Ac­cord­ing to the Amer­i­can As­so­ci­a­tion of Clin­i­cal En­docri­nol­o­gists (AACE), thy­roid dis­ease is a more com­mon dis­or­der than di­a­betes or heart dis­ease, how­ev­er, many pa­tients re­main un­di­ag­nosed.

The Im­pact of Thy­roid Dis­ease

- Up to 60 per­cent of those with thy­roid dis­ease are un­aware of their con­di­tion.

- Un­di­ag­nosed thy­roid dis­ease may put pa­tients at risk for cer­tain se­ri­ous con­di­tions, such as car­dio­vas­cu­lar dis­eases, os­teo­poro­sis and in­fer­til­i­ty.

- Women are eight to 10 times more like­ly than men to have thy­roid prob­lems.

- Preg­nant women with un­di­ag­nosed or in­ad­e­quate­ly treat­ed hy­pothy­roidism have an in­creased risk of mis­car­riage, preterm de­liv­ery, and se­vere de­vel­op­men­tal prob­lems in their chil­dren.

- Most thy­roid can­cers re­spond to treat­ment, al­though a small per­cent­age can be very ag­gres­sive.

- Most thy­roid dis­eases are life-long con­di­tions that can be man­aged with med­ical at­ten­tion.

Day-to-day Dif­fi­cul­ties

Most of us have heard about the thy­roid glands, but we may not re­alise the im­por­tance of the gland or that we may have symp­toms of this dis­ease. Thus the need for these re­minders, the signs and symp­toms, im­por­tance of di­ag­no­sis and treat­ment, as well as the many is­sues thy­roid pa­tients face day-to-day.

In ad­di­tion, health ex­perts hope that pub­li­cis­ing in­for­ma­tion about thy­roid dis­eases will ed­u­cate peo­ple and en­cour­age them to vis­it their physi­cian with con­fi­dence. Di­ag­nos­ing thy­roid dis­ease in the age­ing pop­u­la­tion can be dif­fi­cult be­cause some of the symp­toms are al­so as­so­ci­at­ed with oth­er co­mor­bidi­ties, fur­ther high­light­ing the im­por­tance of ear­ly recog­ni­tion.

The Thy­roid Gland

The thy­roid is a hor­mone-pro­duc­ing gland that reg­u­lates the body’s me­tab­o­lism, the rate at which the body pro­duces en­er­gy from nu­tri­ents and oxy­gen, and af­fects crit­i­cal body func­tions, such as en­er­gy lev­el and heart rate.

The thy­roid is a small, but­ter­fly-shaped gland lo­cat­ed in the base of the neck. Al­though small in size, the gland plays a large role by pro­duc­ing thy­roid hor­mone which in­flu­ences the func­tion of many of the body’s most im­por­tant or­gans, in­clud­ing the heart, brain, liv­er, kid­neys and skin. When the thy­roid gland is not pro­duc­ing the right amount of hor­mone (ei­ther too much or too lit­tle), prob­lems can start to arise.

Hy­per­thy­roidism

Hy­per­thy­roidism is where your thy­roid works more ac­tive­ly than it should.

Hy­per­thy­roidism is most com­mon in pa­tients un­der age 50, and is marked by an en­larged thy­roid gland, plus in­som­nia, a rapid heart rate, anx­i­ety, weight loss, in­creased ap­petite, ex­ces­sive per­spi­ra­tion, and di­ar­rhoea. How­ev­er, the se­nior hy­pothy­roidism pa­tient may on­ly have one or two of these symp­toms, which can de­lay or pre­vent ac­cu­rate di­ag­no­sis.

Al­though hy­per­thy­roidism is as­so­ci­at­ed with more en­er­gy, the body breaks down af­ter a while, lead­ing the per­son to feel more tired.

