Just Found Out I Have Severe Hyperthyroidism..

I am a 17 year old female. In the past year, i started dieting in hopes to loose a little weight. i was 135 pounds, 5 feet 3 inches. i slowly lost a little weight at the beginning of the year, but in the past four months i really started taking it seriously and lost 20 pounds, now weighing 110. I am very happy with my weight and feel like i look really good.

However, my period stopped and i my hair started falling out in disgusting amounts. Obviously, something was wrong. I was very distressed because i knew i was eating so healthily! everyone around me was starting to think i had an ED, especially my cheerleading coaches and my mother. So i went to the doctor last week to get it checked out..

It turns out i have a severe case of hyperthryroidism. This partly explains my rapid weight loss, and it was totally a coincidence that i started dieting at the same time that i developed the disease. I have so many quesitons about hyperthyroidism though! i am going to see a doctor for this as soon as i can, but i might be a month or so. but if anyone has any experience with these disease, please share your thoughts. I am primarily concerned with my over-all health of course, but i am also very concerend about my weight. i do not want to loose or gain any more weight, but i am very concerned about gaining. once they cure this will i for sure gain? it is very important to me that i don't and i want to talk to my doctor about this but my mom think i am being ridiculous and need to just care about my health and forget about weight. Insight?

It may not be as simple as just curing the disease...

I found a link that I hope might help you:

http://www.thyroid.org/patients/brochures/Hyp er_brochure.pdf

I really hope everything works out as best it can!

Try to get to a doctor as soon as possible.  You need a battery of tests (don't worry, it doesn't hurt) to determine what the cause is.  There is no way to treat this unless you have a solid diagnosis.

Last year I had the same symptoms and the endocrinologist thought it might be Graves Disease.  I had the tests and it turned out to be thyroiditis probably caused by an infection.  I was really sick and it sounds like you are too.  Mine was treated with medication and is now under control. 

I agree with your mother.  This goes far beyond weight loss or gain.  Your very life may be at risk if you don't get this under control.  You don't say where you got the diagnosis, but if you haven't already had a consultation, call your primary doctor and ask for a referral to an endocrinologist.  If you can't get an appointment within a week, go to the emergency room at the nearest hospital.  Don't wait.

Yes, my pediatritician diagnosed me through a blood test and my mom and my doctor are trying to get me an appointment with an endo as soon as they can. we have an appointment for june but by the rate my hair is falling out she is trying to get me in much sooner. thank you for your response i will mention the emergency room to my mom if we can't find an appointment!

I have hypothyroidism, which is the opposite of what you have, but I still know a lot about hyperthyroidism.  Unfortunately, they will probably destroy your thyroid with radiation and you will have to take thyroid hormones in pill form for the rest of your life.  You might gain a little weight at first if they don't give you the hormone in the amount you need, OR if they give you too much thyroid hormone, you might become slightly hyperthyroidic again and continue to lose weight.  but once your hormones stabilize, you should be able to lose weight healthfully/or find your balance. 

I'm really sorry about your hair, btw.  I have a different endocrine disorder where I lose hair, too and it totally blows!  I wish you all the best and hope you can be happy and healthy soon!

I don't know from personal experience, but my mom had hyperthyroidism, and then she got it taken care of and now she has hypothyroidism. When she was hyperthyroid, she was extremely under weight (she's 5'6 and she weighed about 115 lbs. most of her life). Then she found out about her hyperthyroid and got it all fixed, and her problem turned into hypothyroidism. Now she takes a pill every day to keep her metabolism going, and has a definite weight problem. she's not like extremely fat, probably not even considered obese, but she could definitely lose like 30 lbs. and still be a healthy weight. (I don't know exactly how much she weighs cause she's pretty sensitive about it). 

So anyways, from my experience with her, you have to be really careful about not turning hypo thyroid, and if you do gain weight, you may have to exercise a lot more to stay at a healthy weight, although if you already eat healthy and you must not be eating too much if you're 5'3 and 110 lbs, I would try not to change your eating habits!