The thyroid gland is an endocrine gland placed at the middle of your neck just below the voice box consisting of two lobes attached. This gland is responsible for producing thyroid hormones fostering growth and development, improving metabolism activities, and maintaining a smooth circulation of blood throughout the body. The thyroid releases important hormones that are crucial for the body to perform vital functions. But in some cases, the thyroid produces insufficient or more than necessary hormones creating a misbalance in the body. This happens when the pituitary gland becomes insensible towards thyroid hormones and regulates the quantity with its hormones.
Let us understand the types of thyroid disorders, their symptoms, and treatment in detail.
Types of Thyroid disorder
1. Hypothyroidism
Hypothyroid is a condition in which the thyroid gland produces a fewer amount of hormones.
If your TSH reading is above 2.0 mIU/L then you have high chances of hypothyroidism. Some of the common symptoms are feelings of tiredness, excessive weight gain, fragile hair, and depression. You need to get thyroid function tests every year to see changes.
2. Hyperthyroidism
Hyperthyroidism is a form of thyroid disorder in which Thyroid-stimulating hormone produces excessive hormones. These hormones comprise T3 and T4, out of which T3 is the most active, and T4 gets changed into T3 during the circulation of blood. Thyroid hormones are produced in an extra quantity that leads to the development of goiter.
Symptoms of Thyroid disorder
Depending upon the seriousness of the hormone imbalance, the symptoms of thyroid vary. The symptoms develop over time and do not come to notice easily. Some of the common symptoms such as weight gain and tiredness are affected by several factors that many people are not able to associate these problems with the thyroid. As you age, you will begin to notice some obvious changes in your body that you can’t ignore.
1. Weakness in muscles and joints
One of the major signs of the thyroid is that you will feel immense weakness in your muscles and joints. Due to the thyroid, your muscle strength tends to lower down leading to ache and tiredness in your body. The body cannot afford much strenuous activity as the thyroid patient experiences twice the pain as a healthy person. They are also most likely to suffer from frequent muscle cramps due to soft muscle tissue.
2. A significant change in weight
A sudden weight change can be alarming and is one of the most crucial symptoms of thyroid disease. People with hypothyroid will gain huge weight. On the other hand, hyperthyroid patients will suffer from extreme weight loss.
3. Fatigue
A thyroid patient feels fatigue ness very easily as thyroid hormone regulates your energy which impacts your overall body activity. It causes you to feel energetic or feel lazy. Whatever happens in your body depends upon these thyroid hormones as they can change the functions of cells. It strongly affects the daily activities performed by individuals. For instance, people with hypothyroid are lazy, feel sleepy, and get tired quickly while patients with a high level of hormones are always anxious and restless.
4. Dry skin
Our skin is very sensitive to thyroid hormones and shows its signs. The imbalance of thyroid hormones leads to dry and unhealthy skin. In most cases, hypothyroid patients experience dry skin. The skin gets worse over time and becomes flakier. While skin cancer, allergies can also lead to dry skin, therefore it is hard to determine if the thyroid is one of the causes.
5. Constipation
Patients with hypothyroidism find it difficult to pass stool frequently and feel abdominal pain. You can take some supplements to ease pain and improve your stooling frequency. But, if this problem persists for a long, it is better to take medical consultation from a doctor.
6. Hair loss
Hair fall is a major sign that indicates something is wrong with your thyroid hormones. Hair tends to shed at a fast rate and is caused by both overactive hormones and underactive hormones. After proper treatment of thyroid disease, hair can regrow.
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7. Swelling in neck
The most noticeable symptom is a swelling at the front of your neck, which indicates your thyroid problem. The cause for the goiter could be overactive or underactive thyroid hormones. Thyroid cancer can also lead to goiter and sometimes due to some reason other than thyroid can also cause enlargement in the neck.
Treatment of thyroid disease
Several tests help to determine the severity of thyroid disease:
1. Blood test
The blood test is the primary step that all the doctors recommend to determine whether the thyroid is overactive or underactive. This test helps to figure out thyroid disease long before you notice its symptoms by measuring the amount of thyroid-stimulating hormones in your blood. You don’t need to take any medicine or do fasting before the blood test. This test is simple that begins with taking a blood sample and ends with analyzing it. If you are already taking some medications then you should let the doctor know about it as some drugs might be responsible for abnormal functioning of the thyroid gland.
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2. T4 tests
When TSH ( Thyroid-stimulating hormone) reaches the reading of above 2.0 mlU/L, it indicates the high levels of hypothyroidism. While low levels of T4 indicate hyperthyroidism form of thyroid. The normal range of TSH reading should be between 0.4 – 4.0 mIU/L. You may need to get thyroid function tests every year to see the changes. Some medications such as levothyroxine are effective in easing the symptoms of thyroid, you can consume it after the consultation from your doctor.
3. T3 Test
Your doctor may ask you to get a T3 test even after your T4 test report comes normally. This is because T3 and T4 tests may give different results therefore measuring both the levels helps in confirming the diagnosis. T3 helps to figure out the sign of hyperthyroidism or its seriousness. In some cases of hyperthyroidism, T4 can come out to be normal while T3 will be elevated confirming your diagnosis.
4. Thyroid antibody test
A thyroid antibody test is done to determine if you are diagnosed with autoimmune thyroid disorders such as Hashimoto disease. It is one of the common disorders caused by hypothyroidism in which your immune system accidentally attacks the thyroid. This disease mostly affects women of middle age and creates a swelling at your goiter. A thyroid antibody test is suggested if your blood test shows signs of thyroid disease.
Conclusion
Your whole body gets affected if your thyroid gland is not functioning well. When TSH stimulates excessive hormones, then it causes hyperthyroidism. While hypothyroidism occurs when thyroid hormones are very low. You must not avoid medication when you suffer from any of these conditions. Its symptoms include weakness in muscles and joints, huge weight gain or weight loss, feeling of tiredness, dry and itchy skin, constipation, heavy hair shedding, and swelling in the neck. Some of these symptoms do not come at quick notice because they are caused by multiple factors. However, it is necessary to pay attention to every small change that occurs in your body. Blood tests, T4 tests, T3 tests, and thyroid antibody tests are some of the important tests that most thyroid patients go through to understand the levels of thyroid hormones in the body. Low levels of thyroid can be treated with proper medications, hence, it is essential to get your thyroid level checked early before the condition becomes worse.
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