“Can nuclear medicine help in treating endocrine disorder?”

Puzzling question about why a parent's hormone levels would change constantly related to a diagnosis in the parent's daughter. This doesn't make sense unless you mean your daughter's levels are constantly changing. Thyroid disease can be with normal blood hormone levels but cause an enlargement of the thyroid gland called a goiter. Another possibility is a thyroid cyst or a thyroid cancer. Thyroid cancer is often treated with surgery to remove the cancer itself. Many times nuclear medicine is also used to treat thyroid cancer and kill the cancer cells. Another form of thyroid disease happens from inflammation called Hashimoto's thyroiditis. This can cause a goiter (thyroid enlargement) or can produce hyperthyroidism with excess thyroid hormones and their symptoms (bulging eyes, rapid heart rate, hypertension, nervousness/anxiety, loose bowel movements, sweating excessively, unexpected weight loss) and this hyperthyroid condition is called Grave's disease. Hyperthyroidism can be treated with thyroid blocking medications and sometimes also with nuclear medicine or surgery. IF Hashimoto's disease causes low instead of elevated thyroid hormone problems, this is called hypothyroidism and produces unexpected weight gain, fatigue, delayed puberty or absent periods, slow reflexes, slow pulse, low blood pressure, constipation. Hypothyroidism is usually easily treated with once-a-day thyroid hormone pills to replace what the body no longer makes. Many thyroid problems show up in several family members because there is an inherited component of the disorder that is passed along so family history can be important for awareness and early diagnosis. There also is a congenital form of hypothyroidism where the gland itself (or the hypothalamus or pituitary control sites for the thyroid gland) is abnormal or not present. This is often difficult to diagnose but in the United States and many other parts of the world, newborn screening tests with just a simple heel stick blood sample automatically check for normal thyroid levels (and other abnormalities) so early diagnosis and treatment occurs. To come back to the original question, if the daughter with thyroid diagnosis has frequently changing levels of thyroid blood hormones, this may indicate problems remembering to take medication correctly. Would be recommended to make sure that a board certified endocrinologist experienced with thyroid disorders is consulted or a second opinion obtained to review the situation. American Thyroid Association website as well as Pediatric Endocrine Society website has some useful information as well. Stuart Brink, MD Senior Endocrinologist, New England Diabetes & Endocrinology Center (NEDEC) c/o NEDEC, 196 Pleasant Street, Newton Centre MA 02459-1815, USA phone 1-781-572-4533, e-mail: stuartbrink@gmail.com

Yes

It depends on what disorder she has. It is used to treat uncontrolled hyperthyroidism secondary to Grave's disease.

Thyroid is an important hormone producing gland at the base of the neck. One of the important hormone it produces is thyroid hormone. The thyroid hormone is important to maintain the bodies energy balance. Some times the thyroid gland can be lazy or under-active. When it is lazy (under-active) it makes less thyroid hormone. And the treatment is thyroid hormone replacement. A person with under-active thyroid needs to take thyroid hormone medications on daily basis. In the USA most under-active thyroid glands are due to autoimmune information of the thyroid gland though in rare cases, it could be due to iodine deficiency and other causes.
Sometimes the thyroid gland could be overactive. That is the thyroid gland makes excessive amount of thyroid hormone it doesn't need. In this scenario toxic amounts of thyroid hormone levels could cause the symptoms of thyrotoxicosis. Those are, palpitation, shakiness, sweating, more hunger, stooling more often, weight loss, anxiety etc. It is mainly caused by autoimmune process called graves disease. It can also be transient from viral inflammation of the throat or autoimmune destruction of the thyroid gland called hashitoxicosis. Occasionally a thyroid nodule can cause an overactive thyroid gland.
The management of overactive thyroid gland depends on the cause of the thyroid gland over-activity. The most important issue in the treatment of overactive thyroid gland is to establish the cause of the overactive thyroid. Some overactive thyroid glands do not need treatment. They only need monitoring for a while untill the thyroid gland returns to normal function and/or treat the symptoms if necessary.
If the cause is Graves disease (autoimmune cause of thyrotoxicosis). It can be managed, with medication, surgical removal or radioiodine ablation. This will depend on you and the doctor taking care of your daughter and other circumstances (once you have a reasonable understanding of the thyroid disease).
If it is an overactive thyroid nodule the the treatment is either surgical removal of the module or radioiodine ablation of the overactive thyroid nodule.
Therefore the first step is to get an exact diagnosis. Once you have a complete diagnosis a treatment plan can be worked out between you, your daughter and the treating physician.
Assuming your daughter has an overactive thyroid gland the answer to your question if nuclear medicine is used to treat thyroid diseases is yes. Nuclear medicine is used to treat not only thyroid cancers but also overactive thyroid gland or overactive thyroid nodules. Use of radioiodine in the treatment of overactive thyroid gland and thyroid cancer is effective treatment modality. Please discuss this issue with your doctor. Listening to your doctor's advice is very important.
Good luck