Too much of medication for Graves’ disease has ill effects
Q: I feel like I am walking a tightrope between hyper- and hypothyroidism. I was diagnosed with Graves’ disease because my thyroid went into overdrive. I lost a lot of weight, developed a tremor and I had to take metoprolol for my rapid heart rate.
My thyroid doctor prescribed methimazole to calm the thyroid down. Now, I am gaining weight and my heart rate is slow. I have a hard time getting going in the morning, not to mention I can fall asleep for a midday nap given half a chance. Could the medicine be suppressing my thyroid too much? A: Graves’ disease is an autoimmune condition in which the thyroid gland produces too much hormone. Symptoms can include palpitations, nervousness, fatigue, elevated blood pressure and heart rate, hair thinning, weight loss and insomnia.
Methimazole interferes with the production of T4 and T3 thyroid hormones. Too much medication could result in inadequate thyroid hormone. Weight gain, slow heart rate and fatigue are typical of hypothyroidism.
Ask your physician about testing your thyroid hormone levels. Your dose of methimazole might need adjustment.
Q: Somehow, I never contracted COVID-19, but I did get all the shots and boosters. Since receiving my first vaccine, the cold sores that I used to get on my lips two to four times a year for the past 30 years have completely vanished.
So have my plantar
warts, which I’ve had for even longer. They resisted multiple treatments, including surgical removal. Now they are gone. Is my experience unique?
A:
Shortly after people started getting COVID-19 vaccinations, some began reporting that they’d had long-lasting warts disappear. There are some case reports in the medical literature (JAAD Case Reports, January 2023).
Another reader had a different experience: “I just got over COVID, for which I took Paxlovid for three days. I now see that all my warts are gone!
“That is the only positive thing that came out of the illness. I had two vaccines and a booster in the past year, which didn’t faze the warts.”
But we also discovered a number of case reports that COVID-19 vaccination had reactivated herpes simplex eye infections (Ocular Immunology and Inflammation, July 2022).
Q: I was taking high doses of ibuprofen for spine and leg pain. My blood pressure was high, so my doctor prescribed BP medications. He added one after another without any obvious improvement. We
were both frustrated.
I finally tried going without ibuprofen, and my BP fell to normal. I started breaking my BP pills in half, and my BP stayed low, even under stressful conditions.
I recommend that if you have stubbornly high blood pressure and take ibuprofen, stop it for a few weeks and check your BP.
You might have heard that the increased blood pressure due to using this type of pain reliever is no big deal. I am proof it can be impressive.
If you take a lot of ibuprofen and have high BP, don’t take more BP meds. Instead, stop the pain reliever for a few weeks and check your numbers.
A: Thank you for sharing your story. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as celecoxib, diclofenac, ibuprofen, naproxen and meloxicam all can raise blood pressure (BMC Cardiovascular Disorders, Oct. 24, 2012). Some people, like you, may be sensitive to this effect.