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Do Meds Cure Thyroid Eye Disease ?
I am on medication for Graves Disease and now my eyes have headed for the worse . I think it is called Thyroid Eye Disease ? May be wrong on that. I posted the other night , but I had another question for the experts and people who have already been through this .. Does medication cure this ? Or is this going to get worse as it goes on ? My eyes are really red , running water, start to close as the sun hits them, as well as the starring thing is going on . Today my head was throbbing on the sides by my eyes and I had sharp pains there too. I do not have the bugging eyes yet , but my pupils do not seem to change at all. So my question to all of you out there is will the antenolol and tapazole cure this ? Or make a difference ? I have been on these for 6 weeks maybe one or two more. The meds make me nauses every time I take them - I divide them over the day as instructed but it does not seem to help . I have no desire to eat just drink all day long I can't seem to quinch my thirst. I have a dr appt on tuesday but I would really like some feedback from all of you out there before I go . Thanks for your help.
I had TED for about 6 months while I had Graves and was treated with prednisone to help control it. It worked for me and my eyes recovered a lot after my thyroid was destroyed and now they only protrude slightly. Not enough that you would ever notice it. The drs can only tell by measuring. I do however have enough damage to the optic nerve that I have almost no periphreal vision and it will probably never come back.
Having your thyroid removed or have RAI ablation will help to stop it. The pain from it is horrendous and the steroids help this immensely also.
They have told me that I could redevelop TED again and it will be treated differently if I do, but it has been 5-6 years now and my eyes have not bothered me again. Knock on wood.
There is no medicines or supplements that can help the bulging after it is already permanent that I know of. The surgery options listed above are your only choices as far as I know.
Having your thyroid removed or have RAI ablation will help to stop it. The pain from it is horrendous and the steroids help this immensely also.
They have told me that I could redevelop TED again and it will be treated differently if I do, but it has been 5-6 years now and my eyes have not bothered me again. Knock on wood.
There is no medicines or supplements that can help the bulging after it is already permanent that I know of. The surgery options listed above are your only choices as far as I know.
I definitely have TED, eyes bulging like crazy; I have had a thyroidectomy and iodide treatment a couple of years ago and am now on synthroid. Does any medication or supplements like flax seed oil help the bulging to decrease?
I had the same situation with Graves and TED 3 years ago. I'm so subborn that I'm still taking methamazole and cannot decide to do the RAI or Thyroidectomy. I have gained
40 pounds since starting Methamazole. Really feel miserable. Are you glad you had your thyroid removed? The docs have told me the same thing about RAI and TED (might make it worse). My eyes have greatly improved since last fall but are still not normal and probably never will be again.
40 pounds since starting Methamazole. Really feel miserable. Are you glad you had your thyroid removed? The docs have told me the same thing about RAI and TED (might make it worse). My eyes have greatly improved since last fall but are still not normal and probably never will be again.
To answer your question, no, the anti thyroid meds will not cure Graves Eye Disease. While the two conditions often occur together, they are caused by two different sets of antibodies. That is, the antibodies attacking your thyroid causing it to overproduce thyroid hormones (and your Graves diagnosis) are different from the antibodies attacking your eyes. The anti thyroid drugs don't treat the antibodies in either case, they cause your thyroid to stop producing so much hormone.
With the eye disease, the antibodies attack the muscles behind the eyes, depositing fat in the muscles. When enough fat is deposited, the eyes start to move forward out of the eye sockets (because the eye is surrounded by the bony eye socket and it has nowhere else to go). Higher levels of fat cause the eyes to bulge forward, causing the staring look, and tearing, and light sensitivity and a dry "crunchy" feeling. Many people with this condition also get lid lag (where your upper or lower lids don't follow your eyes as they move) or lid retraction (where the upper lids are pulled back so that they don't really close all the way) or double vision (because the fat deposits often pull the muscles out of alignment).
I was diagnosed with Graves and Graves Eye disease just about 3 years ago. I was initially treated for the thyroid symptoms with tapazole and a beta blocker, then chose total thyroidectomy to permanently treat the Graves in May 2006. I chose not to have RAI because both endos that I had seen really recommended against it because it often makes eye problems worse and it can't be "undone" once the treatment begins.
As far as treating the eye problems caused by Graves, there are a few options (sometimes steroids are tried to control the swelling and sometimes radiation is used to shrink the tissues behind the eyes, and surgery). If you find you have the eye disease (can be positively diagnosed with blood tests for the antibodies that cause it), make sure you see an Ophthalmologist, preferably an Occuloplastic surgeon (an eye doctor also trained in plastic surgery). The earlier you can be seen in the progression of the disease, the better it will be in the long run. They have a device that measures the degree of proptosis (bulging of the eyes), the earlier in the treatment they take these measurements, the easier it will be to know what "normal" is when they decide to treat you.
