Graves Disease Symptoms – Managing your Thyroid Problem
Graves disease symptoms are commonly experienced by people suffering from thyroid problems. Grave’s disease refers to the over activity of the thyroid gland which produces too high amount of hormones. The excessive production leads to minor problems to life threatening complications. So before you suffer the debilitating side-effects of hyperthyroidism, here are the facts that you must know about the graves disease symptoms.
Signs and Symptoms
Diagnosis of the thyroid problem often begins with the demonstration of the graves disease symptoms. Patients are disturbed when they notice a tissue enlargement in the neck region. The condition is called goiter. This is often accompanied by the feeling of fullness in the throat area as well as choking sensations. There is also an unusually increased appetite but sudden weight loss. For women in the reproductive age, menstrual irregularities can be the most disturbing problem. Other possible graves disease symptoms are the following:
- Intolerance to cold
- Blood Pressure changes
- Palpitations
- Diarrhea
- Muscle and joint fatigue
- Extreme feelings of exhaustion
- Excessive hair thinning
- Bulging of the eyes
- Memory problems
- Racing thoughts
- Irrational thinking
- Uncontrollable anger
- Insomnia
In infants, the graves disease symptoms include low birth weight, elevated temperature, restlessness and failure to gain weight. In children and in teenagers, the problem leads to academic school problems, emotional outbursts and delayed puberty whereas for older adults, the problem leads to osteoporosis.
Risk Factors
Graves disease symptoms often occur with a family history of thyroid problems, autoimmune disease, pregnancy, major stress, smoking, recent medication and exposure to iodine. The risk factors go on and on as researchers discover new reasons for the occurrence. Based on epidemiology, women are also more prone to the graves disease symptoms. However, the exact explanation for the predisposition of women is still unaccountable. Lastly, new findings suggest the relationship of the disorder with excessive consumption of artificial sweetener, nutritional deficiency and previous bacterial and viral infection.
Diagnosis
Graves disease symptoms can go on for months to years undiagnosed. This is because early cases of the problem can easily be misclassified with other health conditions. But if you possess at least three of the risk factors, you can have your blood tested. The thyroid function tests are available to make a definitive diagnosis. If your health provider wants to confirm the results, a thyroid scan or ultrasound is also helpful.
Treatment
There is no single treatment to manage all the graves disease symptoms. Your doctor will have to treat the possible underlying cause of the disorder and find ways on how to reduce the over production of hormones. Initially, you may need to take a lot of medications to provide relief from the graves disease symptoms. The treatment includes beta-blockers, anti-thyroid drugs and other medications that your doctor may find necessary to deal with the graves disease symptoms.
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