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Tuesday, February 07, 2012

..:: Q & A ::..

THE Q & A

Welcome to The Q&A with Elaine Moore. Registered members are invited to ask any question of Elaine Moore on autoimmune diseases, Graves' disease, other thyroid diseases and subconditions, laboratory work, traditional and complementary medicine, triggers and environmental influences, thyroid and immune disorders in pets and animals, and other relevant areas of inquiry.

Each thread represents one question with one answer and will only appear at the time it is answered. Once answered, further replies cannot be made to the same thread since each thread represents only one question. A new thread will need to be started for additional questions.

Questions are answered solely by Elaine Moore, a medical writer and clinical laboratory scientist, MT, CLS, with more than 30 years of experience in immunology. Moore has also authored and edited over a dozen books in the area of health sciences and is an editor for McFarland Publisher's Health Topics Series.

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The Q & A with Elaine Moore

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9/3/2010 7:10 PM

lauradlg

Joined: 9/3/2010

Posts: 1

Graves Disease

Hello,

I was just diagnosed in July & went to my 2nd Endo appointment this morning. I wanted to share my results & see if you agree with her approach?

Results with Regular Doctor
7/27/10:
TSH 3rd Generation 0.011 (L) Range: 0.550 - 4.780
T3 Uptake 43.32 (H) Range 22.50 - 37.00
Free Thyroxine Index 7.1 (H) Range: 1.4-3.1
T4 16.4 (H) Range: 4.5 - 10.9

Results with Endo
08/23/10:
Thyroid Peroxidase 87 (H) Range: 0-34
Thyroid Stim Immunoglobulin 333 (H) Range: 0-139
Thyrotropin Receptor Ab, Serum 1.79 (H) Range: 0.00 - 1.75
Thyroxine (T4) Free, Direct, S 2.86 (H) Range: 0.82 - 1.77
Triiodothyronine, Free, Serum 7.9 (H) Range: 2.0 - 4.4
TSH <0.006 (L) Range: 0.450 - 4.500

We're doing a liver baseline prior to beginning my medication & she'll check my bloodwork 6 weeks after I begin.

My doctor is recommending that I take Methimazole 10mg tablet (2x a day,so 20mg total) She will slowly reduce my dose as I get better.

She also wants me to do a Uptake scan before I start on Methimazole. What is your thought on this?

My husband & I wanted to try to get pregnant at the end of the year. My doctor said once my levels stabilize I can try. Do you agree? This would be our first pregnancy.

Thanks so much for your help!

9/7/2010 5:45 PM

Elaine

Joined: 8/1/2008

Posts: 3166

Re: Graves Disease

Hi Laura,

Your positive results for TSI and TSH receptor antibodies show that you have Graves' disease so an uptake (which exposes you to radioiodine) isn't necessary. If your doctor thinks nodules might also be present, an ultrasound would be a safer alternative. Before we had blood tests for TSI, the uptake was commonly used, but it doesn't confirm Graves' disease and is no longer considered desirable.

A dose of 20 mg MMI is perfect. That's the current recommendation and as soon as your FT4 level falls into range (FT3 will take a bit longer to get into range) the dose should be decreased. Pregnancy is fine once your levels are stable on a maintenance dose between 2.5-10 mg daily. Best, Elaine

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