I'll warn you, that unless you develop optic nerve damage (fairly rare occurance), the doctors will want to follow your progression for quite a while - 6 months to a year at least. Surgery is usually performed in stages - orbital decompression, surgery to correct double vision if needed, then surgery to correct eyelid retraction. Surgeons will rarely perform orbital decompression (either removal of some of the bony eye socket or removal of orbital fat or both to give the bulging muscles more room) until the changes in the eyes have stabilized. Often Graves Eye Disease will actively develop for a period of a year or more before it stabilizes and burns out. Unfortunately, once the burn out occurs, you are left with eyes that are not where they were meant to be in your eye sockets.
I had orbital decompression on both eyes just about a year ago. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it might be, about 2.5 hours in surgery, an overnight in the hospital afterwards. A little bit of swelling, no pain to speak of. I was driving within a couple of days. I had surgery to correct eyelid retraction and to remove some orbital fat last November. That was an outpatient surgery which took about 1.5 hours. I had a lot more swelling (didn't really leave the house for about 5 days, and when I did, I wore sunglasses!) but very little pain. The swelling went down over a couple of weeks, and I have had very little trouble since.
My advice to you: prepare to be patient (something I didn't have to speak of, but figure God gave me GED to teach me some since I never had kids to do it!). This will take a while, there isn't any quick cure. Good luck to you.
With the eye disease, the antibodies attack the muscles behind the eyes, depositing fat in the muscles. When enough fat is deposited, the eyes start to move forward out of the eye sockets (because the eye is surrounded by the bony eye socket and it has nowhere else to go). Higher levels of fat cause the eyes to bulge forward, causing the staring look, and tearing, and light sensitivity and a dry "crunchy" feeling. Many people with this condition also get lid lag (where your upper or lower lids don't follow your eyes as they move) or lid retraction (where the upper lids are pulled back so that they don't really close all the way) or double vision (because the fat deposits often pull the muscles out of alignment).
I was diagnosed with Graves and Graves Eye disease just about 3 years ago. I was initially treated for the thyroid symptoms with tapazole and a beta blocker, then chose total thyroidectomy to permanently treat the Graves in May 2006. I chose not to have RAI because both endos that I had seen really recommended against it because it often makes eye problems worse and it can't be "undone" once the treatment begins.
As far as treating the eye problems caused by Graves, there are a few options (sometimes steroids are tried to control the swelling and sometimes radiation is used to shrink the tissues behind the eyes, and surgery). If you find you have the eye disease (can be positively diagnosed with blood tests for the antibodies that cause it), make sure you see an Ophthalmologist, preferably an Occuloplastic surgeon (an eye doctor also trained in plastic surgery). The earlier you can be seen in the progression of the disease, the better it will be in the long run. They have a device that measures the degree of proptosis (bulging of the eyes), the earlier in the treatment they take these measurements, the easier it will be to know what "normal" is when they decide to treat you.
I'll warn you, that unless you develop optic nerve damage (fairly rare occurance), the doctors will want to follow your progression for quite a while - 6 months to a year at least. Surgery is usually performed in stages - orbital decompression, surgery to correct double vision if needed, then surgery to correct eyelid retraction. Surgeons will rarely perform orbital decompression (either removal of some of the bony eye socket or removal of orbital fat or both to give the bulging muscles more room) until the changes in the eyes have stabilized. Often Graves Eye Disease will actively develop for a period of a year or more before it stabilizes and burns out. Unfortunately, once the burn out occurs, you are left with eyes that are not where they were meant to be in your eye sockets.
I had orbital decompression on both eyes just about a year ago. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it might be, about 2.5 hours in surgery, an overnight in the hospital afterwards. A little bit of swelling, no pain to speak of. I was driving within a couple of days. I had surgery to correct eyelid retraction and to remove some orbital fat last November. That was an outpatient surgery which took about 1.5 hours. I had a lot more swelling (didn't really leave the house for about 5 days, and when I did, I wore sunglasses!) but very little pain. The swelling went down over a couple of weeks, and I have had very little trouble since.
My advice to you: prepare to be patient (something I didn't have to speak of, but figure God gave me GED to teach me some since I never had kids to do it!). This will take a while, there isn't any quick cure. Good luck to you.
Thyroid Eye Diease TED is triggered by Graves but follows its own path I am lead to believe. Stabilizing your thyroid will help ease the strain of TED but there is no cure. *sigh* Staying hydrated and taking flaxseed oil helps me, plus I use eyedrops a lot. Your symptoms sound very similair to my first ones..in fact I thought I had a sinus infection which is how my graves got diagnosed. The good news is as your medication evens out your thyroid these symptoms should get better.
My meds (methimazole) made me vomit the first week, but now I take it first thing in the morning all by itself or with balck coffee and don't eat for at least an hour and I am fine. I take my vitamins in the evening. I would tell your doctor about the nausea maybe there is another drug choice.
I also drink copious amounts of water...but have never gotten an answer on that one. interesting.
Good luck to you, it does get better.
My meds (methimazole) made me vomit the first week, but now I take it first thing in the morning all by itself or with balck coffee and don't eat for at least an hour and I am fine. I take my vitamins in the evening. I would tell your doctor about the nausea maybe there is another drug choice.
I also drink copious amounts of water...but have never gotten an answer on that one. interesting.
Good luck to you, it does get better.
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