Remission is defined as a "temporary cessation of symptoms." There is no current cure for autoimmune disorders. With Graves, we do occasionally, if infrequently, experience periods of time where we can go without treatment and have normal levels of thyroid hormone. That is remission. Such a period "must" be over a year to qualify as a real remission, and it can go on for several years. The numbers I have seen, and believe, suggest that 20-30% of us experience one remission; a much smaller percentage experiences more than one. Antibody levels can rise and fall for no well-understood reason, and when they are low, we can be asymptomatic.
That’s looking at the autoimmune aspect of things alone. If you look at the problem of hyperthyroidism, however, (and that is what makes us ill) there is more of a cure: the removal of the thyroid. If you remove enough of your thyroid, you cannot ever again be hyperthyroid unless you take too large a dose of replacement hormone.
