Graves’ disease is an autoimmune disease that affects the thyroid gland. An autoimmune disease occurs when your immune system attacks your healthy tissues. With Graves’ disease, the immune system attacks the thyroid gland, causing it to overproduce the hormone — a condition known as hyperthyroidism.
The symptoms of hyperthyroidism include:
- temperature sensitivity
- fatigue
- heart palpitation
Graves’ disease can also cause attention problems and mental health symptoms. If you’ve received a diagnosis of Graves’ disease, you may experience changes in your:
- personality
- mood
- thinking skills
- ability to concentrate
Your healthcare team can help you manage Graves’ disease. Keeping your thyroid hormone levels within a moderate range may help ease the physical and mental health symptoms associated with the condition.
Your thyroid and Graves’ disease
The thyroid is a small butterfly-shaped gland in the front of the neck. It helps regulate your metabolism and other physical functions and systems by releasing thyroid hormone into the bloodstream.
When Graves’ disease causes the thyroid to produce more thyroid hormone than the body needs, it can affect the balance of other hormones and chemicals in the body.
Graves’ disease can cause oxidative stress in the brain, which damages neurons and reduces gray matter volume. Gray matter refers to tissue that plays a prominent role in processing information.
Graves’ disease can also change the levels of crucial neurotransmitters (brain chemicals involved in the communication between cells), such as dopamine and noradrenaline.
Dopamine plays a significant role in motivation, and noradrenaline is involved in focus and concentration. A 2021 study suggests that impaired processing speed and attention tend to be symptoms of people with Graves’ disease.
Graves’ disease and mental health
Learning to live with a chronic condition can affect your mental health. A 2020 study suggests that disease awareness and the stress of living with Graves’ disease — even if your thyroid hormone levels are managed — can adversely affect anxiety or other mood disorders.
Graves’ disease can also interfere with the body’s ability to maintain balanced levels of other neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, which helps regulate mood and protect against anxiety and depression.
A 2019 study indicates a strong link between Graves’ disease and the following mental health conditions:
- adjustment disorder
- anxiety
- attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
- bipolar disorder
- depression
Living with Graves’ disease
The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) states effective treatment for Graves’ disease may include:
- one or more medications
- radioiodine therapy
- surgery to remove all or part of the thyroid gland
Managing and monitoring thyroid hormone levels can be the first step in finding relief from the physical and psychological symptoms of Graves’ disease.
Medications for Graves’ disease include beta-blockers, which are used to ease a racing heart rate and restlessness. However, they do not affect thyroid hormone production or mental health symptoms. Antithyroid medications cause the thyroid to produce less hormone.
These medicines do not represent a cure for Graves’ disease. However, they may help stabilize thyroid hormone production and relieve various symptoms.
Radioiodine therapy targets cells in the thyroid gland responsible for hormone production. Over time, most people who receive radioiodine therapy develop hypothyroidism, which is the reduced production of thyroid hormone. Hypothyroidism is easier to treat because your doctor can prescribe synthetic thyroid hormone to manage your hormone levels.
People with Graves’ disease generally respond well to treatment. It’s critical to consider that treatment is an ongoing process and that medication dosages may have to be adjusted occasionally. Effective treatment for Graves’ disease can help you manage mental health symptoms.