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Symptoms
By Mayo Clinic staffHyperthyroidism can mimic other health problems, which may make it difficult for your doctor to diagnose. It can also cause a wide variety of signs and symptoms. Hyperthyroidism symptoms may include:
- Sudden weight loss, even when your appetite and food intake remain normal or even increase
- Rapid heartbeat (tachycardia) — commonly more than 100 beats a minute — irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia) or pounding of your heart (palpitations)
- Increased appetite
- Nervousness, anxiety or anxiety attacks, irritability
- Tremor — usually a fine trembling in your hands and fingers
- Sweating
- Changes in menstrual patterns
- Increased sensitivity to heat
- Changes in bowel patterns, especially more frequent bowel movements
- An enlarged thyroid gland (goiter), which may appear as a swelling at the base of your neck
- Fatigue, muscle weakness
- Difficulty sleeping
Older adults are more likely to have either no signs or symptoms or subtle ones, such as an increased heart rate, heat intolerance and a tendency to become tired during ordinary activities. Medications called beta blockers, which are used to treat high blood pressure and other conditions, can mask many of the signs of hyperthyroidism.
Graves' ophthalmopathy
Sometimes an uncommon problem called Graves' ophthalmopathy may affect your eyes. In this disorder, your eyeballs protrude beyond their normal protective orbits when tissues and muscles behind your eyes swell. This pushes the eyeballs forward so far that they actually bulge out of your orbits. This can cause the front surface of your eyeballs to become very dry. Signs and symptoms of Graves' ophthalmopathy include:
- Protruding eyeballs
- Red or swollen eyes
- Excessive tearing or discomfort in one or both eyes
- Light sensitivity, blurry or double vision, inflammation, or reduced eye movement
