[Anonymous July 16, 1998 at 1:18 am Post count: 93172]

#1148642

Kathleen,
I also have mild case Graves. I have been taking 1/2 5 mg. tablet of
Tapazole every other day for approx 10 years. Perhaps something like
this would work for you too. You didn’t say if you have been diagnosed
recently. I understand there is a lucky few who go into remission after
year or two on medication. My mother and sister are hypo and it does
appear easier to treat. I am getting liver profile ea blood test –
any change will force me to make a decision. I’m not sure about RAI
either but I’m holding my own at this dosage and plan to just wait &
see. Good Luck.

[Anonymous July 16, 1998 at 1:19 am Post count: 93172]

#1050171

I have a mild case of Grave’s disease, which my doctor is having trouble treating with ATD’s. The lowest dose (5 mg. a day) of methimazole is too strong — makes me hypo and miserable, but now that I’m off drugs, my thyroid’s going back up.

My doctor is recommending that I do RAI, because she says that it’s easier to treat the resulting hypothyroid condition than it is to treat my hyperthyroid condition.

Has anyone else had RAI for a fairly mild case of Graves? How do you feel about it (i.e., trading off a hyper thyroid for hypo)?

Has anyone taken synthetic thyroid hormone in conjunction with ATD’s? How successful was that?

[Anonymous July 16, 1998 at 2:31 am Post count: 93172]

#1148643

Hi Kathleen,
I think you and I are in the same boat. I was diagnosed with mild-moderate Graves about two and a half months ago and ever since I have been on decreasing doses of Tapazole (30,20,10) and have been hypothyroid now for probably two months. Like you I have been feeling poorly being in the hypothyroid range. I just started 5mg/day about a week ago and we’ll see how that works. I am suspecting though that I will remain hypo on 5mg/day. I would be willing to try 2.5mg/day but if that doesn’t work I think that RAI is probably the only option. I was wondering if switching to PTU might work because it is a little less potent (tapazole is 10X as potent as PTU) so maybe low doses of PTU would work. Or you mentioned taking replacement and ATDs. I mentioned that to my doc and he wasn’t really enthused about trying that. My doctor agrees with yours that treating hypo is much easier than treating hyper so it may come to the inevitable that we need to be nuked. That proposition doesn’t really scare me to much (I say that now; who knows what I will feel like when if and when it actually would occur). The only downside is that you are basically committing to taking replacement therapy the rest of your life which I’m sure is not hard to get used to. I am very interested in the responses you get to your question. If you get any good info that’s not posted or have any good advice from your own experience(s) please post it because it would be helpful in my decision to take RAI or pursue other options if and when I end up in your shoes which I expect will happen soon.
George.

[Anonymous July 16, 1998 at 12:30 pm Post count: 93172]

#1148644

Cece —

How do you manage to split a 5 mg pill — they’re so tiny!! I wish I had a doctor who’s willing to work with a drug treatment as long as your doctor has — I don’t suppose you’re in L.A.?

I was diagnosed in December, and started drugs then. Went off drugs beginning of June because I was too hypo. My understanding is that since I have a mild case that responds so much to the drugs, I’ve probably got a better than average chance of going into remission. So I don’t really understand why my doctor’s pushing me to consider RAI now, before trying the drugs for 2 years. Her argument was that wouldn’t it be easier for me to only have to come to her once or twice a year, rather than once a month? As far as I’m concerned, once a month isn’t a huge inconvenience, if I have a chance of going into remission.

[Anonymous July 16, 1998 at 2:13 pm Post count: 93172]

#1148645

It isn’t really that hard to split small pills. My son takes a small (5 mg) pill for his ADHD and I have to split it – it is about half the size of my 10mg Tapazole pill, so it’s probably pretty comparable to yours. You can get pill splitters/cutters at the pharmacy. Mine is getting quite a workout right now because my endo. adjusted my dosage down to 5 mg for 5 days (M-F) and 10mg for 2 days (St-Su), so I am cutting the 10’s right now. As far as pushing you toward a quicker course of treatment, I think some doctors do it for their own convenience as much (maybe more) than yours. If you really want to give ATDs a chance, stand your ground.

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