Everyone has a thyroid gland, which controls many functions in your body. While both men and women have thyroid glands, the thyroid can cause more problems for women. It’s important to know the symptoms of thyroid problems. This way, you can treat them early and avoid long-term issues. Here’s how to know if you have a thyroid problem.
What is the thyroid?
Your thyroid is a gland in the front of your neck, right below your voice box. The small, butterfly-shaped gland controls your metabolism and other ways your body works. The thyroid creates specific hormones that your body uses to make energy. The thyroid and its hormones affect:
- Your menstrual cycle
- Your cholesterol levels
- Your body temperature
- How fast your heart beats
- How deeply you can breathe
- How much weight you lose or gain
The gland can cause problems as you age. Sometimes, it produces too much or too few hormones you need, or changes size.
Common thyroid issues
Two major problems the thyroid can have are hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism. Each depends on the amount of hormone your thyroid releases, which comes with its own set of symptoms and treatments.
- Hypothyroidism: Underactive thyroid condition where the gland doesn’t make enough hormone
- Hyperthyroidism: Overactive thyroid condition where too much hormone is made and released
Risk factors make you more likely to develop thyroid problems, including:
- Family history
- Autoimmune diseases, such as type 1 diabetes
- Age – being older than 60
- Gender – women are at higher risk than men
- Iodine deficiency or excess
- Recent pregnancy
Hypothyroidism
Hypothyroidism is when your thyroid makes too little of a hormone, your metabolism slows down, and you gain weight. Both men and women can get hypothyroidism, but it’s more common in women. Other symptoms of hypothyroidism in both men and women include:
- Infertility
- Constipation
- Feeling cold
- Sluggish libido
- Feeling sluggish
- Feeling depressed
- A pale, puffy face
- Dry skin and brittle nails
A number of problems can cause hypothyroidism. One of these is Hashimoto’s disease, an autoimmune condition in which your immune system attacks your thyroid gland. This inflames the gland and causes it to produce fewer hormones than your body needs.
Hyperthyroidism
When your thyroid doesn’t make enough hormones, your metabolism speeds up, and you lose weight. Other symptoms of hyperthyroidism for men and women include:
- Hair loss
- Racing heart
- Feeling irritable
- General weakness
While less common, more than one cause can lead to hyperthyroidism. Graves’ disease is an autoimmune condition in which your immune system attacks your thyroid gland, causing it to make more hormones than you need.
Other thyroid problems
Aside from hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism, other conditions can affect how well your thyroid works. These include:
- Goiters: These occur when your thyroid swells up. You can also get a goiter if your body doesn’t have enough iodine, a chemical that helps your thyroid work correctly. A goiter makes a noticeable bulge in your neck that may cause you to cough and sound hoarse.
- Thyroid nodules: Your thyroid can also make too many hormones, causing a cancerous nodule to form on the gland.
- Postpartum thyroiditis: An autoimmune disease that inflames the thyroid after pregnancy, causing hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism or both. Postpartum thyroiditis is less common but more likely in women with type 1 diabetes. A family history and antithyroid antibodies before pregnancy also increase the risk.
- Congenital hypothyroidism: While hypothyroidism often develops later in life, some people develop it as babies. Some symptoms include poor growth, cool and pale skin, swelling around the eyes, low temperature, constipation and yellowing skin.
- Subacute thyroiditis: While uncommon, this occurs when a viral infection, often respiratory, inflames your thyroid. While inflamed, the thyroid releases too much hormone and causes hyperthyroidism. As it heals, it releases too little hormone, causing hypothyroidism. While the condition is temporary, the resulting hypothyroidism can become permanent.
- Thyroid cancer: Like many parts of our body, cancer can develop in the thyroid. This happens when cells grow abnormally and become malignant. Thyroid cancer is rare, but there are several treatment options. The survival rates are usually good for many types of this disease.
How to know if you have a thyroid problem
Understanding how to know if you have a thyroid problem is the first step. While you can talk with your primary care provider if you think you’re having thyroid problems, you may need to see a specialist. An endocrinologist is a doctor who specializes in diagnosing and treating thyroid problems.
Many symptoms of thyroid issues are common complaints. A doctor can’t make a diagnosis on symptoms alone – they need you to take blood tests.
To diagnose hypothyroidism, your doctor will order tests for thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and thyroxine (T4). These tests measure the hormone levels in your body. The results help your doctor understand how your thyroid works.
To diagnose hyperthyroidism, your doctor will order several tests. One is a radio iodine uptake test, which shows how much iodine collects in your thyroid gland to produce hormones. The rate of how much iodine your thyroid gland absorbs over a period of a few hours helps determine the health of your thyroid.
In addition, you’ll have a thyroid scan. The doctor injects a radioactive isotope into your hand or elbow. Sometimes, you can take it orally. After you get the isotope, a technician takes an image of your thyroid gland to see how much the gland absorbs.
Treatments for thyroid problems
To treat hypothyroidism, your doctor would prescribe a hormone replacement medication called levothyroxine – a synthetic hormone that restores hormone levels and eases symptoms.
However, your doctor may need to tweak your levothyroxine dosage over time. Frequent blood tests can show if a dosage change is necessary, but the treatment has no side effects. If you take levothyroxine for hypothyroidism, you might need to take it for the rest of your life. This helps your hormone levels stay normal.
Other choices exist to treat hyperthyroidism, including:
- Beta blockers, which can ease a rapid heart rate
- Radioactive iodine, taken orally, which can cause the gland to shrink and ease symptoms
- Anti-thyroid medications, which can reduce symptoms and stop your gland from producing too much of the hormone
Treatments for either thyroid condition are safe. Doctors can remove most or some of your thyroid in surgery, but they recommend this only rarely.
Living with thyroid problems
How to know if you have a thyroid problem is sometimes difficult. However, treating your thyroid problem is easier – and also important.
Untreated thyroid problems can lead to more health issues over time. These include heart problems, infertility, weak bones and mental health issues. Untreated hypothyroidism can cause myxedema, or extreme hypothyroidism.
You can also support thyroid function through lifestyle changes, such as:
- Eating a diet rich in iodine, selenium and zinc
- Regularly monitoring thyroid levels if you have a family or personal history, as well as other risk factors
- Managing stress through mindfulness, meditation, therapy or yoga
How we can help
If you have symptoms of a thyroid problem and think your hormone levels are off, talk to your primary care provider. They can order tests that can lead to a diagnosis and start treatment. While they may refer you to an endocrinologist for more long-term care, it’s a good starting point.
Learn about the endocrinology services we offer at Mercy Health.
