What is Thyroid Disease?
The thyroid is a small, butterfly-shaped gland located in the middle of your neck just above your collarbone. The thyroid regulates your body's metabolism — the rate at which your body produces energy from nutrients and oxygen — and affects critical functions, such as your energy level and heart rate. Thyroid disorders can range from harmless goiters that don’t need any treatment to life-threatening thyroid cancer. The most common thyroid disorders have to do with the abnormal production of thyroid hormones. Some of these disorders include:
Hypothyroidism
A condition in which the thyroid gland doesn’t produce enough thyroid hormone. Symptoms include extreme fatigue, depression, forgetfulness, and some weight gain. Hashimoto's disease is the most ordinary form of hypothyroidism. This is not to be confused with euthyroid Hashimoto's thyroiditis, an asymptomatic condition that may or may not progress to hypothyroidism.
Hyperthyroidism
A condition in which the thyroid gland produces too much thyroid hormone. Symptoms include irritability, nervousness, muscle weakness, unexplained weight loss, sleep disturbances, vision problems, and eye irritation.
Graves’ disease
A type of hyperthyroidism, this condition is a genetic autoimmune disorder affecting 1% of the population. It’s more common among women under age 40, and symptoms include hand tremors and bulging or puffy eyes.
Thyroid nodules
Thyroid nodules are lumps that commonly arise within the thyroid gland. Thirty percent of young women have a nodule in their thyroid gland but since most don’t produce any symptoms, they are not aware of it. Although most thyroid nodules are benign, up to 5% can be thyroid cancer so evaluation by an expert is important.
What causes thyroid disease?
The causes of thyroid problems are unknown but thought to be 75% genetics and 25% environmental factors. However, women are five to eight times more likely than men to have thyroid problems. Smoking can increase the risk of Graves' disease but decreases the risk for Hashimoto's disease. Other factors including excessive stress and use of iodine supplements increase the risk of thyroid disease. Luckily, when thyroid disease is caught early, treatment can control the disorder even before the onset of symptoms.
How is thyroid disease diagnosed and treated?
To diagnose thyroid disorders, Dr. Isaacs uses your medical history, physical exams, thyroid tests, and sometimes ultrasound, biopsy, or other tests. There are a variety of options available for treating hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism. Treatment of hypothyroidism usually consists of replacing missing thyroid hormones and monitoring hormone levels with blood tests and symptom reviews. Dr. Isaacs is open to all thyroid treatments with the goal of eliminating symptoms and restoring normal thyroid levels. Hyperthyroidism requires specialized expert treatment by an endocrinologist. Options include drug therapy to block hormone production, radioactive iodine treatment, or even thyroid surgery to remove all or part of the entire gland. If you have a thyroid issue, it’s important to see Dr. Isaacs regularly, so that you can keep your thyroid hormone levels in the normal range to keep your body functioning optimally.
There are a variety of medication options for thyroid replacement therapy, including:
Branded levothyroxine (Synthroid, Levoxyl, Tirosint)
Generic levothyroxine tablets or capsules
Desiccated porcine thyroid (Armour Thyroid, Nature-Throid, NP Thyroid, custom-compounded products)
Compounded thyroid hormone (T4 with or without T3 or sustained release T3)
Cytomel (liothyronine)
To learn more about diagnosis and management of thyroid disease, call Atlanta Endocrine Associates or send us an email.
