Thyroid Conditions Diagnosis And Treatments & Main Causes of Thyroid Problems

The Thyroid gland is a butterfly-shaped little organ located at the base of your neck, just below your Adam's Apple. It makes hormones that help regulate many processes in your body such as digestion and heart function. Thyroid diseases can affect how all these things work making life pretty uncomfortable.

Thyroid Condition Diagnosis And Treatment:

Thyroid Condition Diagnosis And Treatment Thyroid gland is a part in our body which is responsible for the secretion of Thyroxin. This hormone Thyroxin works to maintain the thermostat in our body and controls many functions such as metabolism, heart rate, etc. Thyroxin also maintains the energy levels in our body and keeps us active throughout the day. Thyroid condition can be treated with medication or surgery where there are risks involved in both however it also depends on how severe your Thyroid conditions are.

There will be a hormonal imbalance if this disorder remains untreated. In that case you may experience symptoms like fatigue, insomnia, weight gain or loss of appetite, depression and short-term memory loss. Thyroid condition can also cause problems during pregnancy where it is important to be treated with medication so the foetus doesn't suffer from any harmful effects due to Thyroid disorder.

There are two types of Thyroid conditions which are hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism. Hyperthyroidism occurs when there is excessive secretion of Thyroxin hormone due to overactivity of the Thyroid gland while hypothyroidism is caused by underactivity of Thyroxin hormone.

Main Causes of Thyroid Problems:

There aren't any main causes of Thyroid problems but if we look into key factors that cause Thyroid dysfunction we could identify 2 major ones:

1) Genetic predisposition to Thyroid disease

2) Environmental conditions:

Illness/infection: 

Thyroid function can be disrupted by thyroiditis (inflammation or infection of the thyroid gland), pregnancy; hyperthyroidism caused by autoimmune condition; hypothyroidism caused by Hashimoto's Thyroiditis (overactive immune system attacking thyroid gland); or ingestion of certain drugs like lithium; amiodarone/beta-blockers.

Chemicals: 

Licorice, fluoride, iodine, perchlorate, selenium and other chemicals that can disrupt how your body uses thyroid hormone.

Radiation exposure: 

Thyroid problems could be caused by radiation exposure to the head/neck because it affects how well your Thyroid works. Some examples are Thyroid cancer triggered by radiation during childhood/pregnancy, Thyroid dysfunction after elevated doses of X-rays or radioisotopes to treat cancer in other body sites or Thyroid issues after accidental high dose radiation exposure from a nuclear power incident.

Certain surgeries: 

Thyroid function can be affected by surgery to the neck, thyroid surgery done for non-cancerous reasons or Thyroid issues after intensive radiotherapy of certain tumors in the head and neck area. Thyroid surgery is a common cause of Thyroid problems because it can affect how your Thyroid gland works via accidentally removing all/part of it, damaging blood supply to the Thyroid, causing interference with hormones from other glands that help the Thyroid work, etc.

Based on the effect Thyroids have on people's lives these 2 factors need more attention from medical professionals as most patients don't know why they suffer from Thyroid-related symptoms even if their condition has been diagnosed. Most doctors tend to only focus on Thyroid meds because these are what they feel skilled in giving patients rather than diagnosing the true factors causing Thyroid issues.

This is why I want to raise awareness of Thyroid problems so that Thyroid could get more medical research so possibilities for treatment, patient education and prevention of Thyroid diseases would greatly increase thus improving the quality of life for Thyroid sufferers.