The most common symptoms of Graves’ are symptoms of hyperthyroidism, which include:
- Nervousness, anxiety or irritability
- Tired or weak muscles
- Shaking in your hands
- Frequent bowel movements or diarrhea
- Difficulty sleeping
- Greater sensitivity to heat or increase sweating
- Unintentional weight loss
- An enlarged thyroid (also called a goiter)
- A fast or irregular heartbeat
- Changes in your period for women
- Erectile dysfunction in men
- Loss of sex drive (low libido)
Complications of Graves’ Disease
Eye complications
A small percentage of all Graves’ patients will develop a condition called thyroid eye disease in which your eye muscles and tissues become swollen. This can cause exophthalmos — your eyeballs protrude from their sockets — and is considered a hallmark of Graves’ disease, even though it’s rare. But having this complication doesn’t have anything to do with how severe your Graves’ disease is. In fact, it isn’t clear whether such eye complications stem from Graves’ disease itself or from a totally separate, but closely linked, disorder. If you have developed thyroid eye diease, your eyes may ache and feel dry and irritated. Protruding eyeballs are prone to excessive tearing and redness, partly because the eyelids can’t protect them as well.
In severe cases of exophthalmos, which are rare, swollen eye muscles can put tremendous pressure on the optic nerve, possibly leading to partial blindness. Eye muscles weakened by long periods of inflammation can lose their ability to control movement, resulting in double vision.
Skin complications
Some people with Graves’ may develop a rareskin condition known as pretibial myxedema or Graves’ dermopathy. It is a lumpy reddish thickening of the skin on the shins. It is usually painless and is not serious. Like exophthalmos this condition does not necessarily begin with the onset of Graves’ and doesn’t have to do with how severe your disease is.
