General Medicine

» Mom_n_remission - Graves in children

I am in remission from graves disease and now am concerned thet it may be passed on to my children. I just recently found out that 4 of my aunts and 1 of my uncles on my fathers side suffered from the same disease. Can anyone point me in the right direction?
Thanks,

-- posted by Mom_n_remission

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» Elaine Moore - Graves in children

In response to Graves in children posted by Mom_n_remission:
Hi,
Thyroid diseases tend to run in families, but they're not hereditary conditions. We can pass on immune system genes (which 20 percent of the population have) that make us susceptible to developing an autoimmune disorder if we're exposed to certain triggers. But we also have and can pass on genes that offer protection against specific autoimmune disorders. For instance in Graves' disease the HLA B7 gene offers protection.
Slightly more than 1% of the population develop Graves' disease so your children are more likely to not develop Graves' disease. Neither of my children have GD although my daughter has had stretches of subclinical hypothyroidism and subclinical hyperthyroidism, neither of which needed treatment.
What you might want to do is teach your children what foods to avoid and have them tested if they show any signs of thyroid disease. All children in the U.S. are tested at birth for thyroid function, and hypothyroidism is much more common. Still, thyroid disease is only rarely seen. Best, elaine

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» kinde - Graves remission

In response to Graves in children posted by Mom_n_remission:
Can you tell me what you did to go into remission from graves?

I am still on methemazole. I have taken it for about 3 years at 2.5 morning and nite.

-- posted by kinde

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» Elaine Moore - Graves remission

In response to Graves remission posted by kinde:
Hi Kinde,
In case Mom_n_remission doesn't see this, there are lots of people in remission on the Graves' board at www.mediboard.com and at gravees_support@yahoo.groups.com. Many of them found that things really moved along when they made lifestyle changes, particularly cutting out excess dietary iodine in iodized salt and fast/processed foods, adding goitrogens (foods that block iodine absorption), avoiding aspartame, adding selenium or L-carnitine, and/or incorporating stress reduction techniques. Avoiding any known or suspected allergens is also important. Best to you, Elaine

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