Your Thyroid
29/06/11 10:37
You suspect that your thyroid is ill? Do a blood test for the hormones produced by this organ. In case of the hyperthyroidism a concentration of the thyroxine and triiodothyronine increases and level of the thyrotrophin decreases.
- Triiodothyronine (T3): 2,0-4,0 pg/ml
- Thyroxine (T4): 0,7-2,2 ng/100 mi
- Thyrotrophin (TSH): 0,4-6,0 IU/ml
Medicine students from the London University College while analyzing Gollum from Lord of the Rings, made a conclusion that he had a serious problems with the thyroid. It is indicated by his prominent eyes and frightful leanness. Implied meaning of this discovery is humorous but in fact it should not be funny. Hyperthyreosis, which is a hyperthyroidism, is today a serious social disease.
Thyroid gland grows almost without a pain. From time to time it unpleasantly presses in the throat, but usually we marginalize this feeling by attributing it to the nervousness or cold. Mostly, we learn accidentally about the goiter from acquaintances - long time unseen, who notice visible thickening of the neck. Long lasting deficiency of the iodine in a body, diet rich in the goitrogens (substances, which are contained in all the plants of the cabbage family), misuse of medicines (for example: analgesic, sulfonamides), in case of women - hormonal changes during the pregnancy and menopause have influence on the thyroid growth. While getting older, a risk of goiter growth significantly increases and after getting 50 years old and older every fourth person has it. Often it tends to be neutral" - it does not cause any changes in the hormones level. Unfortunately, the gland of every tenth person begins to work like crazy, as if racing!
The most often cause of the hyperthyroidism is Graves-Basedow's disease. For the unknown reasons the body begins to treat the thyroid as a strange organ and destroys the "enemy" consistently with a help of antibodies. And thyroid? It defends itself by intensified production of the hormones. What is worse, this is not the end of the destructive activity of antibodies. Sometimes, they penetrate deep into the eye-sockets and then "eye" symptoms join the general symptoms: double or fuzzy vision, exophthalmos, ophthalmitis, and photophobia. Disease willingly attacks women between 30 and 50 years old. Serious virus infections and stress are blamed for its disclosure.
Older people suffer from the hyperthyroidism usually caused by so called nodular goiter, large number of autonomic lumps, which slipped away out of the body control and by producing too many hormones.
Before the thickening on the neck grows, first changes in the body appear. It happens, because overreactive thyroid accelerates physiological reactions. How to recognize this process?
You are hungry all the time. You are eating for three. You even get up during the night and rummage in the refrigerator, because the hunger does not allow you to sleep. Despite of that you lose the weight of a dozen or so kilograms during only a few months.
You sweat like a fountain. You cannot bear the hot; you live at the open window. When others wear worm cloths, you wear short sleeve blouse. It is caused by the accelerated metabolism.
You became nervous. annoys and irritates you. You split hairs. You tend to be so irritated that you can hardly concentrate on your responsibilities.
Your heart is pounding. Sometimes it beats even with a rate of 120 beats per minute. But how long it can stand it?
You have difficulties with breathing. You are lacking of the air even if you are making only the slightest effort or even if you walk only slightly quicker than usually.
Your hands are trembling. When you hold a pen or when you pack your shopping in a bag. You begin to hide it carefully from the other people.
Your menstrual cycle is disordered. Periods are scant, short or completely disappear. Be careful! It does not have to be an earlier menopause, but it can be a stoppage of the sexual hormone production by the thyroid.
Your hair comes out. They become thinner and thinner and silky soft. You notice changes of the nails, which become fragile and have uneven surface. Itchy stains appear on the skin.
Eyelids swell. Every morning you try to get rid of blue bags under the eyes, but cold compresses do not help much.
Did you notice symptoms mentioned above? If yes, visit the internist or endocrinologist as soon as possible. The specialists state that most thyroid surgeries can be avoided thanks to the appropriately early undergoing the therapy. Neglected disease can revenge itself cruelly. What are you threatened with? A thyroid crisis that can be even threatening for life.
The thyroid, placed below the larynx and resembling with its shape a butterfly, consists of joined together lobes - left and right, each of the 5 cm in length. It is build of small blisters filled with fluid consisting of the iodine. Although, it weights merely 20g, it conscientiously fulfills its responsibilities: under the influence of the hormone of the pituitary gland, thyrotrophin (TSH), it produces its own hormones - triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4), which:
- regulate tissue growth and production of the cell enzymes, stimulate growth of the central nervous system and influence the bone structure,
- are necessary for a proper growth of the fetus, especially maturing of his brain,
- influence metabolism, water balance of the body, functioning of the digestive and nervous system, heart and muscles.
Excess as well as lack of the hormones can be fatal for our body.
