Why is graves disease called graves disease

A blood test can detect TSI. The next step may be one of two imaging tests that use small, safe doses of radioactive iodine. Your thyroid collects iodine from your bloodstream and uses it to make thyroid hormones; it will collect radioactive iodine in the same way.

You have three treatment options: medicine, radioiodine therapy, and thyroid surgery. For radioiodine therapy, you take radioactive iodine I by mouth as a capsule or liquid. I, at a higher dose than the dose used for imaging tests, slowly destroys the cells of the thyroid gland that produce thyroid hormone. The dose of I usually used for radioiodine therapy does not affect other body tissues. In the meantime, treatment with medicines called beta blockers can control your symptoms.

Almost everyone who has radioactive iodine treatment later develops hypothyroidism , or underactive thyroid, because the thyroid hormone-producing cells have been destroyed. However, hypothyroidism is easier to treat and causes fewer long-term health problems than hyperthyroidism.

People with hypothyroidism can completely control the condition with daily thyroid hormone medicine. Beta blockers. These medicines act quickly to relieve many of the symptoms of hyperthyroidism, such as trembling, rapid heartbeat, and nervousness. Most people feel better within hours of taking beta blockers. Antithyroid medicines. Antithyroid therapy is the simplest way to treat hyperthyroidism. Antithyroid medicines cause your thyroid to make less thyroid hormone.

Doctors most often use the antithyroid medicine methimazole. Doctors usually treat pregnant and breastfeeding women with antithyroid medicine, since this treatment may be safer for the baby than other treatments. To treat this, a doctor will prescribe hormone pills, which replace the effect of the hormone. The eyes can become:. Due to the increased pressure on the optic nerves, untreated Graves ophthalmology can lead to double vision and possibly partial blindness.

It is an important part of the endocrine, or hormonal, system. It regulates metabolism by releasing hormones into the bloodstream. The more hormones it releases, the more quickly metabolism runs.

Normally, a chemical called thyroid-stimulating hormone TSH produced in a part of the brain called the pituitary, tells the thyroid how much or how little to produce. Thyroid-stimulating hormone TSH stimulates the thyroid gland to release thyroxine T4 and triiodothyronine T3 ; a doctor may take a blood sample to measure levels of these hormones. The patient consumes a small quantity of radioactive iodine by liquid or capsule. Once swallowed, the iodine collects in the thyroid.

The doctor will then perform several scans using a radioactive tracer. The first is usually done hours after the iodine has been taken. Following this, a second scan is usually taken 24 hours later. Iodine is found in seaweeds, such as kelp and dulse. It often occurs on the shins and on the tops of the feet. An uncommon manifestation of Graves' disease, called Graves' dermopathy, is the reddening and thickening of the skin, most often on your shins or the tops of your feet.

A number of medical conditions can cause the signs and symptoms associated with Graves' disease. See your doctor if you experience any potential problems related to Graves' disease to get a prompt and accurate diagnosis. Seek emergency care if you're experiencing heart-related signs and symptoms, such as a rapid or irregular heartbeat, or if you develop vision loss. Graves' disease is caused by a malfunction in the body's disease-fighting immune system.

It's unknown why this happens. The immune system normally produces antibodies designed to target a specific virus, bacterium or other foreign substance. In Graves' disease — for reasons that aren't well understood — the immune system produces an antibody to one part of the cells in the hormone-producing gland in the neck thyroid gland. Normally, thyroid function is regulated by a hormone released by a tiny gland at the base of the brain pituitary gland.

The antibody associated with Graves' disease — thyrotropin receptor antibody TRAb — acts like the regulatory pituitary hormone. That means that TRAb overrides the normal regulation of the thyroid, causing an overproduction of thyroid hormones hyperthyroidism. Graves' ophthalmopathy results from a buildup of certain carbohydrates in the muscles and tissues behind the eyes — the cause of which also isn't known. It appears that the same antibody that can cause thyroid dysfunction may also have an "attraction" to tissues surrounding the eyes.

Graves' ophthalmopathy often appears at the same time as hyperthyroidism or several months later. But signs and symptoms of ophthalmopathy may appear years before or after the onset of hyperthyroidism. Graves' ophthalmopathy can also occur even if there's no hyperthyroidism.

Although anyone can develop Graves' disease, many factors can increase the risk of disease, including:. Thyroid storm. A rare but life-threatening complication of Graves' disease is thyroid storm, also known as accelerated hyperthyroidism or thyrotoxic crisis.

However, no specific gene has been identified for screening to date. El folleto de Enfermedad De Graves. For information on thyroid patient support organizations, please visit the Patient Support Links section on the ATA website at www. These may include, but are not limited to, racing heartbeat, hand tremors, trouble sleeping, weight loss, muscle weakness, neuropsychiatric symptoms and heat intolerance.

Patients who have any suggestion of eye symptoms should seek an evaluation with an eye doctor an ophthalmologist as well as their endocrinologist. Seldom do eye problems occur long after the disease has been treated.

In some patients with eye symptoms, hyperthyroidism never develops and, rarely, patients may be hypothyroid. The severity of the eye symptoms is not related to the severity of the hyperthyroidism. Early signs of trouble might be red or inflamed eyes, a bulging of the eyes due to inflammation of the tissues behind the eyeball or double vision.