Graves' disease (diffuse goiter) - this is the name of the most famous and common thyroid disease. It is familiar to many of us from photos from textbooks, where people with goiter on the neck and bulging eyes are captured.
That's what diffuse goiter is, its treatment is carried out using hormonal therapy. Even before its appearance, it was believed that the only way to cure Graves' disease is to remove part of the thyroid gland. During the Middle Ages, no one at all thought about how to treat this disease. People with strange eyes were simply burned at the stake, as they were considered sorcerers and witches.
Fortunately, today Graves disease can be called well-studied. And for its treatment there are several very effective methods.
A variety of this disease can be called nodular colloid goiter.
The causes of the disease
There are quite a few reasons leading to the appearance of this disease. Modern doctors suggest that the hereditary predisposition plays the largest role in the occurrence of the disease.
In addition, in the past few years, scientists have found that Graves' disease has an autoimmune nature, that is, it is associated with a deficiency of the immune system. For this reason, it can be put on a par with hepatitis, rheumatism and ulcerative colitis.
The very occurrence of the disease, and to be more precise, the likelihood that a person will get sick with it is associated with many factors. The first is attributed to mental injuries and infections. When an infection gets into the body, it triggers defense mechanisms that lead to the fact that the immune system selects the thyroid gland as a target.
Remember that even if you have a predisposition to Graves disease, this does not mean that you will definitely get it.
Degrees of disease
The severity of Graves disease is characterized by how badly the thyroid gland is affected:
- Easy degree . With it, a decrease in body weight of 10-15 percent, a rapid heartbeat and a decrease in performance are noted.
- Medium . Here, about 20% of body weight is already lost, a person feels high nervous excitability, and the heart beats at about 100-120 beats per minute.
- Severe stage . Signs: severe weight loss, tachycardia, the occurrence of atrial fibrillation, liver damage, insufficient blood circulation and almost complete disability.
Symptoms of the disease
All symptoms, and some of them have already been named earlier, can be divided into 3 main groups:
- Goiter, becoming noticeable even with visual contact. Moreover, how much the thyroid gland is enlarged does not indicate the severity of the disease. That is, in men, goiter can be increased quite slightly and can hardly be felt. The enlargement of the gland in them is due to the lateral parts that are tightly adjacent to the trachea.
- Eyebrows. Here everything is again very individual. One will simply have strange eyes glittering, while the other may deform eyelids.
- Tachycardia - palpitations.
These signs can be called characteristic of Graves disease, but besides them there are also other symptoms that appear with this disease.
A person suffering from an ailment such as Graves' disease will complain that he feels general weakness, his irritability increases, sleep is disturbed. In addition, you can notice almost complete intolerance to heat and sweating.
Sometimes there are compressive or stitching pains in the heart. Appetite also increases, but weight tends to go down. Excess hormones in the gland lead to tremors in the fingers, tongue, and the entire body. There is an almost constant feeling of anxiety and fear.