Drug Treatment: Methadone Facts

Question: Radioactive iodine or drug treatment for thyroid disease?which is better?

(Posted by: efren v on 2009-01-29 06:00:05)

Please enlighten my mind about this two type solution for thyroid disease, maybe if there's no hope for short medication with my thyroid problem i chose Radioactive treatment.

Posted by: Lisa A on 2009-01-29, 06:22:08

Whatever you do, do NOT have radiation. I'm assuming that you have Grave's disease. Did the doctor who offered you radiation tell you that radiation is NOT a cure for Grave's disease? Did he tell you that it makes Grave's disease worse? And did he tell you that after you have the radiation, you will not only still have Grave's disease, but you will also have an additional disease (iatrogenic hypOthyroidism)? Did he tell you that while radiation will get rid of one symptom of Grave's disease only (hyperthyroidism) that it might come back? If your doctor didn't tell you these things, then he is not allowing you informed consent. That is malpractice. And you should RUN away from this doctor as fast as you can, and find a new one. The correct treatment for Grave's disease is methimizole (or PTU in the UK). You take it until your body naturally goes into remission, or for the rest of your life, whichever comes first. There is absolutely NO cure for Grave's disease. There is only treatment. Any doctor who tells you that he can cure you is telling lies and commiting malpractice.

Posted by: Topper (Linda) on 2009-01-31, 03:52:22

Depends on which thyroid disorder you have AND what treatments have already been tried. Hyper can be Grave's Disease, a hyper swing of Hashimoto's Thyroiditis or even a genetic disorder, like my situation. No matter what the cause RAI is the LAST resort for treatment. Used only when nothing else works or if the body is so hyper that there is no time to go a safer route due to the ongoing damage to the body from an extreme hyper state. RAI does not 'fix' anything. It's purpose is to destroy the thyroid gland, or part of it depending on the dose, to prevent it from producing excess thyroid hormone and causing a hyper state. It's pretty much a given that after the RAI you won't have enough gland function left to provide your body with sufficient thyroid hormone to be able to function in a healthy manner and will end up on thyroid hormone replacement for life. That means taking hormone replacement daily... for the rest of your life. So if you are being told that this will 'fix' your thyroid problem, that is untrue. It will merely change your thyroid problem. Sad to say some docs prefer gland destruction and hormone replacement cuz it's easier for them than to go the other routes. For us... loss of a gland is permanent, I lost mine to RAI nearly 20 years ago, and having to deal with doctors that are totally ignorant when it come to PROPER thyroid care can make life (I'm using family friendly wording here even though it's too mild for the emotions I have on this particular subject) a challenge to deal with. Explore your options carefully, KNOW that you may have options, depending on which thyroid disorder you are dealing with and available treatments for it.

Posted by: smartbruentte on 2009-02-01, 20:26:22

I chose low dose of meds and it's working