Treatments

Hyperthyroidism treatments/ Grave’s disease treatment:

Conventional medicine offers no treatment or cure for the underlying autoimmune problem that causes Graves' disease.

The focus for those with hyperthyroidism or Graves' disease, therefore, is to normalize thyroid function, if possible, and minimize any symptoms and side effects of the overactive thyroid.

1.     Antithyroid drugs

Antithyroid drug is a preparation that inhibits the synthesis of thyroid hormones and is   commonly used in the treatment of hyperthyroidism. The major antithyroid drugs are thioamide derivatives, such as propylthiouracil, and methimazole. Such substances interfere with the incorporation of iodine into the tyrosyl residues of thyroglobulin required for the production of the hormones thyroxine and triiodothyronine.

Examples: Methimazol, propylthiouracil, Carbimazole.

2.     Ablation

When the thyroid is surgically removed, that's called surgical ablation for the thyroid. When radioactive iodine is used as a treatment for an overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism), with the purpose of reversing the overactivity, this is referred to as radioactive ablation, or sometimes chemical ablation.

3.     Thyroid surgery

Thyroid surgery is frequently used to treat thyroid cancer and is sometimes the preferred approach to dealing with goiter, nodules or an overactive thyroid. Here are comprehensive resources regarding thyroid surgery — known as thyroidectomy — including reasons for thyroid surgery, choosing a surgeon, types of thyroid surgery, anesthesia for thyroid surgery, endoscopic surgery, minimally invasive thyroid surgery, surgery complications and recuperation.

 Hypothyroidism treatment:

Hormone therapy:

Hypothyroidism is that thyroid gland is producing less amount of its hormones. Treatment for this is to treat the patient with synthetic hormones.

Example: synthetic L-thyroxine (T4) preparations (Synthroid, Levoxyl and Unithroid), synthetic L-triiodothyronine (T3) preparations (Cytomel), synthetic T4/T3 combinations (Thyrolar) and dessicated thyroid preparations (Armour, Naturethroid, Bio-Throid, and Westhroid).

Treatment for auto immune thyroid disease/hashimoto’s disease:

             Often, autoimmune thyroid diseases can be symptomless or may not require medical treatment. In cases in which symptoms become bothersome, autoimmune thyroiditis may be treated with a synthetic thyroid hormone, such as levothyroxine (Levoxyl, Synthroid). In some cases, autoimmune thyroid disease symptoms, such as goiter, may resolve themselves over time.

Thyroid cancer treatments

• Surgery to remove cancer is called Thyroidectomy. Some patients receive a lobectomy, which removes only one side of the thyroid. A near-total thyroidectomy removes almost all of the gland. The entire thyroid is removed in a total thyroidectomy. Lymph node dissection is also sometimes performed during thyroid surgery, to assess the spread of thyroid cancer.
• Radiation therapy to kill cancer cells. Radiation can be delivered outside the body (known as external beam radiation) or by radioactive iodine (RAI), which is usually administered as a liquid or pill. The thyroid absorbs iodine, and the radioactive form of iodine collects in thyroid tissue and kills cancer cells.
• Hormone therapy, using thyroid hormone replacement drugs. Administering thyroid hormone, usually at suppressive doses to keep TSH low or undetectable, helps prevent thyroid cancer from recurring, by suppressing the activity of any residual thyroid tissue.
• Chemotherapy, which uses drugs to kill cancer cells. It may be taken in pill form, or intravenously.