Oth­er symp­toms of hy­per­thy­roidism in­clude:

- In­creased sweat­ing

- Anx­i­ety

- Over­sen­si­tiv­i­ty to heat

- Pal­pi­ta­tions

- Di­ar­rhoea

- In­creased ap­petite

- Weight loss

- Dry, thin skin

- Hair loss

- Shak­i­ness/trem­bling

- Fa­tigue

- Ner­vous­ness

- In­som­nia

- Dry or grit­ty eyes/dou­ble vi­sion

Hy­pothy­roidism

Hy­pothy­roidism means that your thy­roid is work­ing slow­er than it should. Hy­pothy­roidism is most com­mon in pa­tients over 60, and the in­ci­dence of this dis­ease in­creas­es with age. Symp­toms in the old­er pa­tient are of­ten un­spe­cif­ic; and since old­er adults can al­so suf­fer mem­o­ry im­pair­ment, weight loss, loss of ap­petite, it is easy to see why hy­pothy­roidism is so un­der-di­ag­nosed.

Symp­toms of hy­pothy­roidism in­clude:

- Tired­ness/fa­tigue

- Sen­si­tiv­i­ty to cold/heat

- Weight gain and in­abil­i­ty to lose weight

- Con­sti­pa­tion

- De­pres­sion

- Anx­i­ety

- Slow move­ments, speech and thoughts

- Itchy and/or sore scalp

- Mus­cle aches, pains and weak­ness

- Poor ap­petite

- Dry and tight feel­ing skin

- Brit­tle hair and nails

- Numb­ness in limbs

There are many pos­si­ble caus­es of hy­pothy­roidism, in­clud­ing an au­toim­mune dis­ease, cer­tain med­i­cines, or even sur­gi­cal re­moval of a part of the thy­roid gland.

Thy­roid Can­cers

A more se­ri­ous con­cern in­volv­ing the thy­roid gland is thy­roid can­cer, which can de­vel­op in­de­pen­dent of the above thy­roid dis­ease. Ac­cord­ing to the AACE, about 60,000 cas­es of thy­roid can­cer are di­ag­nosed an­nu­al­ly in the US. In most cas­es, thy­roid can­cer has a good prog­no­sis and high sur­vival rates, es­pe­cial­ly when di­ag­nosed in its ear­ly stages.

Thy­roid Dis­ease Di­ag­no­sis

If you think you or your loved one may have an un­di­ag­nosed thy­roid con­di­tion, you can start by do­ing a self-check of your (or your loved one’s) neck for lumps, which could be an in­di­ca­tion of a thy­roid con­di­tion.

How To Per­form A Self-Check:

Hold a hand mir­ror to­wards your neck, above the col­lar bones where you can see the area be­low your Adam’s ap­ple.

1. Tilt the head back, and take a sip of wa­ter.

2. Swal­low the wa­ter, and watch your neck for signs of bulging.

3. Re­peat the steps a few times to make sure you do not see ob­vi­ous signs of bulging.

4. If you dis­cov­er a bulge, nod­ule, or an en­larged gland, or are con­cerned about your symp­toms, con­tact your physi­cian.

The on­ly way to know for sure if you have thy­roid dis­ease of any type is to have a blood test that mea­sures your thy­roid hor­mone lev­els. To con­firm whether there is a thy­roid con­cern, your physi­cian may per­form a thy­roid-stim­u­lat­ing hor­mone test. This blood test mea­sures whether the gland is work­ing prop­er­ly. It is high­ly rec­om­mend­ed to get test­ed if you are over 60, have fam­i­ly mem­bers di­ag­nosed with the dis­ease and have iden­ti­fied symp­toms.

Treat­ment Op­tions

Hy­po- and hy­per­thy­roidism can be treat­ed with med­ica­tion, io­dine, or hor­mones, and the oth­er con­di­tions can be ad­dressed with ther­a­py or surgery. Both hy­po- and hy­per­thy­roidism can be treat­ed suc­cess­ful­ly with med­i­cine or oth­er ap­proach­es, so it is im­por­tant to dis­cuss your symp­toms with your health­care physi­cian and iden­ti­fy treat­ment meth­ods which will great­ly im­prove the qual­i­ty of your life.