Graves’ disease is a disease in which the immune system of the body takes actions against the body’s cells. Thyroid-stimulating immunoglobulins (TSI) are the antibodies made by our immune system which get stuck to the thyroid cells. Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) is a hormone which monitors the production of thyroid in the body. TSI starts acting like TSH and this results in large amount of thyroid production in the body. The person affected needs to take help of an endocrinologist for diagnosing and treating this disease. As thyroid plays an important role in development of various parts of the body such as brain, heart, muscles, skin and the nervous system, therefore if the production of thyroid happens on a large scale, all these organs will get adversely affected. Some of the symptoms of Graves’ disease are sleep disorder, restlessness or anxiety, diarrhea, loss of body weight, goiter and tiredness. Apart from these the eyes of the affected person may look widened as if the eye balls are placed slightly out of the eye socket. This disorder is termed as Graves’ Opthalmopathy. Some people do suffer from pretibial myxedema, which is the reddening of area near the shin.

In Graves’ Opthalmopathy, the immune system acts against the eyes resulting in swelling and pain around the eyes. About ¼ th of the population suffering from Graves’ disease also suffers from Graves’ Opthalmopathy. Graves’ Opthalmopathy results due to several factors such as sex, age group of the person, hereditary factors, and stress caused due to some emotional reasons. It is usually found in people aged lesser than 40 years and is seen more in females than in males. The heredity factor affects when either of the parents have had it at some point of time.

It can be diagnosed using the TSH antibody test. It reveals the quantity of TSI present in the person’s blood. Treatment of Graves’ disease is done using various methods. These are radio-iodine therapy and by taking anti- thyroid drugs. Even surgery for thyroid can prove to be of help; however the radio-iodine therapy is the most preferred one. In this method radioactive iodine is used and consumed by mouth. Thyroid glands take this and make thyroid hormone. This removes the cells that make up the thyroid gland but don’t cause any problems in any of the body parts. It is recommended to not use this on pregnant women as this is likely to affect the unborn child adversely. Beta blocker is a medicine used for decreasing the symptoms.

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