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Wednesday, February 08, 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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7/22/2010 1:06 AM

sooty

Joined: 7/22/2010

Posts: 4

need advice

I have had Chronic fatigue for 13 years. 6years ago my tsh was found to be very low, nothing was done apart from repeated blood tests which always showed tsh was low. T3 and T4 normal. I have since left the uk and moved to australia. the doctors scaned my thyroid this week doing a radioactive iodine uptake scan and results show i have graves disease. i am now worried i have had it for years and not been treated. would it have caused damage to me? i am only 47. now i dont know what to do can it be treated without conventional drugs? any advice would be good. many thanks

7/22/2010 5:44 PM

Elaine

Joined: 8/1/2008

Posts: 3174

Re: need advice

Hi,

With a normal T4 and T3 and a low TSH, you should have been diagnosed with subclinical hyperthyroidism. Since this disorder is usually Not treated, your doctor may have not mentioned it but, as recommended, regularly re-tested your levels. A low TSH on its own doesn't cause any damage. TSH is a pituitary hormone that helps regulate thyroid hormone levels.

When thyroid hormone levels (T4 and T3) begin to rise the pituitary secretes less TSH to try to keep them from rising too high. TSH will be as low as <.01 before thyroid levels rise abnormally high.

If you do have Graves' disease now, medications like methimazole can be used to lower thyroid hormone levels and help your immune system heal, causing remission. Graves' is a self-limiting disorder that runs its own course (often waxing and waning, and worsening in times of stress) and then resolving. best, elaine

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