me. I am very careful to take synthroid on a completely empty stomach.
the hungry issue could be a lot of things, but when you don’t have enough insulin, your body starts consuming it’s own fat and muscle (making keytones) and you become dehydrated very quickly. all of the above can make you feel very bad, and you could lose up to 5 pounds in a day. Insulin (for me) triggers hunger as soon as my blood sugar starts to drop I could eat the house.
bs control is your ticket to feeling better, in my opinion. good luck!
I was diagnosed with both T1d LADA and Graves Disease simultaneously as an adult. My endo also discovered that my parathyroids had been attacked as well. I was initially misdiagnosed as having T2d due to my age but suddenly had four severe bouts of hypoglycemia in rapid succession, all requiring glucagon injections.
For me thechallenge has been how the T1d and Graves interact. My CDE described it best when she said I have a revving thyroid and a sputtering pancreas. The danger is when I test myself and dose my BG with insulin and then either my pancreas or thyroid (or both) suddenly kick in. The Graves causes my metabolism to suddenly burn the glucose I just bolused for and/or my pancreas throws extra insulin into the mix. Either way I have a sudden insulin OD my BG takes a nose dive. 200 point drops in 45 minutes really suck.
My CGM and pump are critical equipment. My insurance company hated it but they approved the CGM years ago because of how volatile I am. It saves me multiple times a month.
The key for me is to stabilize my ranges. I take methimazole every other day and watch my BG. The methimazole moderates the variability of my thyroid to a manageable level. Then I have my high alarms set in the 180-190 range because I see the most trouble when I get over 250. That’s when my damaged pancreas tries to help and complicates my dosing. Whenever I find myself in the 250-300 range I pull myself down slowly with a long combo bolus, say 6-8 hours. That way I can cancel the bolus if my system tries to help.
The big thing I find is my volatility is a challenge compared to the other friends I have who also have T1d. I ride for the JDRF ride group and my primary co-worker has T1d. I seem to have many more hypo incidents than they do because of the mix of LADA T1d and Graves.
I meant to ask you, what is methimazole?
I guess my doctor thought in my case it would be best to destroy it. I was on beta blockers for increased heart rate and could not take them if I got pregnant. Also, having an unpredictable Throid made it very hard to get pregnant.
Methimazole is an inhibitor drug that decreases the production of T3 and T4. It is also very dangerous for fetuses. In western medicine there are three ways they deal with Graves Disease. They either inhibit thyroid production with a drug, inhibit thyroid production by surgically removing a section of the thyroid, or inhibit production by using radioactive iodine to destroy the thyroid. None of it cures the issue of graves disease, it simply makes the body incapable of producing too much. Methimazole is the only way to keep the levels in check without destroying an organ of the body.