Did you know that the thyroid gland is located in front of the lower part of the neck? It produces a thyroid hormone which is necessary for all the cells in our body to function properly. But the thyroid can only work under the supervision of another gland in the brain called pituitary gland. The thyroid gland is responsible for a lot of vital functions as well as human body growth and metabolism.
If for some reason, the thyroid is not able to produce the thyroid hormone called T4, then the level will become low in the blood. This in turn will send a message to the brain especially to the pituitary gland to alarm it that the thyroid hormone level is low in the blood.
The pituitary gland then starts to produce too much of its hormone called TSH, to try to stimulate the thyroid for more T4 production. So low T4 and high TSH levels, indicate the presence of a condition called Hypothyroidism or under active thyroid which is more common in females.
What are the symptoms?
Most of the time, patients might feel weak and tired with weight gain or they are not able to lose weight, due to the decrease in metabolism. Other symptoms are hair loss and dry skin. One of my patients was complaining only of swelling in her face and legs.
Some patients might feel sluggish and depressed. Other patients cannot tolerate cold temperature. But generally, in mild cases, patients might not have any symptoms and get diagnosed only by a blood test. In severe cases, they might have a swelling in thyroid gland which we refer to it, as goiter.
The most common cause of under active thyroid, is autoimmune disease. Which means, at some point the immune system thinks that the thyroid gland is a foreign body and starts attacking it and causing inflammation and destruction, to a point
that the thyroid gland is not able to produce the thyroid hormone, this type of under active thyroid is called Hashimoto disease. Another cause of under active thyroid is after the surgical removal of the thyroid gland in case of a thyroid cancer.
Finally, the treatment of under active thyroid is very simple by taking synthetic thyroid hormone as daily pill. Normally, the pill should be taken on an empty stomach, and should not be mixed with any other medications.
Also, it has to be taken for life, but we should monitor the blood test periodically especially the brain hormone TSH every 3 to 4 months.
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Video shot and edited by: Fadi Helbaoui
/ fadihelbaoui
2 авг 2024
