The Mysteries of the Thyroid

Weight gain, tiredness, discouragement, and cold sensitivity are some of the most common symptoms among people with hypothyroidism.

These signs usually appear slowly and patients may attribute some of these symptoms to daily habits and pressures.

That’s why it can take years for people with hypothyroidism to be diagnosed.

But if left untreated, it can lead to complications such as heart disease, goiter, pregnancy problems, and a serious and potentially lethal but very rare condition called a mixedematous coma.

Hypothyroidism mainly affects women, in particular, one in 70, according to the UK public health service estimate, the NHS, and children may also be affected.

But in the case of men, it only affects 1 in 1,000.

Like the accelerator pedal

The thyroid is a small butterfly gland located in the neck, in front of the windpipe.

It’s a bit like the accelerator pedal of the car, Anthony Toft, former president of the British Thyroid Association, told the BBC.

One of its main functions is to produce hormones that regulate the body’s metabolism, that is, they help control the balance in our energy consumption.

If you have less activity than normal, the rate of your metabolism will be slower than it should be, and that causes you to gain weight.

Other common symptoms include feeling too cold, having no energy, having constipation, being discouraged or depressed, or having little attention or a kind of “brain fog”.

How is it diagnosed?

If you have symptoms of hypothyroidism, your doctor will probably do a blood test.

Confirmation of the disease would be given by a high level of TSH combined with a low level of T4.

Thyrotropin or TSH ( from Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) is produced by the pituitary gland. It is also called thyroid-stimulating hormone and regulates the production of thyroid hormones.

In response to this stimulation of the pituitary gland, the thyroid gland should produce the hormones T4 and T3.

A higher-than-normal TSH level suggests that the pituitary gland is struggling to tell the thyroid to make more hormones, but for some reason, the thyroid does not pay attention.

And although the pituitary produces more and more TSH, T4 levels remain low.

how is it treated?

When patients are normally diagnosed, they have prescribed levothyroxine, a synthetic version of the hormone T4, which they must take daily to compensate for the one that does not generate the thyroid.

With this treatment, the symptoms usually decrease and the patients are usually satisfied, according to the doctor.

Normally this treatment is for life, according to the NHS.

In cases where there is no improvement, doctors may prescribe alternative treatments.

One of the delicate factors of this disease is that there is no international standard for reference ranges.

In the United Kingdom, for example, the limit value is higher or more rigid than in other countries.