Approximately 20% of hyperthyroid patients, especially younger patients, gain weight during the active phase of hyperthyroidism. The exact reasons are unclear but studies show that some patients with hyperthyroidism avoid physical activities because they become over-exerted easily. Others may have an increased appetite and crave foods that cause weight gain.
Patients who initially lose weight find that this weightloss isn't sustained when their hyperthyroidism is corrected. Most patients gain an average of five pounds within the first few weeks of treatment with recommended doses of anti-thyroid drugs. These patient's weight gain usually stops after the first 6-8 weeks when the dose of medication is reduced. However, if you have developed bad eating habits or if you continue to have an increased appetite you can continue to gain weight. Usually, though, hyperthyroid patients who begin gaining weight are often able to lose weight when they start the anti-thyroid drugs.
Your Grave's Disease, URI's, allergies to various medications, SLE, vasculitis, and perhaps even your bowel problem are all caused by an inflammatory response due to auto-immunity. I recommend that you be examined by a rheumatologist/endocrinologist to definitively diagnose and treat your autoimmune problem which is causing your other symptoms (e.g. Grave's, etc.). A primary care physician is not qualified, in my opinion, to treat you.
Your labs are insignificant except for your Thyroid panel, WBC, and differential. You do not have SLE because your platelet count is normal. About 95% of SLE patients have a positive ANA test result. If a patient has symptoms of SLE, such as arthritis, a rash, and autoimmune thrombocytopenia (a low number of blood platelets), then they probably have SLE.
As I previously stated, your lymphs (14.5) were decreased. Decreased lymphocyte levels indicate diseases that affect the immune system. If you will also please notice that in your elevated differential I have previously listed "inflammation" as a cause of these elevations. Also, you have mentioned in your most recent "re-listed question" that you have been treated in the past for diagnoses of "vasculitis", "SLE", "COPD", and "Thyroid disease". Most likely you have Grave's Disease. In each of these specific diseases (vasculitis, SLE, COPD, and Grave's Disease there is a common cause of INFLAMMATION. Not all diseases have inflammatory causes. In fact, most diseases are caused by exogenous pathogens. Auto-immune diseases, on the other hand, produce an inflammatory endogenous reaction leading to specific symptoms for each of the specific auto-immune diseases. As a matter of fact, auto-immune diseases are related because of their "inflammatory" response.
Auto-immunity is caused by the body’s immune system attacking the person's bodily systems just as if it were attacking an infection e.g. the person's thyroid is attacked by the auto-immune response in Grave's disease, the joints in rheumatoid arthritis, the connective tissue in SLE, etc. Autoimmune diseases occur when the body produces an immunological or allergic reaction to itself, instead of reacting to an external substance. In most cases, we don't know why this occurs. Some patients with auto-immune diseases have signs of other diseases caused by an overly-active immune system e.g. arthritis, skin rashes, various allergies to specific allergens and to various medications (e.g. penicillin, erythromycin, sulfonamides, etc.). Auto-immunity is characterized by the progression of various symptoms often over a period of several weeks, months, or sometimes years. However, at the root of each of these auto-immune diseases and their symptoms is one common measurable symptom---INFLAMMATION. Normally, inflammation is a process in which the body's white blood cells and other chemicals protect us from infection and foreign substances such as bacteria and viruses. In some diseases, however, the body's defense system (immune system) triggers an inflammatory response when there are no foreign substances to fight-off. In these diseases, called autoimmune diseases, the body's normally protective immune system causes damage to its own tissues. The body responds as if normal tissues are infected or somehow abnormal.
You have GERD and Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). You should be tested for inflammatory bowel disease which is not the same thing as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Inflammatory bowel disease refers to two chronic diseases that cause inflammation of the intestines: ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. What are your bowel symptoms that caused your physician to arrive at the diagnosis of IBS?
Wegener's granulomatosis is a disease, in which the blood vessels are inflamed ("vasculitis"). This inflammation damages important organs of the body by limiting blood flow to those organs and destroying normal tissue. The first symptoms of Wegener's granulomatosis are often vague and frequently include upper respiratory tract symptoms, joint pains, weakness, and tiredness. The most common sign of Wegener's granulomatosis is involvement of the upper respiratory tract ("URI", "COPD"), which occurs in nearly all patients. Kidney involvement occurs in more than three-fourths of people with Wegener's granulomatosis ("kidney stones").
Treatment for Wegener's granulomatosis consists of a combination of a glucocorticoid (a steroid) and a cytotoxic medicine.
http://www.clevelandclinic.org/health/health-info/docs/0200/0214.asp?index=4757
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and 5 to 10mg per day of prednisone may be useful in treating your symptoms. Selective Cox-2 inhibitors decrease the gastrointestinal side effects of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications.
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