Graves disease is usually pretty easy to diagnose, especially in someone with bulging eyeballs who complains that their eyes are hurting, and who is continually sweating and shedding their clothes even when it’s as cold as a Transylvanian winter night out there, although the condition is only confirmed for certainty with appropriate blood tests for thyroid hormone function.
..... The aim in controlling Graves’ disease is twofold and both of these approaches should be followed concurrently: to ameliorate the symptoms and consequences of an overactive metabolic response, and to control – to slow down or perhaps even destroy - the overactive gland.
..... The reason it’s crucial to do both is because Graves is associated with a host of potential complications such as eye problems (called Graves’ ophthalmopathy), irregular and rapid heartbeat (tachycardia, atrial fibrillation), osteoporosis, and a really scary, potentially deadly crisis called thyroid storm, a situation in which the thyroid gland suddenly goes into major overdrive (wouldn’t “thyroid storm” make a great name for a rock band?)
..... Thus, heart problems should be treated with heart medications, bone complications with drugs for those problems, and so on.
..... The overactive thyroid gland is slowed in one of three ways: medications, irradiation, and surgery, and although it’s too difficult to go into the complicated reasons for each choice in an article such as this, the one important point to make about treatment is that radiation and surgery result in a complete loss of thyroid tissue, so the person who opts for those choices ends with hypothyroidism and requires lifelong thyroid hormone replacement therapy.
..... By the way, if you want to see a pretty good example of what the eyes can look like in Graves disease, rent Young Frankenstein (by Mel Brooks) and take a look at Marty Feldman and his bulging eyeballs, although thankfully, you won’t get the complete hyperthyroid picture from Marty most likely because the thought of Marty Feldman progressively shedding his clothes because he’s too hot and ending up naked was probably too much even for Mel Brooks to foist on us.
Dr. Art Hister can be heard on CKNW and other Corus Radio Network stations on House Calls on Saturdays at 10 AM, as well as seen on Global TV news on Saturday mornings at 9:20. |
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