Graves’ Disease
Graves’ disease is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism, occurs when your immune system mistakenly attacks your thyroid gland and further causes it to overproduce the hormone thyroxine. This higher in thyroxine level can greatly increase your metabolic rate, which may affect you in many ways, from your moods to your physical appearance. Graves’ disease is also known as diffuse thyrotoxic goiter. This disease is rarely life-threatening. Though it may develop at any age in either of men or women, but is most common in the women over the age 20. Generalized diffuse overactivity of the entire thyroid gland, get enlarged into a goiter.
Graves’ disease is an autoimmune disorder, which means the body immune system act against its healthy cells and tissues. There’s no way to stop your immune system from attacking your thyroid gland, but through treatment, symptoms of grave’s disease can be alleviated and also the production of thyroxine can be decreased.
There are mainly three components to Graves’ disease:
- Hyperthyroidism (the presence of too much thyroid hormone).
- Ophthalmopathy (projection of the eyeballs).
- Dermopathy
The Graves’ ophthalmpathy occurs when cells from immune system attack the muscles and other tissues around the eyes. This causes felling of “sand n the eyes” and further it may cause, double vision and vision loss may occur. Also symptoms like dry and irritated eyes and trouble in moving the eyes may also occur. It worsens with smoking.
There is no exact reason why people develop Graves’ disease, but some scientist believes that some factors such as age, heredity, sex and emotional and environmental stress are involved. An individual’s chances of developing Graves’ disease increases if other family members have it. Also in case of pregnant women, after treatment with surgery or radioactive iodine, some thyroid- stimulating antibodies are still present in blood. The woman who had this treatment before or the anti bodies she produces may travel to baby’s bloodstream and stimulate the fetal thyroid. That woman should inform doctor about the surgery she has been treated with so that her baby can be monitored for thyroid related problems later in the pregnancy.
Causes:
Graves’ disease is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism. Normally, your immune system uses proteins and white blood cells to eliminate bacteria and foreign substances (antigens) that invade our body. In Graves’ disease, the antibodies unite to the surface of thyroid cells and stimulate cells to overproduce thyroid hormones. This results in an overactive thyroid; which in turn enlarge into goiter.