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I always know that thyroid is the organ that produce hormones. But before I came to USA I never heard thyroid problem.
Chronic diseases in Asia are the world common diseases such as diabetes, cholesterol, high blood, heart disease and cancer.
It surprise me to hear about THYROID problem. Already I have 2 friends that claim having Thyroid. Every other week I read or hear people mentioned thyroid problem. This is new to me.
I want to hear how people get diagnose and what the doctors say, from primary care to hospital care.
To answer your question, it's a simple blood test. Thyroid levels may be high or low, so there isn't one "thyroid syndrome" with one type of treatment.
It's quite possible that i am confused.
This is a very good and interesting article on iodine.
It does state that women in Japan have a much lower rate of breast cancer which, according to the article (and others that i've read), has to do with the large amounts of sea vegetables (iodine) in the diet.
But i'll bow out of this thread ... it's beyond my range of knowledge.
It is quite common but you can live life without too many side effects without ever getting diagnosed. It just depends on the person but once you find out there is a problem, best to correct it with medications.
I work in a lab where most of the patients are fairly healthy women, and I see out of whack TSH levels almost every day.
It is quite common but you can live life without too many side effects without ever getting diagnosed. It just depends on the person but once you find out there is a problem, best to correct it with medications.
I work in a lab where most of the patients are fairly healthy women, and I see out of whack TSH levels almost every day.
That's very misleading. You can live with thyroid function that's slightly off but thyroid levels that are much too low or too high affect your heart and just about every system in your body. When I first developed Grave's Disease (hyperthyroid) my resting pulse rate was 120.
Many people who have an elevated thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) level have no symptoms. If the actual hormone, thyroxine, is measured, it may be normal. This is referred to as subclinical hypothyroidism.
TSH is a pituitary hormone that tells the thyroid to make thyroxine. If the thyroid starts to lose its ability to make thyroxine, the TSH level goes up.
See here for the reason to treat subclinical hypothyroidism:
"While screening patients for thyroid disease, physicians often find increased thyrotropin-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels in patients whose free thyroxine (T4) levels are not below normal. This state, termed “subclinical hypothyroidism,” is most commonly an early stage of hypothyroidism. Although the condition may resolve or remain unchanged, within a few years in some patients, overt hypothyroidism develops, with low free T4 levels as well as a raised TSH level. The likelihood that this will happen increases with greater TSH elevations and detectable antithyroid antibodies. Because patients with subclinical hypothyroidism sometimes have subtle hypothyroid symptoms and may have mild abnormalities of serum lipoproteins and cardiac function, patients with definite and persistent TSH elevation should be considered for thyroid treatment. Levothyroxine, in a dosage that maintains serum TSH levels within the normal range, is the preferred therapy in these patients."
It helps that levothyroxine is available as a cheap generic. Treatment is easy: one pill once a day.
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