George H. W. Bush, former U.S. president, developed new atrial fibrillation and was diagnosed in 1991 with hyperthyroidism due to the disease and treated with radioactive iodine. The presidents wife, Barbara Bush, also developed the disease around the same time, which, in her case, produced severe infiltrative exophthalmos. Rodney Dangerfield, American comedian and actor
Gail Devers, American sprinter: A doctor considered amputating her feet after she developed blistering and swelling following radiation treatment for Graves disease, but she went on to recover and win Olympic medals. Missy Elliott, American hip-hop artist
Marty Feldman, British comedy writer, comedian and actor
Sia, Australian singer and songwriter
Sammy Gravano, Italian-American former underboss of the Gambino crime family. Jim Hamilton, Scottish rugby player, discovered he had Graves disease shortly after retiring from the sport in 2017. Heino, German folk singer, whose dark sunglasses (worn to hide his symptoms) became part of his trademark look
Herbert Howells, British composer; the first person to be treated with radium injections
Yayoi Kusama, Japanese artist. Nadezhda Krupskaya, Russian Communist and wife of Vladimir Lenin
Umm Kulthum was an Egyptian singer, songwriter, and film actress active from the 1920s to the 1970s. Barbara Leigh, an American former actress and fashion model, now spokeswoman for the National Graves Disease Foundation
Keiko Masuda, Japanese singer and one-half of the duo Pink Lady. Yūko Miyamura, Japanese voice actress
Lord Monckton, former UKIP and Conservative politician and noted climate change skeptic. Sophia Parnok, Russian poet
Sir Cecil Spring Rice, British ambassador to the United States during World War I, died suddenly of the disease in 1918.
Patients who receive the therapy must be monitored regularly with thyroid blood tests to ensure they are treated with thyroid hormone before they become symptomatically hypothyroid.Contraindications to RAI are pregnancy (absolute), ophthalmopathy (relative; it can aggravate thyroid eye disease), or solitary nodules.Disadvantages of this treatment are a high incidence of hypothyroidism (up to 80%) requiring eventual thyroid hormone supplementation in the form of a daily pill(s). The radioiodine treatment acts slowly (over months to years) to destroy the thyroid gland, and Graves disease–associated hyperthyroidism is not cured in all persons by radioiodine, but has a relapse rate that depends on the dose of radioiodine which is administered. In rare cases, radiation induced thyroiditis has been linked to this treatment. Surgery
This modality is suitable for young and pregnant people. Indications for thyroidectomy can be separated into absolute indications or relative indications. These indications aid in deciding which people would benefit most from surgery. The absolute indications are a large goiter (especially when compressing the trachea), suspicious nodules or suspected cancer (to pathologically examine the thyroid), and people with ophthalmopathy and additionally if it is the persons preferred method of treatment or if refusing to undergo radioactive iodine treatment. Pregnancy is advised to be delayed for 6 months after radioactive iodine treatment.Both bilateral subtotal thyroidectomy and the Hartley-Dunhill procedure (hemithyroidectomy on one side and partial lobectomy on other side) are possible. Advantages are immediate cure and potential removal of carcinoma.