Symptoms and Treatments

What is Underactive Thyroid?

An underactive thyroid gland is a medical condition called hypothyroidism when the hormone thyroxin in not sufficiently produced by the thyroid gland found in the neck to fall below normal levels required by the body to function normally. The condition afflicts some people as they grow old, usually from 35 onwards and four times more women suffer the disorder than men.

Description

The thyroxin hormone maintains the body’s metabolic rates to sustain normal body functions and active pace. With an underactive thyroid that produces less of the hormone, metabolism slows down or even grinds to a trickle so that everything in the body slows down. People with the condition suffer stunted growth and a small body whereas adults with the condition will generally have general body weakness and lethargic disposition.

Causes and Risk Factors of Underactive Thyroid

The most common trigger is an inherited condition called Hashimoto’s thryroiditis named after Dr. Hakaru Hashimoto who first described the condition in 1912.  It is an autoimmune disease where the body’s immune system attacks the thyroid gland that gets enlarged.  In addition, insufficient thyroxin production can be triggered by

Other causes are dysfunction of the thyroid gland due to disease of the gland itself or thyroidectomy, radiation therapy with radioactive iodine, and failure of the pituitary gland to produce thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH).

A person risks suffering the condition as they grow older, over 50 in women and over 60 in men.  A chronic iodine deficiency as well as untreated goiter can lead to a dysfunction of the thyroid gland. A history of thyroid related disorders indicates a high risk as well as contracting diabetes, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.  A raised cholesterol level can also increase hypothyroid conditions.

Symptoms of Underactive Thyroid

The symptoms commonly associated with an underactive thyroid can also show in other medical ailments.  They often develop progressively and slowly becoming worse over time with continuously inadequate thyroid hormones. The most common symptom include

Tiredness and early fatigue

Puffy eyes and hands

Weight gain as a result of inactivity, constipation

Dry unhealthy skin, nails and hair

Hair loss in the eyebrows

Mental lethargy and memory lapses

Anemia,

Frequent bouts with depression,

High cholesterol levels

Fluid retention

Other symptoms with lesser commonality include

Irregular menstrual cycle

Infertility

Loss of libido

Hoarse voice

Carpal tunnel syndrome which results in numbing or pain in the hands

Non-treatment increase the risk of cardiovascular disease as a low thyroxin causes high cholesterol levels.

Prolonged non-treatment progressively results in cretinism characterized by

Constant drooling

Swayback

Pot belly

Stunted growth in children

Pregnant woman who develop hypothyroidism face increased risk of premature labor, pre-eclampsia, low birth weight and still birth.

Although rare, severe prolonged thyroxin deficiency can induce hypothyroid coma (Myxedema coma) that gradually sets in Diagnosis

Diagnosis of Underactive Thyroid

After a thorough check of a patient’s medical history to ascertain familial disposition to the condition, a physical and medical examination can reveal through blood tests the low T4 and a high TSH levels indicative of hypothyroidism. Palpitation of the larynx can reveal abnormal swelling or growth of the thyroid gland and subsequent blood tests can confirm the diagnosis.

Treatment of Underactive Thyroid

The condition often persists throughout one’s life and because hypothyroidism is deficiency of the thyroid hormone, its effective treatment involves thyroid hormone supplementation.  It can be natural using extracts from the thyroid glands of animals or pharmaceutically synthesized such as levothyroxine.