Viewing 1 post (of 1 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • Anonymous
    Participant
    Post count: 93172

    Just back from four wonderful days at Whistler, BC. Very relaxing in luxurious accommodation where we could take our little dog. Sore eyes spoiled it a bit tho so I will look forward to a return visit when my eyes are back to “normal”.

    I have just scanned a few of the posts from the last few days. Shannon, welcome back. I see you are looking for a GP. I just received my Thyrobulletin from the Thyroid Foundation of Canada. They have three chapters in Newfoundland. One in Gander!! I have phone numbers so you can e-mail me if you want them. I’m sure they will be able to recommend a Doctor who knows his stuff when it comes to thyroid. Also, for any other Canadians out there I have a list of area contacts for all our Provinces. There are help line numbers for some of the Provinces as well.

    There is also an interesting article in this bulletin “Pittsburgh researcher discovers clue to treatment of thyroid eye disease – by Dr. Jack Wall from Allegheny University of the Health Sciences. Here is some of what was said – “Dr. Wall has identified proteins in both eye muscle and the thyroid gland that are targets of abnormal antibodies in the blood of patients with Graves’ disease. The antibody is produced in the thyroid gland and travels to the eye, destroying tissues in both organs. “These findings may help us develop more specific blood tests to identify patients prone to acquiring thyroid eye disease. They also offer the possibility of early treatment and prevention,” he says. Dr. Wall has cloned the protein and now is working on the development of a modified antigen that could prevent the autoimmune reaction causing the eye disease. “We are the first to look at thyroid eye disease as an autoimmune disease in which white blood cells react to eye tissues by making specific antibodies,” Dr. Wall says “In the past, physicians treated hyperthyroidism and ophthalmopathy, or eye bulging, spearately, but all people with Graves’ disease need to be evaluated for eye problems. By understanding the mechanism involved in thyroid eye disease, physicians can more specifically direct treatment to combat the underlying cause of the problem”.

    The address for the Thyroid Foundation of Canada is http://home.ican.net/~thyroid/Canada.html for anyone interested. I’m not sure if the info from this latest bulletin has been posted yet.

    Anyway it’s good to see that work is ongoing with this disease. We can all help by joining our foundations and supporting them financially when possible.

    Best wishes to everyone. Take care. SAS

Viewing 1 post (of 1 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.