I am wondering if everbodies eyes get really bulgy when you have got graves disease and if its possible for them to go down like is there any treatments for it. I think I have hyperthyroidism and i really dont want to feel like poop anymore. I think I will get my thyroid removed.
From what I have heard, removing your thyroid or getting RAI treatment will not address the issues of your eyes. You need to get a medical opinion as to the cause of your hyperthyroidism. If you have eye disease, you most likely have Grave's disease. In any case, you need to see a physician immediately to get started on treatment. I have read that surgeons can address the issue of bulging eyes with Graves disease patients. Also, see an ophthalmologist about what they can do for you. I got plugs inserted into my tear ducts to address the issue of dry, irritated eyes. One thing you can do for yourself immediately is to get started taking L-Carnitine and/or Acetyl-L-Carnitine supplements which you can purchase in a health food store. I would start on 1,000 mg a day. I took 2,000 mg of regular L-Carnitine and 1,000 mg of Acetyl-L-Carnitine when I started on it for my disease. This is an amino acid that is naturally found in the body but gets depleted from the muscles of hyperthyroid patients. It also helps with recovery and normalizing symptoms in Graves patients and you do not need a doctor's prescription or approval to do this. The more you are proactive as a patient, that is the more research you do and the more decisions you make based on the information you gather, the better the outcome you will have.
I have Graves disease with hyperthyroidism - the two go hand in hand, if you have Graves it's caused by hyperthyroidism. All the muscles behind my eyes have pushed my eyes forward but instead of looking bulgy (the right eye does bulge a bit) it has caused the area around my eyes to look puffy & swollen. I can't move my eyes left or right or up and down so the ophthimologist has advised glasses to help decrease eye strain. I saw my endo last week and we discussed thyroidectomy and RAI and he told me it would have no effect on reducing the bulge or the muscle/tissue damage behind my eyes. Overtime the swelling may go down on it's own but only time will tell. Do you smoke? If you do, give up - it's the only way to have any chance of the swelling going down. Smoking aggravates Graves and makes it worse. You should and must get treatment, your endo will arrange a CT scan to assess the damage the Graves has done to your eye muscles - the danger of Graves is that the tissue/muscles behind the eyes can deform so much that it will crush the optic nerves and cause blindness. There are ops to remove the damaged tissue - to make room for your eyes to fit back in their sockets - but from what I have read the op can leave you looking disfigured. Best course of action is to get treatment asap & at least have a scan done of your eyes and an eye check. Also, as Linda has said, try acetyl l carnitine - I have just started taking this supplement to help improve my condition
About 50 percent of Graves' disease sufferers develops an eye disease with resultant bulging in one or both eyes. Graves' disease affects the eyes and skin with a resulting hyperactive thyroid. Although thyroid disease and thyroid eye disease, both stem from the immune system’s attack on healthy tissue, one disease does not directly cause the other. That’s why treatment of the thyroid gland, while important, does not improve the eye disease. The two diseases run their separate courses and do not necessarily occur at the same time.
Management of this condition with the eyes is very complex. Particular attention needs to be paid to where you are in the course of the disease process, as it typically ends after 1-2 years. During that time you are “active” with inflammation and discomfort. After the active phase, inflammation resolves and ideally this the best time for surgery.
Also, you should carefully research the potential effects of RAI treatment if you have G.O. as there have been many instances where RAI treatment worsened the eye symptoms in Grave's patients.
Get yourself referred to an oculoplastic surgeon to watch for any signs of dry eye, double vision and vision change.
Your body is trying to heal itself from a disease that affects many tissues, and good nutrition, regular exercise, and plenty of rest can help you recover. Eat foods high in B-vitamins and iron, such as whole grains (if no allergy), fresh vegetables, and sea vegetables. Increase antioxidant foods in your diet (blueberries, tomatoes and cherries)
Agree with mymalo, cigarette smoking has been shown to worsen the disease. If you are a smoker, one of the most important steps you can take is to stop smoking. You should also try to avoid secondhand smoke.
If you take thyroid hormone medications, talk to your doctor before consuming soy products. There is some evidence that soy may interfere with absorption of thyroid hormone.
Hope it helps. I wish you a fast recovery.
Vincent.
I agree with everything Vincent says. Also avoid Aspartame which is an artificial sweetener found in soft drinks, gum and other foods.
Hi Vincient
I am thinking of writing a book on Graves disease. I don't want to plagerize but your information is outstanding and well presented. May I use the information you provided in it?
