Can hyperthyroidism be cured?

In recent years, the proportion of hyperthyroidism patients in my country has increased, and everyone has more or less learned some knowledge about hyperthyroidism. If you find that you have hyperthyroidism, you must go to a regular hospital for medical treatment in time and never take it lightly. Clinically, most patients with hyperthyroidism show symptoms such as weight loss, insomnia, dreaminess, sweating and heat intolerance. So, can hyperthyroidism be cured and eradicated completely at present?

Hyperthyroidism symptoms

In fact, elevated thyroid hormone levels, that is, high FT3 and FT4 and low TSH, may cause symptoms such as palpitations, tachycardia, arrhythmias, sweating, heat intolerance, weight loss, increased bowel movements or diarrhea, insomnia, and scanty menstruation or even amenorrhea in women. Most of these symptoms occur in patients with hyperthyroidism, but they can also be seen in patients with thyrotoxicosis who appear to have hyperthyroidism due to destruction of thyroid follicular cells. The two conditions have different causes and the treatments are different. Therefore, clinically we must distinguish the causes and treat them differently. We cannot all treat them as hyperthyroidism.

If it is caused by diseases such as subacute thyroiditis, postpartum thyroiditis, and quiet thyroiditis, it will enter the hypothyroidism stage after the thyrotoxicosis stage, and finally the thyroid function will gradually return to normal. A small number of patients may have permanent hypothyroidism. In this case, drugs such as thiouracil and propylthiouracil for treating hyperthyroidism should not be used.

The most common cause of true hyperthyroidism is toxic diffuse goiter (Graves' disease). Some patients have Hashimoto's hyperthyroidism, which can be treated with oral medications and 131I. Because hypothyroidism is likely to occur after 131I treatment, Chinese people are often unwilling to accept it.

For the vast majority of patients with hyperthyroidism, hyperthyroidism can be cured if standardized oral medication is administered. Only a very small number of patients are prone to recurrence or relapse. In order to improve the cure rate and reduce recurrence, here are some suggestions.

Because the general rule of antithyroid drug treatment for hyperthyroidism is to gradually reduce the dose from the maximum dose to the maintenance period and finally stop the drug, and because different patients react differently to the same dose of drug, it is best to choose an experienced endocrinologist you trust for the entire treatment, accept his/her medical advice carefully, have regular check-ups, and adjust the dose in time. Even if there are no symptoms during the maintenance period, you should continue to take the medication, because foreign studies have shown that a treatment course of 1.5-2 years can reduce the recurrence rate.

No matter what the situation is, do not interrupt medication easily. Let your doctor decide whether to stop or change medication. Some patients stop taking their medication on their own when they catch a cold or feel unwell, or even increase or decrease the dosage at will based on their own feelings. This is the main reason why many patients cannot be cured for a long time and their condition often recurs.

Antithyroid drugs may cause side effects such as drug rash, liver damage, leukopenia or neutropenia in a small number of patients. They should go to the hospital for treatment in time and should not stop or continue taking the drugs hastily. Severe side effects may be life-threatening. Even short-term discontinuation of the drugs may cause the previous therapeutic effects to be wasted.

Hyperthyroidism should be treated with a combination of Chinese and Western medicine. Chinese medicine has a clear effect in quickly improving many symptoms of hyperthyroidism, alleviating the side effects of Western medicine, and reducing the recurrence rate. It has a positive effect in improving patients' mood, sleep, and enhancing physical strength. However, one should not blindly rely on Chinese medicine for treatment. Chinese medicine can be discontinued when there are no obvious symptoms and thyroid function is normal, but Western anti-thyroid drugs need to be taken for the full course of treatment.

After stopping the medication under the guidance of a doctor, you need to maintain a good mood, live a regular life, not stay up late, and not eat a lot of iodine-containing foods. If you do feel symptoms of hyperthyroidism, you should seek medical attention in time. If the condition is very mild, use a small amount of medication to control the condition and prevent it from getting worse.

Can hyperthyroidism be completely cured?

1. During the diagnosis and treatment process, patients generally cannot persist in taking long-term medication. Chronic diseases such as hyperthyroidism generally require continuous medication for more than three to six months to be cured. Patients usually cannot persist. If there is no effect after one or two months of treatment, they stop taking the medicine or change doctors for diagnosis and treatment. This can easily induce the onset of the disease.

Second, there is no symptomatic treatment, or some patients choose small clinics and buy some medicines for convenience, which delays the disease. In fact, with the continuous development of science, diseases that were incurable before do not mean they cannot be cured now.

Third, the correct treatment method is not chosen. Traditional treatments for hyperthyroidism often include iodine-131 treatment, surgical treatment and Western medicine treatment. The first two methods have low cure rates and high recurrence rates, and are prone to cause permanent hypothyroidism, requiring lifelong medication. In addition, surgery has certain risks and is not suitable for use. Western medicine only treats the symptoms of hyperthyroidism and not the root cause, and has certain side effects, resulting in long-term failure to cure the disease and causing patients to lose confidence.