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  • paloma
    Participant
    July 5, 2009 at 6:41 am
    Post count: 42
    #1019195

    Have an appt. July 15. After two months of waiting! This is a small town, basically. My insurance lists two endos. But I need to know what to ask the dr., once I have his/her undivided attention (as if.) Any ideas? Treatment options? My dr. says ablation, I don’t know what that is. Anybody?

    Jake_George
    Participant
    July 6, 2009 at 1:55 pm
    Post count: 120
    #1069996

    Ablation is Taking RAI 131, radioactive iodine to kill off the thyroid. It is one of three accepted treatment options for Graves’ disease. The other two are anti-thyroid drugs and thyroidectomy.

    Some questions to ask are:

    How many Graves’ patients do you see. Example, in Melbourne Fl. There are about 65 thousand people. That would equate to about 650 people with Graves’. So you can base your town’s size to get an idea of how many there would be in your area.

    Is the doctor a diabetic, or thyroid specialist? An endocrinologist that is a thyroid specialist would be preferred over one that specializes in diabetes for example. They are both endocrinologists but one is better suited to treating your thyroid. Both are better than an internal med specialist for example.

    Ask why the doctor wants to go to radiation so soon. Are anti-thyroid drugs an option for you? There may be compelling reasons why ATDs may not be acceptable.

    Ask about the possibility of a thyroidectomy.

    Ask where you are in the development of the disease. These questions will give you some information to think about to make a well informed decision.

    paloma
    Participant
    July 15, 2009 at 3:23 pm
    Post count: 42
    #1069997

    Thanks for the suggestions, I did use them. My new endo is great. He is a specialist in thyroid disorders. This guy was amazing. Did a THOROUGH exam, explained exactly why he did the things he did. Discussed pros and cons of various treatment options. I’m having RAI. He explained that my test results meant I need to have treatment ASAP. I appreciate my good fortune in finding Doc Johnson the first time out, as this is a small town and specialists are hard to come by!
    I will post updates regularly here. Thanks for your reply! <img decoding=” title=”Wink” />

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