Linda
My eyes didn't become 'bulgy' until AFTER I had the poison little pill (RAI) - and at that stage, I'd had Graves Disease and Hyperthyroidism for 5 years (it's been 9 years and counting now). RAI did absolutely nothing but aggravate the condition, so I fired the inept and careless medical profession from my life.
No matter how sick I am, or how much worse it may become, thyroid removal will never, ever, be an option for me. As long as I have my thyroid, I know there's hope of finding a way to cure myself naturally.
These days, it's all about supporting drug companies and pushing as many people as possible into a lifestyle of having to be dependant on drugs just to stay alive.
Is that really what you want? Think very carefully about this.
Remember the global shortage of Neo-Mercazole last year? Who's going to guarantee that if you have your thyroid removed, there absolutely will never, ever be a global shortage of your synthetic thyroid hormones?
What happens when you can't get your synthetic thyroid hormones? You die. (I'll bet your doctor hasn't informed you of that inconvenient little fact!)
Do drug companies and quacks care about that? No, of course not.
The only person who's ever going to care about your health is YOU.
I have Graves Disease also. I was diagnosed about 1 1/2 years ago. For me, green tea bags work wonders!! 
. After making a cup of hot green tea, I let my tea bag cool then squeeze a little bit of the water out of it, leaving some of the water in it. I squeeze the tea bag a little bit over the eye that I'm going to be treating and move my eye around a little to work the tea around, then I rest the tea bag on my eye as I lie back and relax. 15 minutes is good. I feel refreshed right away but after a few days, and especially a week of doing this one or twice a day, I feel the swelling go down and my eyes look normal again. Also, a great anti-inflammatory is the spice turmeric. I just sprinkle about a teaspoon on my food (usually on my first few bites so I can get it down quickly). It is also an anti-oxidant and an antibiotic so I take a probiotic, too. Space the turmeric and the probiotic apart from each other. That just happens to work for me because my Graves is caused by leaky gut and I'm trying to heal my intestines. With eliminating the food triggers and replenishing my good intestinal flora with the probiotics, I'm feeling better. Make sure that if you take the turmeric, take it with black pepper. Just sprinkle a little of the pepper on your food if you are ok with eating it. The pepper helps the process.
Best wishes to you.
Hello dom114.
I posted to you earlier.
I re-read your post and realized that you mentioned that you think you have hyperthyroidism. That made me wonder if you've actually been seen by a medical doctor to have that confirmed. It's really important to be seen because along with this disease you must get control of your racing heartbeat and your blood pressure, which are a big part of this disease. You may also be put on an anti-thyroid medication. If you can find a good doctor who will want to find the cause of your disease, that would be ideal.
Do not think like me cos Noone told me otherwise that you have to accept alife of disfigurement!!! After almost 11 years I'm ready to go through correction process it was never offered to me nor did the endo refer me to an eye specialist! Long story And a damn disgrace!
Hi linda
I noticed from your comment that you have an experience with grave disease so I am writing you for to get more information .
I discoverd that I am hypertyroid since 1month I suddenlygot palpitations and tiredness I immediately went to check and got the results : with 0,01 tsh 30 t3 and 4,7 t4 and now I am under treatment of carbimazole and beta blocker and felling well ..yesterday I made second check of hormones and it decreased t3=3,8 t4=1,75 but tsh is stikl 0,001 ??? Witch I don't know the reason !!!! Now the pb is in my eyes I am worrying of my eyes they are little puff but I don't if it will be more dramatic !!! And I want to go after one month to the iodine treatment what do think if only have a puffy eyes did the iodine resolve the pb of my eyes...? Thank you for answering ... and sorry for my english!
