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Treated For Graves Disease And Hypertension. Is It Possible To Have Autoimmune Diseases Without Any Symptoms?
Posted on
Mon, 28 Jan 2013
Medically reviewed by
Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team
Mon, 28 Jan 2013
Answered on
Mon, 18 Feb 2013
Last reviewed on
Question : I AM A 63 YEAR OLD FEMALE. YEARS AGO I WAS DIAGNOSED WITH GRAVES DISEASE WITH HYPERTENSION. THE TREATED THE PROBLEM WITH PTU AND TENORMIN WITH GOOD RESULTS. I WANT TO KNOW IF YOU HAVE HAD AN AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE ARE YOU CONSIDERED TO ALWAYS HAVE AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE EVEN WITHOUT SYPTOMS? THANK YOU.
Hi, thanks for using health care magic
As you mentioned Graves is an autoimmune disorder.
Treatment involves the relieving the symptoms and correcting the high thyroid state. The propanolol that you used was to relieve the symptoms such as tremors or high pulse rate.
The PTU would have inhibited thyroid hormone production, it is normally used for 1 to 2 yrs , if used for this time period then sustained remission is more likely than if it is used for only 3 to 6 months.
Radioactive iodine is actually the most common treatment, it has a lower rate of relapse than the antithyroid drugs and it results in hypothyroidism.
At present you are in remission and would not be considered to have an active autoimmune disease, you would be said to have a previous history of autoimmune disease. There is a small risk of relapse for some persons.
Most persons may eventually develop hypothyroidism.
I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions
As you mentioned Graves is an autoimmune disorder.
Treatment involves the relieving the symptoms and correcting the high thyroid state. The propanolol that you used was to relieve the symptoms such as tremors or high pulse rate.
The PTU would have inhibited thyroid hormone production, it is normally used for 1 to 2 yrs , if used for this time period then sustained remission is more likely than if it is used for only 3 to 6 months.
Radioactive iodine is actually the most common treatment, it has a lower rate of relapse than the antithyroid drugs and it results in hypothyroidism.
At present you are in remission and would not be considered to have an active autoimmune disease, you would be said to have a previous history of autoimmune disease. There is a small risk of relapse for some persons.
Most persons may eventually develop hypothyroidism.
I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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