What is the thyroid?
The thyroid gland is a butterfly-shaped endocrine gland that is normally located in the lower front of the neck. The thyroid.s job is to make thyroid hormone. The main thyroid hormone is thyroxine, also called T4 because it contains four iodine molecules. Thyroid hormone is carried through the blood to every tissue in the body. Thyroid hormone is essential to help each cell in each tissue and organ to work right. For example, thyroid hormone helps the body use energy, stay warm, and keep the brain, heart, muscles, and other organs working as they should.
What is hypothyroidism?
Hypothyroidism is an underactive thyroid gland (.hypo-. means .under. or .below normal.). Hypothyroidism means that the thyroid gland cannot make enough thyroid hormone to keep the body running normally. People are hypothyroid if they have too little thyroid hormone in their blood. Common causes are autoimmune disease, surgical removal of the thyroid, and radiation treatment. Low thyroid hormone levels cause the body.s functions to slow down, leading to general symptoms like dry skin, fatigue, loss of energy, and memory problems. Hypothyroidism is diagnosed by a simple blood test for thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH). Hypothyroidism is treated by replacing the missing thyroid hormone with synthetic thyroxine pills, which the person must take every day for life. With daily treatment, most patients recover completely.
Symptoms
When thyroid hormone levels are too low, the body.s cells can.t get enough thyroid hormone and the body.s processes start slowing down. For example, the body makes less heat and less energy, and organs like the brain and bowels move more slowly. As the body slows, you may notice that you feel colder, you tire more easily, your skin is getting drier, you.re becoming forgetful and depressed, and you.ve started getting constipated.
You may also have body changes that you can’t feel. For example, you may not know that cholesterol is building up in your blood and .plaque. is hardening your arteries, increasing your risk for heart attack. So hypothyroidism doesn.t just cause symptoms. It can make other conditions worse.
Some people develop hypothyroidism quickly over a few months. Some people develop it slowly over many years. In general, the lower thyroid hormone levels become and the longer they stay low, the more severe the symptoms will be. Subclinical (mild) hypothyroidism may cause mild symptoms or none at all. Severe hypothyroidism usually causes severe symptoms (see .What happens if hypothyroidism isn.t treated,. below). But no one can predict exactly which symptoms a person will develop or how severe they.ll be. Some people are very sick by the time they learn their diagnosis; others whose blood tests show severe hypothyroidism have few if any symptoms.
Because the symptoms are so variable, the only way to know for sure whether you have hypothyroidism is with blood tests.
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