Am I Crazy to Refuse Treatment?

[Guest guest]

Hello Everyone,

I'm a first timer here, and a newbie to hyperthyroidism. I'm Canadian,

female, age 50, non-meno (yet).

I've recently had a physical after 4 years of staying away from anything

medical and was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism due to Graves'

Disease, based on the following test results.

BLOOD TESTS RESULTS (CANADIAN):

Free Triiodothyronine - 10.2 HI (Reference Range 3.5 - 6.5 PMOL/L)

Thyrotropin (Sensitive TSH) - <0.05 LO (Reference Range 0.35 - 5.00

mIU/L)

Free Thyroxine (Free T4) - 32 HI (Reference Range 9 - 23 PMOL/L)

Anti TPO - 66 HI (Reference Range Less than 35 IU/ml)

Anti TG - <20 (Reference Range Less than 40 IU/ml

NUCLEAR SCAN TEST RESULTS (non-uptake):

Thyroid Scan:

There is increased vascularity and avid trapping in both left and right

thyroid lobes which show greater than usual uptake.

Interpretation:

The scan appearance is consistent with Graves disease. No discrete

nodule is demonstrated

ULTRASOUND TEST RESULTS: Not done yet.

There is a long list of symptoms that are new for me in the last 4

years, but in terms of the more worrisome symptoms, I would say

blood-pressure. (I do not have palpitations or tremors). My blood

pressure seems to be in the ranges 125-150/75-95, the lower when I

awaken in the morning, the higher later in the day.

The endo's first offer was RAI. When I expressed my concerns, and asked

about meds instead, she tried to convince me that this was not a good

option (by both telling me RAI is the number one treatment in the US -

and I'm not sure why she thought this would impress me – as well as

trying to put me off the drugs by informing me that the meds might

destroy my liver or put me in danger of infection).

In the end she gave me a script for Tapazole. When I showed no great

enthusiasm for the meds either, she said I should at least take a beta

blocker and gave me a script for .

I asked her where I might be on the scale of severity, and she said that

there is no scale, but if there was one, I would be mild to moderate.

I asked if she thought I could afford some time to try alternate methods

of dealing with this and she said she didn't think so. To be clearer, I

asked her if she thought I might die, and she said that although she

couldn't say it was a certainty, that it was indeed a definite

possibility.

I hate the idea of conventional medicine's treatments – all of

them. And didn't I read that beta blockers where somehow bad for

HyperT's?

So now I ask myself - is it reasonable/sensible to take some time to see

if 's protocol might do the trick for me before accepting the meds?

And does the fact that I may have already had Graves for 4 years affect

the answer?

Any advice those of you who've (kinda) figured this out can give me

would be welcome!

In any case, glad to have all of you here to share with...

Sunny