[Anonymous August 31, 1998 at 11:31 pm Post count: 93172]

#1049904

Excuse my ignorance, but what is “palliative treatment”? According to my dictionary, palliate means “to reduce the violence of a disease”, but I have no idea what that means for your treatment.

I think that you’re on to something about doctors recommending RAI over ATD’s. I have a mild case of Grave’s, which my doctor is finding difficult to treat with ATDs, as the low doses are too strong. A couple of months ago, she said that I should consider RAI. The explanation she gave is that it’s easier to treat an underactive thyroid, and wouldn’t it be more convenient for me to come in once a year rather than every month? Of course, she didn’t mention that it would be once a year with daily medication for the rest of my life with RAI, as opposed to possibly needing ATDs for only 2 years, then maybe being in remission for at least years, and possibly forever.

Since her logic seemed so wacky, I assume that what she was thinking was: “If I can get her to do RAI, she’ll only have one office visit a year, rather than 12 — that saves me money, since with an HMO I lose money when I actually see a patient.”

Anyway — I’m standing my ground — no RAI for me. Regarding liver problems — I think ATDs are not really recommended for more than a couple of years, but there’s supposed to be a 30% chance that you can go into remission with 2 years of ATDs, so that’s what I’d go with. Regarding agranulocytosis — my impression is that it’s pretty rare, easy to recognize, and doesn’t generally result in lasting problems if the ATDs are stopped as soon as you spot the symptoms (the main symptom being a bad sore throat.)

[Anonymous September 1, 1998 at 1:11 pm Post count: 93172]

#1148070

Wow Kathleen is a mind reader!!

I was going to answer Ditto’s Post but Kathleen took the words right out of my mouth. Well put!! Jan and I talk to many people who call us from the http://www.ngdf.org home page and we can spot a HMO from a mile away.

It is true that most people do run the chance of remission depending on how bad their Graves is. It is about 30% as Kathleen said. We are finding more and more doctors willing to do RAI because it is easier for them (personal opinion)rathar than follow up a paitent for a few years.

The three options are:

Treatment with anti-thyroid drugs (ATDs)

Radiation of the thyroid with radioactive Iodine (Now given with Prednasone to reduce future eye problems)

Surgical removal of the thyroid.

Each option has it’s plusses and minuses and an informed decision is a must. That is why we are here to help educate.

Please feel free to e-mail us or vist our Web Site at http://www.ngdf.org or click on the green thyroid at the top of the BB page.

Jake
on-line facilitator
National Graves Disease Foundation

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