Thyroid Dysfunctions Essay

Thyroid Dysfunctions
                                                 

Thyroid Disease

There have been as many as 27 million people in America that have been diagnosed with one type of thyroid disease; such as hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism. Thyroid disease can even be developed during pregnancy.   Many people with underlying symptoms are unfortunately never diagnosed or misdiagnosed and given wrong information. Signs and symptoms will be discussed of each type in the upcoming paragraphs.
Hyperthyroidism is a condition in which an overactive thyroid gland is producing an excessive amount of thyroid hormones that circulate in the blood. ("Hyper" means "over" in Greek). Many of the symptoms include: excessive sweating, heat intolerance, increased bowel movements, tremors, nervousness, rapid heart rate, weight loss, fatigue, decrease concentration, and irregular menstrual flow. (Simmons, 2010). Other tests include; the anti-TPO, which tests for antibodies and helps to detect autoimmune thyroid disease, there are image studies (ultra sounds), fine needle aspirations (to determine if the nodule is benign or malignant), and blood tests (complete blood count, complete metabolic profile, and lipid profile). There are medications available to treat the symptoms caused by excessive thyroid hormones, such as a rapid heart rate. One of the main classes of drugs used to treat these symptoms are beta-blockers. These medications counteract the effect of thyroid hormone to increase metabolism, but they do not alter the levels of thyroid hormones in the blood. A doctor determines which patients to treat based on a number of variables including the underlying cause of hyperthyroidism, the age of the patient, the size of the thyroid gland, and the presence of coexisting medical illnesses. Another type of treatment is radioactive iodine. It is given orally (either by pill or liquid) on a one-time basis to ablate a hyperactive gland.   The iodine given for ablative...