Thyroid Disease and New Technology to Test for It

The thyroid gland is a gland that stores and makes essential hormones; helps regulate blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature, and the chemical reaction (metabolism) in the body. The thyroid gland is located in the front of the neck; it is the biggest gland in the neck, and is located below the skin and muscle layers. The thyroid gland takes the shape of a butterfly, with the wings taking shape from the left and right thyroid lobes, which then wraps around the trachea. The thyroid makes thyroid hormones, which affects most tissue in the body. This hormone increases cellular activity and helps regulate the body's metabolism.

The longer it takes you to get diagnosed with hypothyroidism; you will actually put on more weight. With hypothyroidism your metabolism slows down. This means you will not be able to burn calories, making it even harder for you to lose weight. Some women are fighting obesity and no matter what diet they choose, they can never seem to shed the extra pounds. Hypothyroidism can also make you tire easy and make your body feel achy, which then makes it impossible to exercise; therefore, reducing your metabolism. Thyroid patients need to exercise to be able to reduce insulin levels, and make it easier to burn calories and fat. Exercising also raises a resting metabolism. If you are diagnosed with hypothyroidism, and you are treated for it, you will notice when dieting, you will be able to shed those extra pounds. Treatment for hypothyroidism is T3 (Cytomel); T3 is shorter-acting and needs to be taken multiple times a day. A majority of hypothyroidism physicians treat their patients with T4 (Levoxyl, Synthroid). This treatment requires a once a day dosage and is a more stable form of thyroid hormone.

Hyperthyroidism is caused by an overactive thyroid gland, which makes the thyroid gland produce an excessive amount of thyroid hormones, which circulate in the blood. Hyperthyroidism goes undetected in millions of people each year. Technology now is using blood test for detection of thyroid disease. This blood test misses 15% of patients who should have been diagnosed with thyroid disease. Doctors are now trying a technology to better detect thyroid disease; this new approach is more accurate than the blood test being done. This new technology is called NiTek. With NiTek doctors can test the muscles and see how they react. A slow reacting muscle can be due to thyroid disease. Most do not know about this technology being used, as it is still in the development and testing stages. It is best to call your doctor, and ask questions concerning this technology and see if you would make a candidate in order to test this new technology.

Thyroid disease has many symptoms, which include: Sleep apnea, hair loss, weight gain or difficulty losing weight, chronic fatigue and weakness, insomnia, intolerance to cold, mainly in the hands and feet, depression and irritability, decrease in sex drive, constipation, abnormal menstrual cycle, muscle cramps, memory loss, and dry and rough skin. Trying to lose weight with an under active thyroid is next to impossible.

If you are someone who has a majority of these symptoms, you need to see your doctor and ask to be tested for thyroid disease. I would also suggest you ask about NiTek which is a more accurate way of testing for thyroid disease instead of the unreliable means of a blood test.