Graves' Disease

Graves disease is a thyroid disorder characterized by goiter, exophthalmos, infiltrative dermopathy, and hyperthyroidism. It is caused by an antibody-mediated auto-immune reaction, but the trigger for this reaction is still unknown. It is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism.

The disease occurs most frequently in women (8:1 compared to men). It occurs most often in middle age, but is not uncommon in adolescents, during pregnancy, at the time of menopause and in people over age 50. There is a marked family preponderance, which has led to speculation that there may be a genetic component. To date, no clear genetic defect has been found that would point at a monogenic cause.

Medical treatment of Graves' disease includes antithyroid drugs, radioactive iodine and thyroidectomy.

Treatment of the hyperthyroidism of Graves-Basedow disease may be with medications such as methimazole or propylthiouracil (PTU), which reduce the production of thyroid hormone, or with radioactive iodine. Surgical removal of the thyroid is another option, but still requires preoperative treatment with methimazole or PTU. This is done to render the patient "euthyroid" before the surgery since operating on a frankly hyperthyroid patient is dangerous. Therapy with radioactive iodine (I-131) is the most common treatment in the United States and in many other parts of the world. Thyroid blocking drugs and/or surgical thyroid removal is used more often than radioactive iodine as definitive treatment in Japan, perhaps because of general fear of radioactivity among many Japanese.

...More at Wikipedia 

Related Links:

• US National Library of Medicine
• Mayo Clinic

Recent Hope Cube Blog Entries For Graves' Disease

• my Mom has, and first suffered Sun, December 02, 2007 - [view]
  in 1974.  She is sure I will need surgery and am not getting help FAST enough for her.  I don't see well as if that isn't enough.  Double vision stinks.