Grave’s Disease.

A young man aged about 29 years attended the Outpatient’s Department of Glocal Hospital, Krishnanagore, West Bengal, India with thecomplains of tiredness, loss of body weight, excessive sweating, and protrusion of the eye balls. On further enquiry, it was found that he had bilateral exophthalmos, raised systolic blood pressure 160/80 mmHg, tachycardia 120 beats per minute, and fine tremor in the outstretched fingers of the hands, and had diarrheoa. Laboratory tests showed that T₄ was raised and TSH was below normal. A diagnosis of Grave’s disease was made. 

He was advised to take Carbimazole (Neomercazole) 10 mg three times a day. He improved on treatment. Grave’s disease is a combination of thyrotoxicosis and exophthalmos. The other options of treatment are radio-iodine treatment and when required surgery. The tremor may be controlled by using propranolol. Grave’s disease though not common is also not rare. In my clinical experience, I saw 3 cases of Grave’s disease in one year.(Read more)