Moving to China with Grave's

[GSD83]

Good evening everybody, I hope somebody can give me some enlightenment. I was diagnosed with Grave's last year and I am currently taking 20ml of Neo-Mercozole (Carbimazole) per day. I have a fantastic opportunity to go to China next August, but I don't know if I will get my R.A.I treatment by then, what should I do? Chance going to China or not? Thanks in advance.

[Fruitandnutcase]

Hi, I'd say go if you feel ok. I have Graves, I'm in remission at the moment. We travelled in Europe in our camper. Before our first trip I was all worried and contacted my insurer to be sure my health insurance was valid. Their response was interesting - Graves didn't seem to feature highly in their list of money making problems and I don't think our policy increased in cost at all. I wouldn't say I was disappointed but it felt odd that something which was such a big deal t me was so minor to my insurers.

At that point I was on block and replace and taking 40mcg carbimazole and 75 / 100mcg levothirine a day. I just always made sure I had enough pills with me and had no problems at all.

On the other hand if your hospital is anything like mine and you want RAI I'm sure they would give it to you if you ask, I was always being told it was the next step should I not stay in remission. I got the feeling they couldn't wait to give it to me so if you really want it then isure you could probably have it sooner. I definitely didn't / don't want it, I was really well on block and replace and want that again should I relapse.

So good luck, if you are feeling well and want to go to China I would speak to your health insurers, pack enough pills and go. 🛫

[GSD83 in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

Dear Fruitandnutcase, thank you for your detailed reply. Even if I do get my RAI treatment in Ireland I could get check ups in China if I needed to increase or decrease my dosage. Its too big of an opportunity to turn down.

Cheers!

[Fruitandnutcase in reply to GSD83]

How long will you be in China for? It would be worth checking out good hospitals in the areas you are going to. Just find out as an insurance, hopefully you will never have to use them.

Remember you have to keep away from people for a period of time (not sure how long though) after you have been given RAI and I've also read that you can be given a certificate to prove that you have had RAI if you are travelling - think you might set off alarms!

My son used to work in TV and used to do all theorganisation for when they sent people abroad. His 'call sheets' used to list details of every single thing that anyone might possibly need while they were away and always included hospitals and I remember someone on one of his teams developed appendicitis while they were in Russia - it was amazing - they just used the hospital phone number he had listed and everything ran smoothly..

When we were talking about it later he said he tended to use American hospitals if there was one in the area. So if you wanted to you could research all that sort of stuff before you leave home and take copies of prescriptions for any medicines you take and have a great time. ☀️