General Medicine

» Elaine Moore - Graves' treatment??

In response to Graves' treatment?? posted by cynthia62:
Hi Cynthia,
Propranolol is often used along with anti-thyroid drugs like methimazole. Propranolol and other beta blockers slightly reduce thyroid hormone levels because they inhibit the conversion of T4 into T3. And they reduce symptoms of anxiety as well as cardiac symptoms such as hypertension and increased heart rate in people with hyperthyroidism.

In some cases, especially when hyperthyroidism is mild or subclinical, beta blockers alone are used.

Low selenium levels have been found to be a common cause of autoimmune thyroid disease. You can ingest too much selenium if you're using supplements, but if you take 200 mcg selenium daily or less, you shouldn't run into problems with toxicity, and you'd have adequate blood levels.

If you still have your ovaries you may not need estrogen replacement hormone. But it's helpful to have both estrogen and progesterone levels tested. If you're having symptoms of perimenopause, it could be that progesterone creams would be adequate for balancing your levels. You might want to research estrogen dominance and progesterone creams.

Ideally, your heart rate after 10 minutes of rest would be around 70, and you really wouldn't want it higher than 95. Elevated heart rate is a classic hyperthyroid symptom, and once your levels start to fall your heart rate should come down. In the meantime, propranolol would help so you might want to ask your doctor about using a low dose until your ATD kicks in.

It sounds like you're on a good start to improving lifestyle factors that could worsen your condition. Fast food is hard to give up, but if you avoid it as much as possible you'll notice results. Salads with grilled chicken are sometimes available and make a better choice.

Best, Elaine