Unfortunately Fidele Radiation treatment especially will make the problem of your eyes worse. I personally did not want radiation teatment or surgery. What I noticed for me was that while the medication normalized my FT3 and FT4 results, my TSH remained at less than 0.01 for two years while I was on 10 mg daily of the medication. So after reading an article written in a medical journal by an endocrinologist in Italy, I added 500 mg of L-Carnitine to my medication. My TSH rose (not by much) to 0.05 for the first time in 2 years. Then I tried adding 1,000 mg of Acetyl-L-Carnitine to my medications and my TSH rose rapidly into the normal range. Then I could not get the Acetyl-L-Carnitine for a year because the Canadian government banned it and my TSH fell to 0.12. Then it became available again and I took 1,000 mg and 5 mg of methimazole and my TSH rose to 2.4. When my TSH rose this high, my eye symptoms imrpoved. Also as it rose, my endocrinologist lowered my dose of medication. I have only seen articles on research on the benefits of the use of regular L-Carnitine in hyperthyroid patients and none on the use of Acetyl-L-Carnitine although I would wish they would do some research on this in the future because it benefitted me so much. As it raised my TSH, it also lowered my Graves antibodies and helped my irritated eyes. Acetyl-L-Carntiine has the same carnitine as regular L-carnitine in it but the Acetyl part of the supplement crosses the blood-brain barrier. I believe it directly affects the pituitary gland in a positive way. However, as your TSH rises, your FT3 and FT4 will lower and you will need to make adjustments in either the dose of Acetyl-L-Carnitine and/or your carbimazole to stay in balance. When my TSH rose to 2.7, my FT3 and FT4 went to the bottom of the normal range and I experienced palpitations. Because of this and because I wanted my TSH result to be around 1.06, I discontinued the Acetyl-L-Carnitine and my results are stable on a dose of 2.5 mg of methimazole. I also take vitamin D, 1000-2000 mg supplements as hyperthyroid patients are deficient in so many vitamins and deficient in the Carnitine which is an amino acid naturally found in the body. I believe this could benefit most Graves patients. Other patients on other hyperthyroid boards have also had the same success in raising their TSH as I have had. Hope this helps you. This supplement is found in health food stores. Also health diet of fruits, vegetables and protein and avoiding gluten is important. And avoiding stress by using any kind of stress reduction techniques like meditation, yoga, mindfulness and/or therapy if there are emotional issues is an important part of recovery as well.
Hi linda!
Thanks my dear for all your explanation and your time spent for to answer !one question: till now my eyes are not herritated and not dry too, but only a little puffing on the upper eyelids to the eyes. So how much time it's developped to be worse in this disease? Do take a time for that ?
Thanks a lot!
Fidele I have read on another patient Board that a lady has had great success by putting pads with Witch Hazel on her eyes. Caused the swelling to go down and the bulging to recede. As long as your disease is active and not in remission, your eyes will suffer. If you take holistic means like changing diet, adding supplements to your meds, all your symptoms and blood values will improve.
I don't know how to thank you linda ! You were very kind to answer so quickly.
My sincere respect to you.
Hi h10611
Do you mean that you put a drops of some tea already prepared and cooled into your eyes? I didn't get really what do you mean!
thanks .
Hi Fidele2014!!
If you lie back with the teabags over your eyes and gently press them down, just a little, with your eyes closed loosely, you should feel a little bit of the tea get into your eyes. Roll your eyes around a little to move the tea around. You might want to keep a paper towel handy to catch any liquid that wants to roll down the sides of your face.
Not everything works for everyone. I hope that this works for you!!
For this not only thyroids but you need to check with blood and urine samples to confirm about this diseases. You can check your eyes with glaucoma issues also need to get diagnosed properly with brain may be with CT scan.
I have graves eye disease and started the steroid treatment, but blood sugars went too high, so last February they did a 3 wall orbital decompression. I have had more problems than ever. My face has never come completely out of the numb stage in my left eye area. They started me on steroids again, then stopped to do a biopsy, since I had that I have even worse numbness and my sight is worse. I read where have RAI can cause this problem. I would advice no one to have that done. Now I am suffering with problems caused from the biopsy, which turned out to be nothing so, it was done for nothing. Back on steroid infusions once a week and in Jan X-Ray treatments........... It all just seems to go from bad to worse. Wish I had never done any of it...........
Hello, im a 19 year old female from texas. My name is crystal. I was confirmed that k have gravea diaease. I hate it so much. I found oyt i had graves disease when i was 5 months pregnant. No one else in my family has it. The only thing i hate is that i can never sleep at night amd my bulgy eyes. The only eye thays bugly is my left eye. I hate that people stare or say "your eye looks like its going to fall out". Graves disease is probably the moat horrible thing a 19 year pld female can go through. I have my whole life ahead of me and i have a beautiful 3 month old daughter. Could she have gotten the disease? Just a thought that i had. Im going to try the " Green tea" method to see if it works. Im also going to try the tablets that you describe . just to see if my bulgy eye can go down. That way i can go out and enjoy the life i have . i just really hate this disease and i never would want anyone else to have this. You go through so much...... Id like to hear back from you. If this reply is jot to late for this post . TIA .