Re: General-New to site

[Guest guest]

I am not sure what answer you are after here, but my three

bouts with Graves appear to have followed high stress

levels: a death, possibly losing health insurance coverage,

a young person I care very much about being in serious legal

trouble, all HIGH stress items, each of which led to a bout

with Graves. In each of those three bouts I had compounded

the stress with a year of not smoking so I had absolutely no

stress deviator available. I am again in a wildly

fluctuating TSH situation, and quit smoking in May and am

again without the stress deviator. Is that the kind of

information you are referring to? I did not have any known

physical stimulation though I was suspicious that the first

bout involving a lot of hospital visiting and cafeteria food

also may have been aggravated by excess food/iodine

consumption.

Low thyroid runs in my family, I am the only known

Graves/hyper family member. We all are allergic, and suffer

either from OA (Mother and sister) or RA (sister and I both

have RA) and my endo fears my glucose count could indicate I

am heading toward diabetes. So the packaging of auto-immune

problems certainly go together.

Elaine from andria, Virginia

Graves 1991, one or two years of PTU, into remission; Graves

1998, TED with double vision, orbital radiation so far has

worked, first on PTU, then on tapazole into remission;

Graves reoccurrence in 2003, eyes being checked this week,

but appear okay, last labs indicate TSH 2.9 (after 0.00 a

month ago), T3 237, T4 85, on 1/2 tapazole every other day,

feel better when using less, will repeat labs at end of

month or early November

Hello jmarshoneaux

On Tuesday, October 7, 2003, you wrote

> Can someone answer this question. Is Graves a result of your thyroid

> acting properly when stimulated by some other cause?

[Guest guest]

Yes, the thyroid stimulating immunoglobulins (TSI) are antibodies that

mimic TSH and cause the thyroid to produce too much hormone.

At 05:51 PM 10/7/2003, you wrote:

>Can someone answer this question. Is Graves a result of your thyroid

>acting properly when stimulated by some other cause?

[Guest guest]

Hi,

Graves' disease occurs when your immune system responds to environmental

stimuli (like iodine, stress, etc) and produces antibodies that target the cells

that make up your thyroid gland. This happens to people with certain genes that

predispose them to developing autoimmune thyroid disease.

These thyroid antibodies stimulate the cells that make up your thyroid

tissue, ordering them to produce excess thyroid hormone. While most treatments

aim

to lower thyroid hormone levels and reduce symptoms, it's also important to

address the underlying causes, that is, the environmental triggers that are

stimulating the immune system. Take care, Elaine