Graves’ disease is an autoimmune condition in which your immune system attacks the thyroid gland. This attack makes your thyroid overproduce hormones. Extra thyroid hormones lead to symptoms like weight loss, shaking, sweating, and a fast heartbeat.
Graves’ disease often doesn’t happen alone. Autoimmune conditions tend to occur together.
Comorbidity means you have more than one condition. It’s not the same as a complication, which is a problem that happens because of the disease. Arrhythmia and osteoporosis are complications of Graves’ disease. Rheumatoid arthritis and lupus are comorbidities.
Knowing which comorbidities affect people with Graves’ disease can help you monitor symptoms and work with a doctor to find treatment.
Why do autoimmune diseases occur together?
When you have Graves’ disease, you’re more likely to have other autoimmune diseases. An autoimmune disease occurs when your immune system attacks your body’s healthy cells. Almost 1 in 5 people with Graves’ disease also have another autoimmune disease, such as vitiligo or rheumatoid arthritis.
There are a couple of reasons autoimmune diseases tend to occur together. For instance, some genes increase your risk for these conditions.
For example, research from 2022 investigated changes that occur in human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes linked to Graves’ disease. These genes hold the instructions for making proteins that help your body tell its own cells apart from foreign invaders like germs. HLA gene changes are also linked to Graves’ disease comorbidities like arrhythmia and heart disease.
Exposure to some environmental elements might also play a part in causing these conditions. Environmental triggers could include infections, stress, and diet.
Multiple autoimmune syndrome (MAS) is a condition in which you have three or more autoimmune diseases. MAS has three types.
Type 3 MAS includes Graves’ disease, type 1 diabetes, vitiligo, and a few other autoimmune conditions. About 1.5% of people with Graves’ disease have three autoimmune disorders.
Graves’ disease comorbidities
Autoimmune diseases that most likely affect people with Graves’ disease include:
- Celiac disease is when your immune system attacks and damages your small intestine after you eat gluten.
- Chronic autoimmune gastritis damages the stomach lining.
- Lupus affects many parts of the body, including the skin, kidneys, joints, and heart.
- Multiple sclerosis damages the protective coating that surrounds nerve cells, leading to numbness, weakness, and memory problems.
- Polymyalgia rheumatica causes muscle pain and stiffness.
- Rheumatoid arthritis damages the joints, leading to pain, stiffness, and loss of movement.
- Sjögren disease is when the immune system attacks glands that lubricate the eyes, mouth, and other parts of the body.
- Type 1 diabetes damages the pancreas to the point where it can’t make enough insulin, a hormone that lowers blood sugar.
- Vitiligo destroys the pigment cells that give skin its color.
How to avoid complications
Unmanaged Graves’ disease could increase your risk for:
- blood clots
- heart disease
- heart failure
- high blood pressure
- infertility
- arrhythmia
- thin bones (osteoporosis)
- vision loss
In addition, Graves’ disease can cause anxiety, irritability, and depression. Treating an overactive thyroid gland could improve your mental health.
It’s essential to consult healthcare professionals for treatment. An endocrinologist or thyroid specialist treats Graves’ disease. You may also see an ophthalmologist if you have thyroid eye disease.
The primary treatments for Graves’ disease are:
- Antithyroid medications such as methimazole reduce the amount of hormone your thyroid gland makes.
- Radioiodine therapy is a radioactive substance that you take as a liquid or pill. It slowly destroys cells in your thyroid gland.
- Thyroid surgery removes part or all of your thyroid gland. This treatment might be an option if your thyroid is enlarged, which is called a goiter.
You might need to see other specialists, such as a rheumatologist or gastroenterologist, to manage comorbidities.
It’s common for people with Graves’ disease also to have other autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, or celiac disease. Graves’ also can increase the risk for heart disease and arrhythmia.
Treating Graves’ disease and other autoimmune conditions can help prevent complications.
It’s also vital to care for your mental health as you navigate Graves’ disease treatment. If you feel symptoms of anxiety or depression, consider talking with a psychologist, psychiatrist, or therapist for next steps and treatment.