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2. What is Hyperthyroidism?
What Are the Symptoms?
 Just above your collarbone, at the bottom of your neck, is your thyroid.
 It’s a butterfly-shaped gland that controls things like how fast your heart beats and
how quickly you burn off calories.
 It releases hormones to help regulate your body’s metabolism (all the things your
body does to turn food into energy and keep you going).
 If you have hyperthyroidism, it means your thyroid is overactive and produces too
much of a hormone called thyroxine. It can significantly speed up your metabolism
and cause unpleasant symptoms.

3. How Do I Know if I Have Hyperthyroidism?
Some common signs include:
 Feeling nervous, anxious, or irritable
 Experiencing mood swings
 Feeling very tired or weak
 Sensitivity to heat
 An enlarged thyroid (goiter). This can make the base of your neck look swollen.
 Losing weight suddenly with no known cause

4. Cont..
 Fast or irregular heartbeat or palpitations (pounding in your heart)
 Increased frequency in your bowel movements
 Shaking in your hands and fingers (tremor)
 Sleep problems
 Thinning skin
 Changes in your hair that make it fine and brittle
 Changes in your menstrual cycle

5. Hyperthyroidism and Graves’ Disease
 The most common cause of hyperthyroidism is an immune system disorder called
Graves’ disease.
 It’s more likely to affect women under the age of 40.
 In addition to the other symptoms of hyperthyroidism, about 30% of people with
Graves’ disease develop a condition called Graves’ ophthalmopathy. It affects your
eyes and vision, including the muscles and tissues around them. You may
experience:

6. Cont.
 Bulging of your eyes (exophthalmos)
 A gritty feeling or pain/pressure in your eyes
 Redness or inflammation in or around your eyes
 Puffiness or retraction of your eyelids
 Sensitivity to light
 Double vision or loss of vision
 Sometimes people with Graves’ disease also develop a symptom called Graves’
dermopathy, but this is rarer. It involves redness and thickening of your skin,
usually on the tops of your feet or your shins.

7. Here are some important things to think about:
 Usually the benefits of the medicine are more important than any minor side
effects.
 Side effects may go away after you take the medicine for a while.
 If side effects still bother you and you wonder if you should keep taking the
medicine, call your doctor. He or she may be able to lower your dose or change
your medicine. Do not suddenly quit taking your medicine unless your doctor tells
you to.

8. Why It Is Used
 Antithyroid medicine works more quickly than radioactive iodine therapy. It also does
not permanently damage your thyroid gland.
 You may take antithyroid medicine before you have radioactive iodine treatment or
surgery in order to bring your metabolism to normal, to make you feel better, or to
reduce the chances of more serious problems.
 You may also take antithyroid medicine if you have Graves' ophthalmopathy and are
going to be treated with radioactive iodine therapy. If you take antithyroid medicine
before you have radioactive iodine treatment, it may prevent your Graves'
ophthalmopathy from getting worse.