What is Thyroid and What are The Symptoms?
Thyroid or hypothyroidism is a situation in which your thyroid gland does not produce enough of certain important hormones.
The thyroid sometimes causes no visible signs in the early stages.
Over time, untreated hypothyroidism can lead to a number of health problems, such as infertility, obesity, joint pain, and heart disease.
An accurate thyroid function test is available to diagnose hypothyroidism. Treatment with synthetic thyroid hormones is usually simple, safe, and effective, once you and your doctor have found the right dose for you.
What is Thyroid?
The thyroid gland is a small organ that is located at the front of your neck, covering your windpipe (trachea). It is shaped like a butterfly, smaller in the middle with 2 broad wings extending around the sides of the throat.
Thyroid is gland. You have glands throughout your body. These glands make and release substances that help your body do specific things.
The thyroid makes hormones that help control many vital functions of the body. (Clevelandclinic.org)
When the thyroid is not working normally, it will have an impact on other parts of the body. If your body makes too much thyroid hormone, it may develop a condition called hyperthyroidism. If your body makes too little thyroid hormone (hypothyroidism). Both of these conditions are serious and need to be treated by your doctor.
What are the Causes of Thyroid Problems?
Two main types of thyroid problems are hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism. This condition can be caused by other diseases that affect the workings of the thyroid gland.
Conditions that may lead to hypothyroidism include:
- Thyroiditis:
This is an inflammation of the thyroid gland. Thyroiditis can decrease the amount of hormone your thyroid produces.
- Iodine deficiency:
Iodine is used by the thyroid to manufacture hormones. Iodine deficiency is a problem faced by many people worldwide.
- Postpartum thyroiditis:
This condition occurs in 5% to 9% of women after giving birth. This is typically a temporary condition.
- Hashimoto's thyroiditis:
A painless disease, Hashimoto's thyroiditis is an autoimmune condition where your body's cells attack and damage the thyroid. It's an inherited condition.
- Malfunctioning thyroid gland:
Sometimes, there is a thyroid gland that doesn't work properly from birth. It affects approximately 1 in 4,000 newborns. If left unchecked, the child will experience physical and mental problems later on.
All newborns usually are given a screening blood test to check their thyroid function.
Common Signs and Symptoms of Hypothyroidism
1. Weight gain
Thyroid hormones help regulate weight, food intake, and fat and sugar metabolism. Humans with low levels of thyroid hormone can experience weight gain and an increase in body mass index (BMI).
Even mild cases of hypothyroidism can increase your risk for weight gain and obesity. People with this condition often report having a swollen face and excess weight around the abdomen or other areas of the body.
2. High cholesterol
Thyroid hormone plays an important role in removing too much cholesterol from the body through the liver.
Low levels of the hormone mean the liver is trying to perform this function, and blood cholesterol levels may increase.
Studies recommend that up to 13 percent of people with high cholesterol also have an underactive thyroid. Consequently, many experts recommend that doctors routinely screen people with high cholesterol for hypothyroidism.
Treating thyroid problems can help reduce cholesterol levels, even in those not taking cholesterol-lowering medications.
3. Constipation
Digestion is a physical function that can slow down too due to hypothyroidism.
Research has found that an underactive thyroid can cause problems with movement through the intestines and activity of the stomach, small intestine, and colon.
These digestive changes lead some people to constipation.
Doctors usually define constipation as defecating less than 3 times a week. Humans may also experience hard stools, difficulty passing stools, or a feeling of not being able to completely empty the rectum.
4. Abnormal blood pressure
Thyroid hormones have always been associated with the heart, and influence how fast or slow it beats.
Hypothyroidism causes the heart rate to be slower than normal, and it affects a number of other organs and body functions.
In hyperthyroidism, your heart beats too quickly. Any situation can result in heart failure. Especially if the heart rate is elevated for a long period of time.
5. Fatigue
Hypothyroidism erases you. Your control of balance and strength becomes less effective. Maybe it could mean a full day at work, leaving you even more tired than usual, or the exercise you used to enjoy is now too exhausting.
This fatigue experience can also contribute to weight gain with hypothyroidism.
In hyperthyroidism, you are usually tired, but this can also cause fatigue. If you're feeling restless, or like to drink too much coffee all the time, it can leave you very tired at the end of the day.
The body can go into overdrive for long periods of time before it needs rest, and hyperthyroidism doesn't provide that balance.
How to Check Your Neck for Thyroid?
1. Holding a handheld mirror in your hand, concentrate on the lower front areas of your neck, above your collarbones, and below your voice box (larynx). The thyroid gland is located in the neck area.
2. While you are concentrating on this area in the mirror, tilt your head back.
3. Drink the water, tilting your head back and swallow.
4. As you swallow, look at your neck. Check for lumps in this area while you swallow. You might be able to repeat it a few times.
5. If you notice a lump, see your thyroid doctor right away. You may have an enlarged thyroid gland, or a thyroid nodule that needs checking.
An easy way to determine whether you have a thyroid condition is to consult your doctor as soon as possible. Your specialist may do a TSH (thyroid-stimulating hormone) test, a simple blood test to measure whether your thyroid gland is functioning normally or not.
When Should Go to the doctor?
See your doctor if you often feel tired for no reason, or have other thyroid symptoms, such as paleness, dry skin, puffy face, constipation, or hoarseness of voice.
If you are taking hormone therapy for hypothyroidism, schedule follow-up visits as often as your specialist recommends.
It is important to make sure you are receiving the right dose of the medication. Over time, the dose you will need may change.
Underactive Thyroid if not treated
It's less likely that you will have signs of an underactive thyroid later in life, as the condition is often identified before more serious signs appear.
Subsequent symptoms of an underactive thyroid include:
- face that looks puffy
- low-pitched, hoarse voice
- slow heartbeat
- thinning or partially missing brows
- hearing impairment
- anemia
Clinical Trials for Hypothyroidism
Clinical trials, or other types of clinical research, are part of medical research and involve humans.
When you voluntarily engage in clinical research, you help specialists and researchers to learn more about disease and improve future human health care.
Researchers are currently studying the many factors of hypothyroidism, such as understanding how the disease progresses, its clinical presentation, and genetics investigating how effective and safe levothyroxine is for people with chronic kidney disease.
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