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Sunday, 28 June 2009
Welcome & Thyroid Symptoms
17:19 | Posted by
Louise Sopher
Hi,
Welcome to my thyroid blog. Here I hope to post entries about the symptoms, causes, treatment, and generally the way of life with hypothyroidism. I will do this by explaining everything that I have learnt about the disease since I was diagnosed last year, including some of the things to expect during treatment; by suggesting useful websites and blogs different to my own which can provide you with useful and in some cases official, information; I will also include any creative writing entries which I have found having written them in the midst of a half-awake-half-asleep stage from before and during treatment.
This blog is aimed not only for hypothyroid sufferers, hyperthyroid suffers, or any related diseases including thyroid cancer - it is aimed for people who are interested, just passing by and want to learn something, or, and importantly, people who think they may have a thyroid disease or some kind of problem.
With any thyroid disease it seems to me that you need to know about it in order to find out about it. Of course this means that you may have been living with symptoms for years, and your thyroid may only be getting worse; there may be things about yourself that you have noticed, even that others have noticed - yet no one ever suggests that you have a simple blood test to check your thyroid.
T3 and T4 - hormones produced by the thyroid
TSH - Thyroid Stimulating Hormone; produced by the Pituary Gland in the brain to stimulate the thyroid - quite simply, to tell it to get up and start working!
If you are hypothyroid you will probably have a high TSH (which means that the brain is trying hard to tell the thyroid to work, most likely unsuccessfully) and you will have a low or normal FT4.
If you are hyperthyroid you will probably have a low TSH and a high FT4 and FT3.
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Welcome to my thyroid blog. Here I hope to post entries about the symptoms, causes, treatment, and generally the way of life with hypothyroidism. I will do this by explaining everything that I have learnt about the disease since I was diagnosed last year, including some of the things to expect during treatment; by suggesting useful websites and blogs different to my own which can provide you with useful and in some cases official, information; I will also include any creative writing entries which I have found having written them in the midst of a half-awake-half-asleep stage from before and during treatment.
This blog is aimed not only for hypothyroid sufferers, hyperthyroid suffers, or any related diseases including thyroid cancer - it is aimed for people who are interested, just passing by and want to learn something, or, and importantly, people who think they may have a thyroid disease or some kind of problem.
With any thyroid disease it seems to me that you need to know about it in order to find out about it. Of course this means that you may have been living with symptoms for years, and your thyroid may only be getting worse; there may be things about yourself that you have noticed, even that others have noticed - yet no one ever suggests that you have a simple blood test to check your thyroid.
THE THYROID TEST
And that is all it is to check: one simple blood test in which the 'thyroid function tests' are done. This will measure the hormones related to the thyroid:T3 and T4 - hormones produced by the thyroid
TSH - Thyroid Stimulating Hormone; produced by the Pituary Gland in the brain to stimulate the thyroid - quite simply, to tell it to get up and start working!
If you are hypothyroid you will probably have a high TSH (which means that the brain is trying hard to tell the thyroid to work, most likely unsuccessfully) and you will have a low or normal FT4.
If you are hyperthyroid you will probably have a low TSH and a high FT4 and FT3.
THYROID DISEASES: HYPO AND HYPER
So, what exactly is hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism?
Hypothyroidism, otherwise known as an underactive thyroid, results from the thyroid producing too little thyroid hormone, or thyroxine. Please see below for a list of symptoms, but in short, this causes slow metabolism, which affects much more than you might think. About 1 in 50 women and 1 in 1,000 men have this disease. (patient.co.uk)
Hyperthyroidism, otherwise known as an overactive thyroid, is the opposite of hypothyroidism and thus results from the thyroid producing too much thyroid hormone, or thyroxine. Again, please see below for a link where there are explanations of symptoms (I do not wish to give much details on this specific disease because I cannot be completely accurate as I am hypo, not hyper, thyroid.) but, in short, this causes a metabolism which is too fast, which, again, affects more than you might think. About 2 in 100 women and 2 in 1000 men have this disease. (patient.co.uk)
Hypothyroidism, otherwise known as an underactive thyroid, results from the thyroid producing too little thyroid hormone, or thyroxine. Please see below for a list of symptoms, but in short, this causes slow metabolism, which affects much more than you might think. About 1 in 50 women and 1 in 1,000 men have this disease. (patient.co.uk)
Hyperthyroidism, otherwise known as an overactive thyroid, is the opposite of hypothyroidism and thus results from the thyroid producing too much thyroid hormone, or thyroxine. Again, please see below for a link where there are explanations of symptoms (I do not wish to give much details on this specific disease because I cannot be completely accurate as I am hypo, not hyper, thyroid.) but, in short, this causes a metabolism which is too fast, which, again, affects more than you might think. About 2 in 100 women and 2 in 1000 men have this disease. (patient.co.uk)
SYMPTOMS OF HYPOTHYROIDISM
There are many symptoms of hypothyroidism, and you may find that you have some which are not on the 'most common' symptom list, or which do not appear to be related to the disease at all. However, if you are treated for hypothyroidism and you find that your symptoms go away then it is most likely that your thyroid did cause those problems, and that is fine.
