[Anonymous]

#1127233

I was diagnosed with TED Jan 98 and quit smoking Feb 99 after I read that smoking can cause or complicate the disease. My eyes were less irritated after I quit. It was difficult with all the other stress, but I didn’t want my eyes to get worse. My doctor also wouldn’t do surgery until I quit.
Wendy

[Anonymous]

#1039234

I’m a smoker with TED. I know I’ve read in numerous places that smoking makes GD harder to fight. I don’t know if this is the case, as I was a smoker long before I got Graves. I had TED for a year before my thyroid bit the dust, but because I was already diagnosed, they were watching pretty closely and caught the thyroid at the early stage. I’ve been on ATD’s since January, and the numbers are coming back up. The eyes and vision are a little worse than before my thyroid went, but I have glasses with prisms, so that cuts down on the double vision unless I’m tired.

Would my eyes have been better if I didn’t smoke? No idea. I’ve entertained the thought of giving it up to see if there is any improvement, but you know it’s one of those vicious circles – I still have stress and anxiety problems from being hyper, so do I really want to try quitting while I’m not feeling so hot????

Anybody else out there quit smoking after they got GD? If so, how did the battle go?

[Anonymous]

#1127234

You said your dr would not do surgery unless you quit smoking? What type of surgery did you have? What reason did he give you? I do believe there is something associated between smoking and GD.

[Author]

Posts