I think it is important to understand that the internet makes things seem more frequent, more common perhaps, than they really are. We see posts on this board, and assume it is the “Graves World,” when it is not necessarily true. We are, here, a self-selecting group that has access to internets and computers, and is motivated toward “support group.” There are many individuals who go to their doctors, get their doctor’s advice and do not show up here. There is more to the Graves World than boards like these.
It is my understanding that our endos prefer RAI to avoid the unnecessary risks that surgery imposes. Those risks are minimized if you live in a location where there is a very good thyroid surgeon, who does lots of these surgeries with a small percentage of complications. But a lot of us don’t live in such places.
It is likely, Amy, that all of us have “some” eye issues. One article that I read long ago from the ATF, stated that with new, soft-imaging techniques our doctors were finding “some” eye muscle changes in the majority of us with Graves. Having “some” changes does not mean we go on to get significant eye disease. People with already existing pronounced eye disease seem to be encouraged, (at least it appears so based on this board — which may not be a completely accurate assumption….see comment above) in recent years, to do either a thyroidectomy OR RAI combined with prednisone. For the rest of us, RAI alone is a viable option.
