There many potential symptoms of Graves’ disease, although not all will affect any one patient. Some examples include weight loss and profuse sweating. A person with the condition may also suffer from muscle degeneration and weakness. Symptoms of Graves’ disease can affect the heart, eyes, and other vital organs. Other symptoms include shortness of breath and diarrhea.
Graves’ disease is a condition resulting from an overactive thyroid gland. Many doctors think that it is an autoimmune disease that is caused by antibodies reacting with cells in the thyroid. It is a relatively common condition, especially among those between the age of 30 and 50, and requires careful management. The condition can affect most systems in the body, so symptoms of Graves' disease can vary widely.
Some of the most common symptoms of Graves’ disease include weight loss, excess sweating, and irritability. It can also cause women’s periods to become infrequent. People with Graves’ disease often suffer from some form of muscle weakness, especially in the arms and legs. Patients over the age of 40 are thought to be more likely to suffer from this symptom.
Other symptoms can affect the heart. Hypertension, which is high blood pressure, can be caused by Graves’ disease. A person with the condition may also experience an irregular heartbeat. A number of other heart symptoms may be present, such as thickening of a ventricle in the heart, but these are less common.
Symptoms of Graves’ disease can also manifest in the eye. Some patients with the condition suffer from bulging eyeballs or eyelids that seem pulled back. Eye problems are thought to affect about one in every three persons with the condition. When the eye is more exposed to the environment, it can become irritated and may result in double vision. Managing eye problems can be difficult because the symptoms sometimes don’t disappear after hormone levels have returned to normal.
There are a vast number of other symptoms of Grave’s disease. A shortness of breath, for example, can affect some people with the condition. Other symptoms can include warm skin, intolerance to heat, diarrhea, brittle nails, and even liver disease.
In most cases, the condition can be managed by treatments that keep hormone levels within the normal range. Sometimes it may be necessary to remove a section of the thyroid gland. Eye problems related to symptoms of Graves' disease also need to be monitored and prevented when possible.
