My Friend Alexa: Post 3
Table of Contents
The thyroid gland works by regulating the metabolism of the body, when it produces fewer hormones then the body goes into a sluggish state: Hypothyroidism. It’s 2-8 times more common in females in comparison to males.
Read More about Thyroid Diseases: Here
How do I know I have Hypothyroidism?
Causes of hypothyroidism
- Autoimmune Causes: most common autoimmune disease is Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. In this condition body develops antibodies against thyroid gland and causes auto-consumption of thyroid. This leads to hypothyroidism.
- As a response to Hyperthyroid medication: at times over treatment of hyperthyroidism my push the patient towards hypothyroidism, but that’s very easily controlled by tittering the dosage.
- Radiation therapy: it’s used to treat head & neck cancers even the Thyroid cancer (Radio-Iodine Ablation Therapy) which leads to destruction of thyroid gland and hypothyroidism. Patient would need hormone replacement therapy for life in such conditions.
- Surgery: if patient has undergone Total Thyroidectomy then they would develop hypothyroidism for life.
- Drug Induced: few medications alter the thyroid profile of patients. Few of the common drugs are:
- Amiodarone
- Interferon alpha
- Thalidomide
- Rifampin
- Lithium
- Phenytoin
- Anti-cancer drugs & many more
Less common causes:
- Low Iodine Intake: patient might be in low Iodine region which might be lead to Goiter. Such cases are less now a days since prevalence of Iodized Salt in diet of population is attaining the minimum requirement of Iodine in people.
- Pregnancy: due to high demand state or patients develop antibodies towards thyroid leading to hypothyroidism or even post-partum hypothyroidism.
- Pituitary disorders: pituitary stimulates and regulates thyroid gland so any problem in pituitary would certainly effect the thyroid gland.
- Congenital conditions:it’s very rare to develop congenital absence or abnormality of thyroid gland. It’s known as Cretinism.
How do we detect hypothyroidism?
The patient has to be thoroughly investigated for the cause:
- Thyroid function test
- Thyroglobulin
- TPO antibody
- Ultrasonography of neck
- Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC)
What is the treatment?
If all other tests are normal and the patient has Primary Hypothyroidism then levothyroxine is the treatment of choice for patients.
Alexa Global Rank: 585917
Alexa Country Rank: 51466
Be Happy, Be Healthy
Disclaimer: This post is a part of Blogchatter’s My friend Alexa 2021 Challenge.
- Post 1: https://livingherself.com/2021/09/20/my-friend-alexa-2021/
- Post 2: https://livingherself.com/2021/09/22/know-about-thyroid-diseases/
References:
- https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hypothyroidism/symptoms-causes/syc-20350284
- https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/endocrine-diseases/hypothyroidism
- https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/122393-overview
- https://www.uclahealth.org/endocrine-center/hypothyroidism
- https://www.thyroid.org/hypothyroidism/
I didn’t knew these things about thyroid. Thanks for this informative post
Yes, I do have Hypothyroidism. All the facts and symptoms you’ve shared are so right. I would give this article more weightage as you are a Doctor.
Interesting and informative! Thank you for placing the facts on hypothyroidism before us.
I developed hypothyroidism during pregnancy and have been taking medicine ever since. I do have increased cholesterol levels and sensitivity to cold. Weight gain is also an issue.
i hope you got yourself tested for antibodies against thyroid too
My doctor did ask me to get the test once. Since then, I get tested every 3-4 months (TSH levels) and my medicine dose is fine-tuned.
I’m glad that you are well maintained on medication.
Great information. Thanks for writing this.
This is a very informative article. thanks for sharing and explaining everything in detail
Wow this is thyroid on another level. I’m sure someone will get help due to this.
Very useful and informative post on thyroid. Thanks for sharing this.
It is good to see that you are awaring people about thyroid in this season of MFA. Your posts are providing lot of knowledge.
Glad to have come across your posts. Keep going with simple yet super informative posts
This is really informative. I developed hypothyroidism due to auto-immune disease. Add to that, it runs in the family.
Last year I fell really sick due to stress and untreated jaundice. One thing led to another, and everything in my blood report was on the higher end of the acceptable bracket – including thyroid and diabetes. These articles can be really helpful – thanks,
Your posts are really helping me understand my body better