Overview, Symptoms and Treatments of Hypothyroidism

Hypothyroidism is when the body does not have enough thyroid hormone. The thyroid hormone is used by the body to run the metabolism; but when there is too little of this hormone, people will have symptoms of slow metabolism.

If you or someone you know has hypothyroidism, here are some facts that could be pertinent to your or their condition.

Hypothyroidism has two common cause including previous inflammation of the thyroid gland and the actual "medical treatments" themselves.

Many thyroid conditions such as thyroid cancer or removal of a worrisome nodule must be treated with surgery. However, some conditions such as a goiter can be treated with radioactive iodine therapy.

Hypothyroidism can be detected by just a blood test and is totally treatable. But left untreated it can actually lead to severe life-threatening depression, coma, or heart failure. These conditions are rare but can happen.

The symptoms of hypothyroidism can be any or all of the following: decreased libido, abnormal menstrual cycle, irritability, depression, memory loss, muscle cramps, constipation, fatigue, weight gain or inability to lose weight, weakness, hair loss, rough dry skin, dry hair, and/or intolerance to cold.

Some people, depending on the severity of the deficiency, can have from none to all of these symptoms. Some people will not have these symptoms severe enough to even notice. However, if you do notice them tell your doctor right away (even if they are not bothering you...at the moment).

Treating hypothyroidism is usually fairly easy for most patients. Most physicians choose what is called a T4 (synthetic) form of thyroid. This comes in pill form and is called levothyroxine sodium. The dosage of this drug depends on the severity of the thyroid deficiency. The usual amount of the T4 for adults is 1.6 micrograms per kilogram per day. However, children will actually require larger doses.

One of the major risks with this treatment is that if the patient has a heart disease that is preexisting, in 20% of the cases this type of treatment can aggravate the underlying heart problem. In older adults with no history of heart disease or problems, beginning them on a full dose of T4 can actually uncover heart disease. This can lead to chest pain and heart attacks. Therefore, heart disease patients or those at high risk are started out at a smaller dosage and gradually increased over the period of a several weeks.

Therefore, if you find yourself or know of a friend or loved one who has/have any of these symptoms, tell your doctor right away. Do not wait to see if they go away or lessen in severity. Some people think that hypothyroidism is "nothing to worry about". Well, yes it is. Do not ignore it!

Source(s)

Personal experience with a loved one

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