[Anonymous July 29, 1997 at 4:05 pm Post count: 93172]

#1054515

This is from the Harvard link on the NGDF page. The subject is anti-thyroid meds. The skin rash is considered to be a minor complication and the serious complication of angranulocytosis only occurs in 1/4 of 1%. They cite the “lasting” remission rate as being 30% with HIGHER rates associated with longer treatment or higher doses.
For those of us on the anti-thyroid track, it sounds pretty encouraging.

“Therapy is usually prescribed for 12 to 18 months. The incidence of
lasting remission has been reported to be around 30%% with higher
remission rates associated with longer treatment ( or higher doses
(9). Whether this reflects the natural history of the disease or a
modulation of the immune processes involved in Graves’ hyperthyroidism
is not completely elucidated. Indeed, treatment with antithyroid drugs
is consistently associated with a decrease in TRAb, serum microsomal
antibody titers, and thyroglobulin antibody titers. In addition, the
number of circulating activated T lymphocytes and the helper/suppressor
T-lymphocyte ratio is reduced (8, 10, 11). The major complications
include agranulocytosis (0.4%%) and very rarely hepatitis; skin rash is
considered a minor complication.”

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