Please see the 'excellent symptom checker...' link under the heading 'useful thyroid sites, blogs and info' on the left-hand column for a fully-detailed thyroid-symptom checker. Note that on many websites you will find that symptoms quite often appear to relate to women more than men - this is because the disease is more common in women, although it is still possible for a man to get it.
The most common symptoms according to most websites are:
Personally, I have found that, although I have had many of the symptoms related to hypothyroidism, there are some areas in which I actually seem to have the opposite! This is probably due to other reasons, perhaps initially caused by the irregularity of hormones thanks to the thyroid. I also have digestion problems which appear to be related to the thyroid - such as acid reflux and an apparant intolerance to those harder-to-digest foods which would obviously require a faster metabolism to deal with.
If you feel that you have many of the thyroid symptoms listed, see your doctor and request a blood test.
Please see the 'excellent symptom checker...' link under the heading 'useful thyroid sites, blogs and info' on the left-hand column for a fully-detailed thyroid-symptom checker. Note that on many websites you will find that symptoms quite often appear to relate to women more than men - this is because the disease is more common in women, although it is still possible for a man to get it.
The most common symptoms according to most websites are:
- Tiredness/ Fatigue/ Excessive sleep
- Short stature
- Memory problems
- Concentration problems
- Sluggishness
- Depression
- Slowness, especially of thoughts etc
- Weakness of muscles
- Dry/Pale skin
- Increased awareness of the cold
- Weight gain
- Heavy, irregular, or prolonged periods
- Losing hair/thinning hair
- Slow heart rate
- Fertility problems
- Constipation
- Puffy appearance
- Swelling at the front of the neck
- Sensation of a lump in the throat
Personally, I have found that, although I have had many of the symptoms related to hypothyroidism, there are some areas in which I actually seem to have the opposite! This is probably due to other reasons, perhaps initially caused by the irregularity of hormones thanks to the thyroid. I also have digestion problems which appear to be related to the thyroid - such as acid reflux and an apparant intolerance to those harder-to-digest foods which would obviously require a faster metabolism to deal with.
If you feel that you have many of the thyroid symptoms listed, see your doctor and request a blood test.
SYMPTOMS OF HYPERTHRYODISM
The symptoms of hyperthyroidism are generally opposite to those of hypothyroidism and include:
Useful websites to look at:
....And in the next blog:
There should be some good old creative writing entries coming along soon.
I will also post some information about the causes of thyroid diseases and the treatment soon.
Please post comments and let me know how useful (or not?) this blog is, along with any additional information you'd like to see.
- Restlessness
- Anxiety
- Losing weight
- Excessive sweating
- Diarrhoea
Useful websites to look at:
- Thyroid UK have a symptom checker for both hypo and hyperthyroidism. Refer to the 'thyroid conditions' section on the website: http://www.thyroiduk.org/
- British Thyroid Foundation: http://www.btf-thyroid.org/
....And in the next blog:
There should be some good old creative writing entries coming along soon.
I will also post some information about the causes of thyroid diseases and the treatment soon.
Please post comments and let me know how useful (or not?) this blog is, along with any additional information you'd like to see.
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3 comments:
Hi SbM
Congrats on the blog. Why not some info on diet? Poor metabolism = bowel problems. Why not some info on the t3 and 4 and tsh measurements and 'normal' ranges? Carry on the good work!
Thanks very much. In that case I will from now on include more info on this. Have you seen the 'Tips whilst taking levothyroxine' post? This one has quite a lot of info about diet in it.
Keep an eye out for posts relating to this soon!
Thanks again
Hi, I've just discovered your blog through HypoMan's blog. I too have Hashis and reflux (GERD) and have just found out that it would be prudent to be tested for Coeliac Disease. There is a significant connection between autoimmune thyroid diseases and Coeliac Disease which is also autoimmune. People who have both will have reflux as well and it has been suggested that CD may even cause mild thyroid disease.
As for diet, it's become quite clear to me that I'll have to follow calorie restriction for the rest of my life. Calorie restriction is based on maximum nutrition for minimum calories and practiced by people who want extend their life span, but I think it is also very relevant to people with thyroid disease and helps to reduce the burden of symptoms we carry around with us.
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