Graves' Disease Presenting as Painful Goiter: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

A painful and tender thyroid gland is a rare phenomenon in Graves' disease. We present a case of 31-years-old Guyanese female who was admitted to the hospital with complaints of neck pain for the past few days. She also reported increase appetite for a few weeks; she did not have palpitations, heat intolerance, or muscle weakness. The presence of hyperthyroidism with elevated TSI suggested that the patient had Graves' disease. Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein (CRP) were within normal limit, thus the diagnosis of thyroiditis was effectively ruled out. This is a rare case of a painful and tender thyroid gland in Graves' disease without the evidence of sub-acute thyroiditis.