My daighter Leigh Ann, age 17, has been diagosed with Graves Disease recently. (She was diagnosed with diabetes at age 14 months so she has lived with diabetes pretty much her whole life). Tomorrow she is undergoing Radio Active Ablation to stop the hyperthyroidism. I was wondering what life as a diabetic will be like for her after the thyroid is destroyed? While having Graves Disease she is on large amounts of insulin through a pump. Will her blood sugars be more under control with less insulin? Any insight on Graves Disease with diabetes will be appreciated. Thanks! Donna Hartman
Out online Diabetes Team has answered many questions about Grave's and type 1. You can search for "Graves" here to see the results: http://www.childrenwithdiabetes.com/dteam/d_0d_000.htm
Hyperthyroidism can cause varying degrees of insulin resistance, as can the replacement drug if she falls hypo after the radiation... so it's likely that it will improve afterwards..but I can't say when becuase I have no direct experience with Grave's. I have hashimoto's, but while hypo, my BG's are easier to manage (which makes sense, your entire metabolism slows down.. so you get fewer really nasty highs).. while hyper (overmedicated), a bit more difficult. When I'm regulated things are "normal"... if there is such a thing.
Oh crud.. So the fact that I haven't been over 200 in weeks probably isn't due to micromanaging at all; I've probably just fallen hypo again. Brilliant. I have so much to learn. Sorry to take the thread off topic. I knew hypothyroidism could cause lows, but I hadn't connected it and my current situation for some reason.
