Know Your Thyroid.

Know Your Thyroid

Feeling constantly weak, tired or down in the dumps? Or how about no matter how much exercise you do or restricting your food intake you seem to gain rather than lose weight. It just might be down to your thyroid.

Ask people around you about their thyroid and some won’t have heard of it and probably won’t be able to locate it in their body.

So what and where is it?

The Thyroid is a gland with a butterfly shape. It sits in front of the neck and just under the Adam’s apple (Yes, women do have one too!) with two lobes, each on either side.

The Thyroid is what keeps your body ticking by controlling its metabolism and oversees the functions of your other organs such as heart, brain, reproductive organs, your muscles and bones.

What exactly does it do?

Your Thyroid has two main hormones nicknamed T3 (Thyroxine) and T4 (Triiodothyronine). T4 is the inactive hormone that is converted to T3 which regulates body metabolism.

Another hormone called Thyroid Stimulating Hormone or TSH is secreted by the pituitary gland in the brain. The TSH tells the thyroid how much T4 or T3 to release. T4 then feeds back to the brain when enough if it has been made.

To help with hormone production and conversion, nutrients found in foods such as Iodine – the main ingredient, Vitamins A, B and D, Selenium, Zinc and Iron are essential.

Symptoms of thyroid problems can be so vague and non-specific that a lot of people are never diagnosed, misdiagnosed or delayed either due to late presentation to their doctor, gradual onset of symptoms or difficulties in describing their symptoms.

For example, a person with symptoms of depression, weight gain or poor sleep could be due to a thyroid problem.

When your thyroid produces not enough thyroxine it said to be underactive and this condition is called Hypothyroidism. And likewise, excess production causes the gland to be overactive and is called Hyperthyroidism. These are more common in women than men.

How to recognise the symptoms

Underactive Thyroid (Hypothyroidism)

Thyroid production decreases with age hence more common in older women over the age of 40 and can sometimes be mistaken for early menopause. Insufficient production of thyroxine slows down the metabolism of your body. You might experience one or more of:

Feeling generally sluggish, weight gain, loss of appetite, constipation, poor concentration and memory, depression and mood swings, tiredness, dry skin, dry eyes, dizziness, poor sleep, thinning hair, feeling cold all the time, slow heart rate, irregular periods, infertility and many more.

As you can see the list is by no means exhaustive, hence not always obvious to diagnose.

Overactive Thyroid (Hyperthyroidism)

Excess production of thyroxine will in turn speed up your body metabolism. This is more common in women under the age of 40. Symptoms which again are inexhaustive can include any of:

Weight loss, increased appetite, anxiety, feeling shaky, excessive sweating, hair loss, frequent or loose stools, breathlessness, heart racing fast, poor sleep, itchy skin, increased sex drive, double vision, weak muscles, and even man boobs.

There are several causes of thyroid imbalance with the most common being autoimmune; meaning that your immune system attacks the thyroid as if it was foreign. Thyroid is linked with other autoimmune conditions such as coeliac and type 1 diabetes. Other thyroid problems include: eye disease, thyroid nodules and rarely, thyroid cancer.

Managing your thyroid problems

If thyroid disorder is suspected, the first step will be to take blood test for thyroid hormones and also to exclude other causes with similar symptoms like menopause, diabetes, vitamin D or iron deficiency etc. Ultrasound of your neck is sometimes needed if a lump or enlarged thyroid is present or suspected on examination.

Management could involve improving your diet by adding foods containing recommended daily amounts of iodine and the nutrients mentioned earlier as well as trial of excluding gluten that has been implicated in autoimmune disease.

Medication is also given to replace the hormone if underactive and suppress production if overactive.

With some cases, your doctor would refer you to an endocrinologist who deals with thyroid problems if overactive, poorly controlled despite medication or abnormal ultrasound.

So the next time your wife snaps at you for no obvious reason or your husband‘s sex drive is too low or high just ask ‘Could your thyroid be playing up honey?’ :)

Dr. Precious Osula

F7 | LIFESTYLE

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