Was RAI necessary?

[Mugs19]

I know it is possible to have both Graves and Hashi's. My recurrent bouts of hyperthyroidism requiring 3 years of continuous carbimazole treatment made it look like I just had Graves. Since having several private blood tests I notice my Tg antibodies are raised and my TPO are very high. Would the Hashi's without RAi have eventually overridden the Graves?

[PurpleNails Administrator]

There’s no way to be certain if your hyperthyroidism would have ever gone into remission. Longterm carbimazole would always leave the risks of lowering of your white cell count, that possibility never disappears or that a sudden spike in your thyroid levels causes serious complications long term. 3 years is a lot longer than many doctors recommend you to remain in carbimazole.

TPO is positive with Graves albeit usually lower than with Hashi. (Both are autoimmune) Increase of TPO (and TRab) after RAI is quite common but it does not prove you would become under active. Medics don’t understand how antibodies work or how to treat them they are used for diagnosis.

This link may be of interest

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

Focus on where you go from here to feel well & not the unknown.

[Mugs19 in reply to PurpleNails]

Thankyou for your speedy reply. Yes I take your point about looking forward. It is 2 years ago now but as I have only got worse I am beginning to question who I can trust among those treating me (orsaying I don’t need treatment as my resolutions are normal). I will press on as usual. Thankyou again