symptom thyroid : Important Information for Thyroid Patients
Since thyroid hormones affect every cell in your body, an overactive or underactive thyroid can produce a wide variety of symptoms.
Your thyroid gland is located in the front of your neck below your Adam's apple. It plays an important role in regulating your body's metabolism.
HYPOTHYROIDISM (underactive thyroid)
Hypothyroidism may occur at any age but is especially common in older individuals. It affects 17% of women and 9% of men by age 60.
Do you have Hypothyroidism?
Check out these Possible Signs and Symptoms:
Skin, Hair, Nails: Is your skin: cold, thick, dry with little or no sweating, waxy, flaky, itchy, pale ivory or jaundiced? Do you bruise easily, do wounds heal slowly, are you always feeling cold?
Is your body temperature below normal? Have you noticed puffiness of hands and face-especially of the eyelids and under the eyes ?
Do you get "Pins and Needles"? Do you have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome? Have you noticed hair loss of scalp, groin, outer half of eyebrows? -are you constantly cleaning out the sink and tub drains after each shampoo? Is your scalp dry? Does your hair feel like straw? Is it starting to "frizzle"?
Are your nails brittle and thick and always breaking, splitting, layering?
Digestive system: Are you always constipated? Have you gained weight and feel "bloated?"
Is your cholesterol high?
Reproductive system: Do you have heavy menstruation(clotting is common),a tendency for low birth weight babies and early delivery? Did you miscarry your last pregnancy? Have you recently given birth? Post Partum Thyroiditis occurs in approx 8% of women after delivery and involves a hypothyroid stage 12-14 weeks after delivery.
Cardiac System: Is your pulse slower than normal? Do you experience skipped beats followed by a "boom", chest pain, shortness of breath? Are you sleeping excessively yet still feel totally "drained and lifeless"?, Do you "sigh" a lot? Is everything an extreme effort? Have you lost your "get up and go?". Do your family and co-workers (if you're still able to work) think of you as lazy?. Do you feel "100 years old" ? Do you take iron medication for chronic anemia?
Has your blood pressure changed -gone either up or down?
The Mind and Emotions: Does your mind feel "foggy?" Does your mental process seem slower than usual making thinking and decision making more difficult? Is your memory poor? Do you feel depressed, sad, and cry easily for no reason? Do you see "something" in your peripheral vision when nothing is there?
Musculator System: Is it hard to keep your arms up when curling your hair? Do you get muscle cramps, lose your balance and have a sluggish tendon reflex?
Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat: Although Thyroid Eye Disease is more commonly associated with Graves' Disease (Hyperthyroidism), it can also be associated with Hypothyroidism.
Do you find you have to listen harder to hear conversations and need the radio etc.turned up? Does your voice seem deeper and hoarse? Is your speech slurred at times? Do you notice swelling at the front of your neck and feel pressure on your throat which is making swallowing more difficult ?
Do you suffer from frequent chest colds and other infections?
Have you been treated for hyperthyroidism? ( hypothyroidism often develops after treatment ). Do you have a family history of thyroid disease and/or diabetes?
A TSH test is the most important test for detecting primary hypothyroidism.
Note: If you have had X-ray therapy as a child for enlarged adenoids or tonsils, enlargements of the thymus gland as a newborn, birthmarks, whooping cough, acne, or ringworm of the scalp, your physician should palpate your neck carefully to check for thyroid nodules as in almost every instance the thyroid function test will be normal, even in patients who have a proven carcinoma. The T4 ( a thyroid hormone) and TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) value can be misleading in this case, as they reflect the state of the total thyroid function, rather than the presence or significance of a thyroid nodule.
HYPERTHYROIDISM (overactive thyroid)
Hyperthyroidism is most common between the ages of 20-40 but may occur at any age.
Copyright © 1998-2003 Thyroid Federation International
Your thyroid gland is located in the front of your neck below your Adam's apple. It plays an important role in regulating your body's metabolism.
HYPOTHYROIDISM (underactive thyroid)
Hypothyroidism may occur at any age but is especially common in older individuals. It affects 17% of women and 9% of men by age 60.
Do you have Hypothyroidism?
Check out these Possible Signs and Symptoms:
Skin, Hair, Nails: Is your skin: cold, thick, dry with little or no sweating, waxy, flaky, itchy, pale ivory or jaundiced? Do you bruise easily, do wounds heal slowly, are you always feeling cold?
Is your body temperature below normal? Have you noticed puffiness of hands and face-especially of the eyelids and under the eyes ?
Do you get "Pins and Needles"? Do you have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome? Have you noticed hair loss of scalp, groin, outer half of eyebrows? -are you constantly cleaning out the sink and tub drains after each shampoo? Is your scalp dry? Does your hair feel like straw? Is it starting to "frizzle"?
Are your nails brittle and thick and always breaking, splitting, layering?
Digestive system: Are you always constipated? Have you gained weight and feel "bloated?"
Is your cholesterol high?
Reproductive system: Do you have heavy menstruation(clotting is common),a tendency for low birth weight babies and early delivery? Did you miscarry your last pregnancy? Have you recently given birth? Post Partum Thyroiditis occurs in approx 8% of women after delivery and involves a hypothyroid stage 12-14 weeks after delivery.
Cardiac System: Is your pulse slower than normal? Do you experience skipped beats followed by a "boom", chest pain, shortness of breath? Are you sleeping excessively yet still feel totally "drained and lifeless"?, Do you "sigh" a lot? Is everything an extreme effort? Have you lost your "get up and go?". Do your family and co-workers (if you're still able to work) think of you as lazy?. Do you feel "100 years old" ? Do you take iron medication for chronic anemia?
Has your blood pressure changed -gone either up or down?
The Mind and Emotions: Does your mind feel "foggy?" Does your mental process seem slower than usual making thinking and decision making more difficult? Is your memory poor? Do you feel depressed, sad, and cry easily for no reason? Do you see "something" in your peripheral vision when nothing is there?
Musculator System: Is it hard to keep your arms up when curling your hair? Do you get muscle cramps, lose your balance and have a sluggish tendon reflex?
Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat: Although Thyroid Eye Disease is more commonly associated with Graves' Disease (Hyperthyroidism), it can also be associated with Hypothyroidism.
Do you find you have to listen harder to hear conversations and need the radio etc.turned up? Does your voice seem deeper and hoarse? Is your speech slurred at times? Do you notice swelling at the front of your neck and feel pressure on your throat which is making swallowing more difficult ?
Do you suffer from frequent chest colds and other infections?
Have you been treated for hyperthyroidism? ( hypothyroidism often develops after treatment ). Do you have a family history of thyroid disease and/or diabetes?
A TSH test is the most important test for detecting primary hypothyroidism.
Note: If you have had X-ray therapy as a child for enlarged adenoids or tonsils, enlargements of the thymus gland as a newborn, birthmarks, whooping cough, acne, or ringworm of the scalp, your physician should palpate your neck carefully to check for thyroid nodules as in almost every instance the thyroid function test will be normal, even in patients who have a proven carcinoma. The T4 ( a thyroid hormone) and TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) value can be misleading in this case, as they reflect the state of the total thyroid function, rather than the presence or significance of a thyroid nodule.
HYPERTHYROIDISM (overactive thyroid)
Hyperthyroidism is most common between the ages of 20-40 but may occur at any age.
Copyright © 1998-2003 Thyroid Federation International
