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Thread: Graves Disease

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
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    Default Graves Disease

    A friend has this and it seems well under control at a reasonable cost.

    Another person I know has had her daughter diagnosed with it.
    At first there was a lot of concern due to heart palpitations but
    that is now under control and the other elements seem to be
    well controlled also,at present.

    The lady concerned says that now she works to pay her daughter's medical bills.
    I;m sorry but my understanding from several people is that Graves disease is not
    a costly disease to control.

    Has anyone got some ideas on this??

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
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    Melbourne, Australia.
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    Default

    I have suffered from hyperthyroidism, which has the common name of Graves disease in most of the English speaking world.

    Basically the body clock has been sped up, resulting in some not so nice conditions being endured.

    90% of sufferers are female, with 10% being male as far as I know. I do know that I was the only male whenever I visited my Endocrinologist.

    I would suggest that whoever has the disease should consult with an endocrinologist no matter what their GP may be doing to help or alleviate the disease.

    They should also consult with an Ophthalmologist to ensure there is no lasting damage done to the eyes. Damage to the eyes can be quite serious.

    Assuming all this has been done, I would suggest to bone up by reading this book, The Complete Thyroid Book by Kenneth Ain, who is an endocrinologist and co-authored by his wife, M. Sara Rosenthal, who is a scientific writer, if my memory is correct.

    I borrowed this book, (first edition) from my local library.

    The Complete Thyroid Book, Second Edition: Kenneth Ain, M. Sara Rosenthal: 9780071743488: Amazon.com: Books

    My local library still has the first edition for lending, this link directly to my local library may work or it may not.
    BLS - Full Display - Record 1 of 1 - Bayside Library Service

    Essentially, the book covers every kind of problem with the thyroid, it is excellent.

    It is a serious issue and far more complicated than many people realise. If let go for too long, damage to muscle tissue can be a bit extreme.

    As to cost, in my case I needed to see my GP to figure out what the general problem was, this took a few visits and blood tests, then a referral to an Endocrinologist.

    I had one visit to the Endocrinologist, where a blood sample was taken confirming the disease and give an exact count of certain levels in my blood, this was done on the same day.

    Then I was given some medication to basically block the Thyroid from emitting the troublesome stuff.

    Three weeks later and feeling much better another visit to the Endocrinologist with a blood test done three days earlier gave confirmation that I was on track to lowered levels and starting to be sort of normal.

    I then went off for another period, which I think was six weeks then back to the Endocrinologist for the same deal. Dosage by this time had been reduced in steps as defined by the Endocrinologist, I had done this correctly and things were looking good.

    At the end of about three months, I stopped medication to see if I would self regulate. I didn’t quite self regulate, sort of went up a bit then down a bit. During this time period, which was around three months I was having regular blood tests then the Endocrinologist would telephone and direct me how to regulate the amount of medication I was to take.

    Eventually I did self regulate, although I did have a period about 4 years later where I went off slightly.

    My GP was assigned to monitor my levels as per my Endocrinologists instructions. This eventually led to a successful situation whereby I have self regulated satisfactorily.

    I was also required to see my Ophthalmologist pretty quickly after a confirmed diagnosis of the condition; I wondered why.

    As luck would have it, I have a reasonably rare eye problem which requires an Ophthalmologist, so I was on very good to almost personal terms with my Ophthalmologist. She explained the possible problems associated with the side effects of Hyperthyroidism, they are not too good. This necessitated probably about four extra visits to the Ophthalmologist over about a six to eight month period.

    Currently I do not have any medicine for Hyperthyroidism, which is great, but it took a while.

    Options, as I understand, are firstly to slow or stop the Thyroid from producing stuff, this is done with medication.

    If you do not self regulate, then there is usually one option to Ablate the Thyroid gland. Ablating is essentially killing the Thyroid by ingesting some medication that will do this.

    Surgical removal, either full or partial is another option.

    If your Thyroid is Ablated, or fully removed, you will require medication for the rest of your life to supply the hormone that the Thyroid releases to maintain a normal metabolic state.

    In essence, once that stage is reached, you would probably only see an Endocrinologist yearly with medication being supplied either by the Endocrinologist or your local GP.

    One of my sisters in-law has had her Thyroid surgically removed, she self medicates in conjunction with her GP and a once a year visit to the Endocrinologist.

    I don’t know how many visits to medical people your friend’s daughter has, or does do, but once things have settled down I would not think it would be too many overall.

    Some thoughts.

    Mick.

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