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Graves Disease
October 16, 2008 |
When it comes to thyroid conditions, many people believe they only affect adults.
But that’s not always the case.
“Graves’ Disease is a disorder of the thyroid. It’s really quite unusual under age
five; it hits a maximum incidence during adolescence,” says pediatrician Dr. Thomas
Schiller.
Graves’ Disease, also knows as hyperthyroidism, can cause some drastic effects on
bodily functions such as heart rate and blood pressure. But it can also reveal itself
with more subtle symptoms. Dr. Schiller says, “The symptoms are for a child who
has too much thyroid onboard. It’s going to be an irritable child they’re going
to have tremors, they can show symptoms of ADHD, they can have diarrhea."
The disease is rare, affecting between two and four percent of the population and
there is no definitive cause or cure for Graves’ Disease. “There’s no wonderful
treatment for it because we don’t have a good way to stop these antibodies from
being made, so we give other medicines that reduce the symptoms.”
Dr. Schiller adds that Graves’ Disease is usually a condition that a child will
grow out of, usually fading over a period of years. Other symptoms parents can look
for include weight loss, increased sweatiness and fatigue. Research shows girls
develop Graves’ Disease seven times more frequently than boys. |
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