The thyroid gland, a butterfly-shaped organ in your neck, plays a big role in regulating your body’s energy metabolism through the release of thyroid hormones, thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3). However, when the immune system, your body’s natural defense system against foreign substances in the body, mistakenly targets this gland, it can lead to a condition generally known as autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD). 

AITD presents clinically in two main forms—Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and Graves’ disease. Hashimoto’s thyroiditis is named after Dr. Hakaru Hashimoto, the Japanese physician who first described the condition in 1912. Grave’s disease, on the other hand, is named after the Irish doctor Robert James Graves, who first described the condition in 1835. Although a similar description was independently made by the German physician Karl Adolph von Basedow in 1840, the condition became widely known as Graves’ disease mainly in English-speaking countries, while in other parts of the world, such as mainland Europe (especially Germany) and Japan, it is often referred to as Basedow’s disease.

Despite their similarities in being thyroid-related autoimmune diseases, the impacts of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and Graves’ disease on the body, their symptoms, and their treatments differ significantly. In this article, we will highlight the differences, and in some cases, similarities between these two diseases.