Graves Disease is an autoimmune disorder caused by an Overactive Thyroid. Among the various symptoms, skin and ophthalmic problems are fairly common. The conventional approach to treating Graves Disease attempts to suppress the Immune System for quick remittal of the condition.
Conventional therapies basically attempt to
- Curtail thyroid hormone production with the aid of immunosuppressive drugs.
- Erode some of the thyroid tissue with radioactive iodine therapy. This reduces the amount of thyroid tissue leading to lesser hormone production.
- Remove a large part of the thyroid gland by invasive surgery.
In all the thyroid treatment procedures mentioned above the end goal is to inhibit thyroid function. The process involves arriving at the correct dose of the drug by trial and error. Sometimes when the treatment is not followed up properly with regular visits to the doctor even after the over active thyroid has been corrected, a condition called Hypothyroidism can occur. This occurs due to an over correction caused by the drugs leading to an under active thyroid.
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