You can detect the thyroid disease in the simplest way by doing the blood analysis and determining hormones' level. Having an increased level, a physician will refer you to do ultrasonography (it will let to determine size and type of changes) and aspiration fine needle biopsy (it will give an answer if the lumps are benign or malignant) and also chest X-ray (thanks to the picture one will know if the thyroid grows towards trachea, which may cause breathing difficult). The most precise test of the thyroid is a scintigraphy, during of which a scintigram is created - a map of the gland. Based on the test result the physician recommends:
Pills. When the disease is found early, taking thyreostatics medicines (for example: Metizol), which restrains secreting of the thyroid hormones, gives good results. While suffering from Graves-Basedow's disease, one has to take them for about 1.5 years. Therapy is effective in the half of the patients. After its end, functioning of the thyroid is observed. If the discontinuation of the medicine causes recurrence of the hyperthyroidism, it has to be decided on the more radical treatment.
Simulation with the current. Very little popular in Poland. It is used by Dr. Victor Zenni. You can find more information at: www.zenni.pl
Surgery. At the list of the most often made surgeries, the thyroid takes third place, right after vermiform appendix and inguinal hernia. People younger than 45 years old are usually sent to have a surgery at once. The based surgery technique is so called extracapsular removal of at least one lobe. 4 cm incision of the skin is done at one of the wrinkles at the neck, thanks to which a scar is less visible. Neck muscles are also not being cut, they are merely separated along the run of the muscle fiber. Procedure is done under an anaesthetic. Patient has to remain in the hospital for 2-4 days. After the procedure, there are possible complications: hypothyroidism, calcium metabolism disorder.
Radioactive iodine. Even after many years after removal of the part of the thyroid, a hyperthyroidism can return. Then, only medicine or radioactive iodine 131 is applied, which destroys bad cells of the gland. Treatment lasts for 8 weeks.
- Apply high-protein diet. Eat a lot of lean meat (beef, veal, poultry) and lean fish. Give up cured meats, especially those fine ground ones. Often harmful giblets, which are harmful for the thyroid, are added.
- Let vegetable carbohydrates be your source of energy: wholemeal bread and noodles, brown rice and potatoes (jacket potatoes would be the best)
- While suffering from the hyperthyroidism, demand of a body for vitamins A, C and B1and minerals increases - mostly for calcium. Dairy products are rich in calcium, red and green pepper, broccoli, spinach, citrus fruits and strawberries are rich in vitamin C. vitamin A is in carrot, red and green pepper, tomatoes and apricots. Cereal and dairy products and eggs are rich in vitamin B1. Eat 0.5 kg of fruits and vegetables everyday.
- Prepare meals in a healthy way: cook in the water and steam, stew without frying, bake in the aluminum foil.
- If you swell, avoid hot meals, alcohol and spicy seasoning.
"Życie na gorąco", nr 39/2005 (30.09), s. 36-37.
Normal test results
- Triiodothyronine (T3): 2,0-4,0 pg/ml
- Thyroxine (T4): 0,7-2,2 ng/100 mi
- Thyrotrophin (TSH): 0,4-6,0 IU/ml
Medicine students from the London University College while analyzing Gollum from Lord of the Rings, made a conclusion that he had a serious problems with the thyroid. It is indicated by his prominent eyes and frightful leanness. Implied meaning of this discovery is humorous but in fact it should not be funny. Hyperthyreosis, which is a hyperthyroidism, is today a serious social disease.
About incidents with the thyroid
Thyroid gland grows almost without a pain. From time to time it unpleasantly presses in the throat, but usually we marginalize this feeling by attributing it to the nervousness or cold. Mostly, we learn accidentally about the goiter from acquaintances - long time unseen, who notice visible thickening of the neck. Long lasting deficiency of the iodine in a body, diet rich in the goitrogens (substances, which are contained in all the plants of the cabbage family), misuse of medicines (for example: analgesic, sulfonamides), in case of women - hormonal changes during the pregnancy and menopause have influence on the thyroid growth. While getting older, a risk of goiter growth significantly increases and after getting 50 years old and older every fourth person has it. Often it tends to be neutral" - it does not cause any changes in the hormones level. Unfortunately, the gland of every tenth person begins to work like crazy, as if racing!
Where such reaction comes from?
The most often cause of the hyperthyroidism is Graves-Basedow's disease. For the unknown reasons the body begins to treat the thyroid as a strange organ and destroys the "enemy" consistently with a help of antibodies. And thyroid? It defends itself by intensified production of the hormones. What is worse, this is not the end of the destructive activity of antibodies. Sometimes, they penetrate deep into the eye-sockets and then "eye" symptoms join the general symptoms: double or fuzzy vision, exophthalmos, ophthalmitis, and photophobia. Disease willingly attacks women between 30 and 50 years old. Serious virus infections and stress are blamed for its disclosure.
Older people suffer from the hyperthyroidism usually caused by so called nodular goiter, large number of autonomic lumps, which slipped away out of the body control and by producing too many hormones.
Do you have these symptoms?
Before the thickening on the neck grows, first changes in the body appear. It happens, because overreactive thyroid accelerates physiological reactions. How to recognize this process?
You are hungry all the time. You are eating for three. You even get up during the night and rummage in the refrigerator, because the hunger does not allow you to sleep. Despite of that you lose the weight of a dozen or so kilograms during only a few months.
