Anyone who wants to understand the big role of the little gland in the front of the neck can look to Thyroid For Dummies for a common sense approach to figuring out

• Causes of thyroid conditions
• Symptoms related to thyroid problems
• Treatment options
• Consequences of going without treatment
• Ways to help a loved one get back to the best of health

Realizing the importance of a healthy thyroid and identifying an unhappy thyroid are basics in managing one of the more common diseases in the world. Research has indicated that thyroid disease affects more than 200 million people worldwide. With Thyroid For Dummies, you can

• Explore how the thyroid dysfunction influences your mood.
• Determine the size, shape, and content of your thyroid gland.
• Understand what's happening when your thyroid works overtime or slacks off.
• Discover whether you're at risk.
• Look at the latest developments in diagnosis and treatment.
• Clarify the thyroid-weight connection.
• Deal with thyroid conditions in children.

About half (perhaps even more) of all the people with thyroid disorders are undiagnosed. The American Thyroid Association and other experts recommend that thyroid testing begin at age 35 and continue every 5 years thereafter. Thyroid For Dummies can help you separate fact from fiction about thyroid function, testing, and treatment. With this reader-friendly guide, you're bound to build appreciation for the small-scale gland that's a major contributor to your overall physical and mental health.

Dr. Rubin takes the often confusing subject of thyroid disease and makes it easily understandable to the newly diagnosed. Every person with a diagnosed thyroid disorder SHOULD be reading this book and educating themselves about their disease!

Misinformation is abundant when it comes to thyroid disease. Dr. Rubin makes no bones about HIS preference for treatment of hyperthyroidism/Graves disease and lays out his well thought out, logical, reasons behind HIS preference for treatment with anti-thyroid meds very well (page 73). I was thrilled to see this recommendation as this was the route I chose...and fought to continue using for 4 years...with success in the form of total remission after 4.3 years of anti-thyroid medication.

Thank you Dr. Rubin for speaking up and telling it like it is about anti-thyroid medication...that you CAN take it for as long as you need it...that there is NO time frame limit for these meds, and the adverse reaction risk is very low. You're my hero!


Helped us make this important and rather emotional decision   October 13, 2002
 21 out of 22 found this review helpful

My spouse has been battling with Hyperthyroidism for 15 years, going on and off PTU and in and out of remission. Her latest annual blood work indicated that she was hyper again which re-opened the dialog about what treatment to choose (drug therapy, radioactive iodine, or surgery).

Thyroid for Dummies provided a detailed yet very readable review of what the function of the Thyroid glad is, Thyroid disorders, treatment options, etc. If you are facing a decision point about treatment for a thyroid disorder or have Thyroid wellness concerns then I think you will find this book very helpful and informative as we did.

In the end we choose Radioactive Iodine treatment. The unbiased facts and wealth of information provided helped us make this important and rather emotional decision in a manner that enabled us to move forward with confidence. Of note, the author Dr. Rubin prefers drug therapy as the first mode of treatment for Graves Disease. As this had already been tried in our case and did not provide a predictable and sustainable treatment we choose Radioactive Iodine over surgery.