10 Ways to Improve Your Thyroid Eye Disease (TED)

Thyroid Eye Disease is an inflammatory condition which affects the orbital contents including the extraocular muscles and orbital fat. It is almost always associated with Graves’ disease (GD) but may rarely be seen in Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, primary hypothyroidism, or thyroid cancer.  The ocular manifestations of Thyroid Eye Disease (TED) include soft tissue inflammation, eyelid retraction, proptosis, corneal exposure, and optic nerve compression.

The choices now-a-days, available for treating Thyroid Eye Disease and it’s symptoms like bulging eyes, double vision, and protruded eyes can be summarized as follows:

1.       Cold compress on your eyes

2.      Elevating head to relieve swelling

3.      Flax seed oil/ Organic Flax seeds

4.      Lubrication eye drops (avoid the one that are treating red eyes)

5.      Lubrication ointments

6.      Exercises to strengthen the eye muscles (included in my book “Life Manual for Graves’ Disease & Hyperthyroidism)

7.      Humidifiers in your room

8.     Wear good sunglasses that are really protecting your eyes (not the ones that you buy for $5, because they are not really protecting your eyes from anything)

9.     Corrective surgery to loosen the eyelids

10.  Decompression surgery

11.   Steroids and prisms  (to correct double vision)

The last 3 are used only in severe cases where nothing else can help.

TSH, FT3 and FT4 Test Results for Graves’ Disease and Hyperthyroidism

If you just left the doctor’s office with a piece of paper in your hand, given by your doctor with the following words “Your tests are abnormal– you may have Graves’ Disease or Hyperthyroidism– you probably have a lot of questions in your head. No more explanations. Doctors don’t have time to explain what are normal, what are abnormal thyroid test levels – just because they have scheduled about 15 to 20 patients per day and they can not afford any extra time for you and your health problems.

Next patient in line please..

I personally can understand your frustration, you helplessness and your despair. Because I have been there and I felt exactly the same way. I started to look for more information everywhere to find out what is a “normal thyroid levels” and how do I achieve this “normal thyroid results”- because I wanted to feel better, healthy and without Graves’ disease or Hyperthyroidism.

The thyroid test normal levels should be as follows; however different laboratories have different ways of measuring. Consult your doctor for a better understanding of your thyroid tests. Blood tests to measure TSH, T4 and T3 are readily available and widely used. The best way to initially test thyroid function is to measure the TSH level in a blood sample.

In late 2002, the National Academy of Clinical Biochemistry (NACB) issued new guidelines for the diagnosis and monitoring of hyperthyroid disease. In the guidelines, the NACB reported that the current TSH reference range — which usually runs from approximately 0.5 to 5.5 — may be too wide and actually may include people with thyroid disease. When more sensitive screening was done, which excluded people with thyroid disease, 95 percent of the population tested actually had a TSH level between 0.4 and 2.5.

TSH = 0.3-3.0	mIU/L (mU/L)
FT3 = 230-420	pg/d
FT4 = 0.8-1.5	ng/dl
T3= 70-180	ng/dL
T4 = 5.6-13.7	ug/dL