OT: my daughter has Hashimoto's; and ANA
 

Well, this is a surprise! We thought it was going to be Graves, which my mother and I both have. We are so relieved that she is finally diagnosed. Her thyroid tests came back normal last fall, when she first started to have symtpoms. She alternates between shaking, restlessness and hysteria and deep depression, day by day (and sometimes in the same day). I insisted that she be retested this spring, because her hyperthyroid symptoms were very familiar to me.

Her ANA test (antinuclear antibodies) came back high. We are going to bring her to an endocrinologist to see if it's normal for Hashimoto's to cause high ANA levels, or if this could mean she has some other autoimmune disease as well. She doesn't have any symptoms of lupus or rheumatoid arthritis.

In my family we have Graves, Hashimoto's, MG, and severe ectopic dermatitis (eczema). Pretty scary. I just keep wondering who will come down with what next.

Abby

Are you sure you guys don't have celiac disease too? How did they define the ectopic dermatitis? Biopsy?

Since you guys have more than one autoimmune disease, keep on the lookout for pernicious anemia too (parietal cell and intrinsic factor antibodies).

I'm really sorry your daughter has this disease so soon. I sometimes wonder if the irradiation for Graves can cause MG.

And this really isn't "off topic" since so many of us experience other AI's. Really stinks.

Annie

Annie,

It has been on my mind for a while that we should try a gluten-free diet, but it's a daunting prospect. We have no symptoms of celiac...I suppose I could start with a blood test, though I know that gluten sensitivity doesn't always show up.

I never got my thyroid radiated. I've been on PTU (thyroid suppressant) on and off all these years. Right now my numbers are good, and I'm not taking anything. But I did have a Graves' relapse a few months before my MG symptoms showed up, so I suspect they're related--and I sort of wonder if I had had my thryoid radiated years ago, if I would have avoided MG. But the "what ifs" aren't worth spending too much thought on.

My mother's atopic dermatitis--I don't know how it was diagnosed. It got so bad she was on Prednisone, and it was all over her body, and infected. She was finally curred with UV light treatments.

Thanks, Annie.

Abby

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