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Originally Posted by AyUta
What exactly is that disease? 
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There isn't a specific known cause for why it starts, but what happens is that some defense cells called lymphocytes that were supposed to make antibodies to defend the person against germes and tumors, one day look at the person's thyroid and say "hmm that thing doesn't belong here" and then they start producing antibodies against certain thyroid structures. In the case of Graves, however, the antibodies actually stimmulate some receptors in the thyroid gland, causing the gland to grow (and then a goiter can appear over the neck) and produce too much hormone. The inflammation process can also affect the structures that holds the eyes, making the eye balls to protrude (exophtalmia). The thyroid hormones are important for basal body metabolism (kinda like a button that determines at what speed and intensity should our cells work, grossly speaking). The excess of it makes the body cells to overwork, making the heart to beat faster and sometimes it even goes crazy beating fast and randomly with not much synchrony (arrhytmias), and get overloaded if not treated, finally leading to cardiac pump failure; rise in the body temperature, weight loss and intolerance to heat, because of the excessive production of heat energy from overwork; the person becomes more agitated, speaking faster and too much and the hands start to tremble. Bone minerals start to get wasted..and well, all that stuff and more can happen if the disease is not properly treated.