www.incontinentsupport.org

Haven't posted in awhile but wanted to check in. Things are ok. Having a couple of concerns health wise. I've got some degenerative discs in my spine and my thyroid is enlarged. I go tomorrow to follow up with my orthopedic surgeon to see if I'll have my 7th surgery. Incontinence is the same. I'm currently rocking the northshore supreme lite in blue (with a booster pad)

Trying to stay positive and just keep rolling with the punches. Hope everyone is well

Hi Justej. I’m on lithium therapy. I’ve been taking it for about 10 years. Eventually, I developed thyroid disease from the medication. I had alternating hypothyroid/hyperthyroidism for several years. It made me very sick. I had a total thyroidectomy last summer. My thyroid too was enlarged and I had two small nodules that turned out to be nothing. Within a few days of the surgery, I felt better. The thyroid organ controls a lot. It can make you very ill. Now, I have to take synthroid for the rest of my life. It took about 9 months for my levels to become therapeutic. I see my endocrinologist about every 3-4 months and get periodic labs drawn. This life is much easier than the thyroid disease. Good luck. I hope you don’t have to go through what I did. If you have any questions, ask.

Hi Don - I'm also on lithium and my psych suggested this could be the cause. I hope not because lithum works so well for me. I have some testing to do to figure this out but I hope it's a quick fix

Lithium can most certainly do that. It’s very well known. Before my total thyroid, my doc drew a thyroid panel every single time she drew a lithium check. Always. My docs draw a free T3/T4, and TSH. There are others they drew before my surgery looking for cancer and such. Thankfully, those markers were clear. It was all the Lithium. There was an issue with mine because I also take lamictal. I’ve been on depakote in the past and it didn’t work out well. So I have the major stabilizers covered. Lithium works the best. It was not medically possible to come off the lithium to solve the lability making me sick. So they took it out. I still take lithium and now they just regulate postop hypothyroidism. Which is a lot easier to manage. Hyperthyroidism is not a good thing. It is manageable, but you don’t want it.