You sweat like a fountain. You cannot bear the hot; you live at the open window. When others wear worm cloths, you wear short sleeve blouse. It is caused by the accelerated metabolism.
You became nervous. annoys and irritates you. You split hairs. You tend to be so irritated that you can hardly concentrate on your responsibilities.
Your heart is pounding. Sometimes it beats even with a rate of 120 beats per minute. But how long it can stand it?
You have difficulties with breathing. You are lacking of the air even if you are making only the slightest effort or even if you walk only slightly quicker than usually.
Your hands are trembling. When you hold a pen or when you pack your shopping in a bag. You begin to hide it carefully from the other people.
Your menstrual cycle is disordered. Periods are scant, short or completely disappear. Be careful! It does not have to be an earlier menopause, but it can be a stoppage of the sexual hormone production by the thyroid.
Your hair comes out. They become thinner and thinner and silky soft. You notice changes of the nails, which become fragile and have uneven surface. Itchy stains appear on the skin.
Eyelids swell. Every morning you try to get rid of blue bags under the eyes, but cold compresses do not help much.
Did you notice symptoms mentioned above? If yes, visit the internist or endocrinologist as soon as possible. The specialists state that most thyroid surgeries can be avoided thanks to the appropriately early undergoing the therapy. Neglected disease can revenge itself cruelly. What are you threatened with? A thyroid crisis that can be even threatening for life.
Thyroid - security services agent
The thyroid, placed below the larynx and resembling with its shape a butterfly, consists of joined together lobes - left and right, each of the 5 cm in length. It is build of small blisters filled with fluid consisting of the iodine. Although, it weights merely 20g, it conscientiously fulfills its responsibilities: under the influence of the hormone of the pituitary gland, thyrotrophin (TSH), it produces its own hormones - triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4), which:
- regulate tissue growth and production of the cell enzymes, stimulate growth of the central nervous system and influence the bone structure,
- are necessary for a proper growth of the fetus, especially maturing of his brain,
- influence metabolism, water balance of the body, functioning of the digestive and nervous system, heart and muscles.
Excess as well as lack of the hormones can be fatal for our body.
How to repress the vixen
You can detect the thyroid disease in the simplest way by doing the blood analysis and determining hormones' level. Having an increased level, a physician will refer you to do ultrasonography (it will let to determine size and type of changes) and aspiration fine needle biopsy (it will give an answer if the lumps are benign or malignant) and also chest X-ray (thanks to the picture one will know if the thyroid grows towards trachea, which may cause breathing difficult). The most precise test of the thyroid is a scintigraphy, during of which a scintigram is created - a map of the gland. Based on the test result the physician recommends:
Pills. When the disease is found early, taking thyreostatics medicines (for example: Metizol), which restrains secreting of the thyroid hormones, gives good results. While suffering from Graves-Basedow's disease, one has to take them for about 1.5 years. Therapy is effective in the half of the patients. After its end, functioning of the thyroid is observed. If the discontinuation of the medicine causes recurrence of the hyperthyroidism, it has to be decided on the more radical treatment.
Simulation with the current. Very little popular in Poland. It is used by Dr. Victor Zenni. You can find more information at: www.zenni.pl
Surgery. At the list of the most often made surgeries, the thyroid takes third place, right after vermiform appendix and inguinal hernia. People younger than 45 years old are usually sent to have a surgery at once. The based surgery technique is so called extracapsular removal of at least one lobe. 4 cm incision of the skin is done at one of the wrinkles at the neck, thanks to which a scar is less visible. Neck muscles are also not being cut, they are merely separated along the run of the muscle fiber. Procedure is done under an anaesthetic. Patient has to remain in the hospital for 2-4 days. After the procedure, there are possible complications: hypothyroidism, calcium metabolism disorder.
Radioactive iodine. Even after many years after removal of the part of the thyroid, a hyperthyroidism can return. Then, only medicine or radioactive iodine 131 is applied, which destroys bad cells of the gland. Treatment lasts for 8 weeks.
Hyperthyroidism on a diet
- Apply high-protein diet. Eat a lot of lean meat (beef, veal, poultry) and lean fish. Give up cured meats, especially those fine ground ones. Often harmful giblets, which are harmful for the thyroid, are added.
- Let vegetable carbohydrates be your source of energy: wholemeal bread and noodles, brown rice and potatoes (jacket potatoes would be the best)
- While suffering from the hyperthyroidism, demand of a body for vitamins A, C and B1and minerals increases - mostly for calcium. Dairy products are rich in calcium, red and green pepper, broccoli, spinach, citrus fruits and strawberries are rich in vitamin C. vitamin A is in carrot, red and green pepper, tomatoes and apricots. Cereal and dairy products and eggs are rich in vitamin B1. Eat 0.5 kg of fruits and vegetables everyday.
- Prepare meals in a healthy way: cook in the water and steam, stew without frying, bake in the aluminum foil.
- If you swell, avoid hot meals, alcohol and spicy seasoning.
"Życie na gorąco", nr 39/2005 (30.09), s. 36-37.