dr. Lisa Silvani Hypothyroid is becoming more and more common these days. Unfortunately, not many people are aware of this disease until it progressed into advance state.
What is Hypothyroidism?
Hypothyroidism is a disorder where the body's thyroid gland produces less of its hormones than normal. How is Hypothyroidism Different from T3 Hypoactive Disorder? Although they sound similar, T3 Hypoactive Disorder and Hypothyroidism are actually different. A doctor might call it hypothyroidism, but not the way that it affects the body. The former is defined as a disorder where the body's thyroid gland does not produce the hormone that it should. Fluctuations in thyroid hormone levels are not generally a problem when it comes to the thyroid. However, if thyroid hormone levels are too low or too high, they can cause a lot of symptoms.
Symptoms and Signs of Hypothyroidism
The signs and symptoms of hypothyroidism often blurry, since it also the same symptoms with many ailments, not to mention aging. But there are several signs that when all is there, this makes hypothyroid as our prime suspect.
1. Weight Gain
Weight gain is one of the most common signs of hypothyroidism. This means that you may notice a sudden increase in your weight without any real changes in diet or physical activity. If you are severely overweight and are experiencing some other symptoms related to hypothyroidism, then you should see your doctor for a full blood test and consultation.
2. Drowsiness
Being drowsy will disrupt your work and activity rhythm. It will leave you feeling sleepy and tired. Many other problems such as work and traffic accidents also result from drowsiness that impair focus and decision making.
3. Lack of energy
Many of us strive for more energy during the day to stay afloat of every task in our daily plate. Don’t confuse this with the lack of energy that people with hypothyroidism have. Being tired all the time and the difficulty of making the effort to do daily chores even the simplest one can be a warning sign though. Make sure to consult with a physician first to check whether what you’re having is true fatigue or a simple sign to get some rest.
4. Memory
Losing memory of something important can be devastating. But it’s the same with not being able to remember the simple things like names, numbers and even address. It’s even more disturbing since these are the things that we need to remember to do our daily task. Declining memory has been linked to hypothyroidism in a good deal of research. Although the signs can be subtle at first, this is the signs that you shouldn’t ignore. Memory declines can take years to develop but as soon as the signs emerges, it can speed up, and before you know it, your memory already declines faster than ever.
5. Hair Loss
One of the most common signs of hypothyroidism is hair loss. Although it seems to be more apparent on women, it actually happens to both men and women. Hair loss due to hypothyroidism can happen gradually and often not being seen until it becomes major issues. Fortunately, when hair loss is caused by hypothyroidism, the effect will also improve along with the improvement on the thyroid conditions.
6. Dry or Chapped Skins
What is not being recognized as symptoms of hypothyroidism and usually ignored is dry or chapped skin. Most of us will suspect or try to replenish dry skin with moisturizer or blame it on the age and sun exposure. While dry skin can actually be caused by any of those reasons, most unmanageable and chronic dry skin usually have deeper and more problematic issues such as hypothyroidism.
7. Sleep Impairment
such as insomnia, sleep apnea and or restless leg syndrome usually accompany hypothyroidism. Although it’s not always clear which one happens first, the sleep problems or hypothyroidism, because both scenarios do exists.
8. Cold hands and feet
For simplifying diagnostic need, these symptoms are very useful to recognize the first signs of hypothyroidism. While it’s not always the cause, we should always consider hypothyroidism for cold hands and feet if persist without any obvious reasons such as weather conditions or fever.
9. Muscle or Joint Pain
There are many causes for muscles and joints pain. But, for chronic pain on muscles and joints and are followed by other symptoms of hypothyroidism can be a significant finding.
What are the Causes of Hypothyroidism?
1. Hypothyroidism can be inherited, in which your parents/grandparents/great grandparents had thyroid issues. The genes that control thyroid hormone production are
2. Osteoporosis may also contribute to the hypothyroidism, in which people who are undergoing Osteoporosis treatment are more likely to develop hypothyroidism. Osteoporosis is a condition in which bones become thin and weak. This can happen from age, medications, or some other cause.
3. Hyperthyroidism can also be the cause of hypothyroidism. Unresolved or even chronic hyperthyroidism at some point can switch off the metabolism and turned to hypothyroidism. This conditions, although it seems backwards is actually in line with how our body works. Prolonged hyperthyroidism will make our body work harder to maintain the production of thyroid hormone. With the exhaustion of our metabolism, the thyroid hormone that being produced are getting small and smaller. Eventually our body can only maintain the capacity to produce just enough thyroid hormone for our body to stay alive. Thus, creating hypothyroid condition.
Diagnosis and Treatment
Diagnosing hypothyroid conditions require detailed health check from patients including health and diseases history, laboratory test and a thorough lifestyle assessment. To diagnose hypothyroid, we need to establish a person’s thyroid hormones level. The thyroid panel is usually consisted of Free T3, Free T4, TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) and TBG (Thyroid Binding Globulin). But sometimes it’s not as clear as whether someone with low thyroid level or high TSH have hypothyroid or not. So it is important to not look only at the laboratory result but to also consider patient’s complaints, signs and symptoms.
Conclusion
Hypothyroid is getting more common than ever. The disease can present itself in many signs and symptoms. Symptoms are found in different stages of the disease. That is why is not easy to diagnose and much more difficult to treat. Nevertheless, there are many proven cases of successful treatment for hypothyroidism. Especially those who combine the treatment with many things and not limited with only drugs or hormone therapy.
