What is the treatment for Graves disease?

There are three treatments for Graves 'disease:

•Medicine. There are some medicines called antithyroid drugs that can lower the amount of thyroid hormones made by the thyroid, causing it to make, normal levels. A doctor must give these medicines to you. Some patients who take an acute thyroid drug for 1 to 2 years have a remission from Graves' disease; their thyroid function may remain normal even without medication.

•Radioactive iodine. The radioactive iodine damages thyroid cells, shrinking and eventually destroying the thyroid gland in order to reduce hormone levels. Like surgery, this condition usually leads to hypothyroidism, so that thyroid hormone supplement medication is needed for the rest of the patient's life.

•Surgery. All of the thyroid gland will be removed. In most cases, people who have surgery for Graves 'disease will develop an under-active thyroid (hypothyroidism, the opposite of hyperthyroidism), and will have to take thyroid replacement hormones for the rest of their lives.

After a diagnosis is made and a treatment is chosen, you should return to your doctor for regular follow-up visits every year to make sure that your thyroid levels are normal and for adjustments in your medicine dose if need be.

This answer is based on source information from the National Women's Health Information Center.