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Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
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Lifestyle and home remedies
By Mayo Clinic staff
For Graves' ophthalmopathy
These steps may make your eyes feel better if you have Graves' ophthalmopathy:
- Apply cool compresses to your eyes. The added moisture may soothe your eyes.
- Wear sunglasses. When your eyes protrude, they're more vulnerable to ultraviolet rays and more sensitive to bright light. Wearing sunglasses that wrap around the sides of your head will lessen the irritation of your eyes from the wind.
- Use lubricating eyedrops. Eyedrops may relieve the dry, scratchy sensation on the surface of your eyes. At night, a paraffin-based gel such as Lacri-Lube can be applied.
- Elevate the head of your bed. Keeping your head higher than the rest of your body lessens fluid accumulation in the head and may relieve the pressure on your eyes.
For Graves' dermopathy
If the disease affects your skin (Graves' dermopathy), use over-the-counter creams or ointments containing hydrocortisone to relieve swelling and reddening. In addition, using compression wraps on your legs may help.
- Graves' disease. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. http://www.endocrine.niddk.nih.gov/pubs/graves/Graves.pdf. Accessed April 23, 2009.
- Hyperthyroidism. American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. http://www.aace.com/pub/thyroidbrochures/pdfs/Hyperthyroidism.pdf. Accessed April 23, 2009.
- Nyirenda MJ, et al. Thyroid-stimulating hormone-receptor antibody and thyroid hormone concentrations in smokers vs. nonsmokers with Graves' disease treated with carbimazole. Journal of the American Medical Association. 2009;301:162.
- Cawood TJ, et al. Smoking and thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy: A novel explanation of the biological link. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. 2007;92:59.
- Davies TF. Pathogenesis of Graves' disease. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed April 27, 2009.
- Brent GA. Graves' disease. New England Journal of Medicine. 2008;358:2594.
- Rubin DI. Neurologic manifestations of hyperthyroidism and Graves' disease. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed April 27, 2009.
- Davies TF. Treatment of Graves' ophthalmopathy (orbitopathy). http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed April 27, 2009.
- Nippoldt TB (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. May 13, 2009.
- Propylthiouracil-induced liver failure. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Accessed June 17, 2009.
