Anonymous
Participant
Post count: 93172

If you are newly diagnosed, and on antithyroid drugs, then you can most likely take the time to read up on Graves and hyperthyroidism and its treatments. There are some good books, written in layman’s language, recommended on the main web site for the National Graves’ Disease Foundation. Any one of them can provide you with some solid background information. Two that I think are particularly thorough and helpful are THE THYROID SOURCEBOOK and YOUR THYROID: A Home Reference. You can find them for sale in bookstores, even online ones, and most likely at your local library. These are books on the thyroid, and its diseases in general, so you need to find the chapters on Graves, but they will help to explain the things your doctor will talk about with you. I also found it helpful to get a drug reference manual and read up on both the antithyroid drugs and the replacement hormones (that are usually necessary after having RAI — radioactive iodine treatment — or surgery). Knowing side effect possibilities helps protect you while you are on the antithyroid drugs, and it also can help you to make a decision about which one of the treatments you would prefer for long term handling of the disease.

There are pros and cons to any of the treatments (there are three potential ones), and sometimes our decision about what to do comes down to personal choice. But there can also be medical reasons why a doctor would recommend one treatment over another. The more knowledgeable you are about the issues, the better you will be able to work with your doctor to find a treatment that is appropriate for you. Any of the three treatments has the potential to make you well again, so please take heart.

Wishing you good health soon,
Bobbi — NGDF Asst. Online Facilitator
Bobbi@ngdf.org