[Anonymous May 31, 2000 at 2:27 pm Post count: 93172]

#1038658

Good morning Warrior’s.

Some of you may have started to receive e-mails from other thyroid boards questioning the integrity of the National Graves’ Disease Foundation and our place in providing support and education. Two sites recently have mentioned us by name and stated that we do not present the full range of options for treatment of Graves’ disease.

The range of treatments for Graves’ disease are anti-thyroid drugs, RAI-131 and thyroidectomy. Those are the three treatments that are followed world wide. Some countries like ATDs more than RAI and visa-versa. Anything else you do are considered “COMPLAMENTARY” to conventional treatment. Even the books published by the alternative doctor’s and specialists put the disclaimer in their books that their advise does not substitute for medical care and to follow any treatment plan with your doctor’s advise.

We have always said that if you want to follow an alternative treatment plan do so with your doctor’s knowledge. That has not changed. Use the search engine and you will find posts on alternative treatments. You will find posts on ATDs, RAI and thyroidectomies. This site follows the guidelines of our foundation as well as the guidelines of the medical sites of which we have their seals of approval on our home page.

We are here to provide support, information and education. Anything else is not part of what we do. There is a whole world out there and any person with a computer can create a web site. If you do not find what you want here there is always somewhere else to go. However, to ensure that you receive the best possible advise or information I will state again. Look for sites with associations with National or International organizations. Look for sites that have links to medical institutions or medical boards of advisors. Look for sites that follow medical codes of ethics and have site seals stating so.

That is your best defense against information that may be harmful to you. We have also been accused of not allowing freedom of speech. Freedom of speech is a right. Rights have duties, and the right to say what you want goes hand in hand with the duty to speak responsibly. One may yell fire in the street and not draw much attention. But yell fire in a crowded movie theater and you have panic and my have broken the law.

To that end we do remove posts for review. Mention a doctor’s name with out the permission of the doctor or the board and it will be removed until it can be checked out. We have had doctors referred to on this site that have lost their licenses. If the name is legitimate and we have the doctor’s approval the post goes back on. Mention a web site without the approval of the site owner and the NGDF and it will be removed. It will be reviewed and if it is a good site we will put the post back on and add it to our recommended links for all to review. A majority of the links on our Graves’ related links have been added this way. Post a message that is diagnosing a medical condition over the Internet and it will be removed. Post a copyrighted article without the written consent of the author and the letter on file with us and it will be removed. Copyright infringement cannot be allowed. A full 95% of the posts that are removed for review are returned to the board within 24 hours after review.

So bottom line warrior’s is; We are here for you. We strive to provide the best information possible. If others what to shoot arrows at the moon to make it go away so be it. The moon will rise again tomorrow, so will we. You can count on it. We will be here for you. We are only a click away.

Jake
On-line Facilitator

[Author]

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