Hello sabre brain followers, today we are focusing on Thyroid and how it can affect your health, specially during pregnancy. We also have a very special guest, Dr. Pye, who has many years of experience in this field. Are you becoming a mom? Or planning to become one? If yes, then this news is to your benefit. As you already know becoming a parent comes with lots of responsibilities including the baby’s health and your own. Being aware and protecting yourself against the diseases coming your way is very important. One of the threatening diseases which is the least expected by many, occurs when your thyroid malfunctions. Your thyroid is a butterfly-shaped organ located in the front of the neck, which plays an important role in regulating the body's metabolism and calcium balance. Thyroid diseases occur when more or less hormones are produced, which affects the rate at which digestion occurs. Researchers have found that low thyroid hormone levels affect an estimated 40,000 pregnant and 1.6 million none pregnant women. They also concluded that 3.1 percent of reproductive age women have low thyroid hormone levels. Which means routine thyroid screening for women of reproductive age, particularly before becoming pregnant, may save money and limit health risks to children. Now you may ask yourself what causes the thyroid to start malfunctioning during pregnancy. What are the symptoms and is it treatable? If you are one of those people then you don’t need to worry, your questions will be answered as we expand the scientific reasoning behind the thyroid diseases and the treatments.
The thyroid gland or simply, the thyroid is one of the largest endocrine glands in the body. The thyroid controls how quickly the body uses energy, makes proteins, and controls how sensitive the body should be to other hormones. The small, two-inch gland consists of two lobes, one on each side of the windpipe, connected by tissue called the isthmus. These hormones regulate the rate of metabolism and affect the growth and rate of function of many other systems in the body. The most common thyroid diseases consist of an overactive thyroid gland, referred to as hyperthyroidism, and an underactive thyroid gland, referred to as hypothyroidism. Thyroid disease is a disorder that results when the thyroid gland produces more thyroid hormone (hyperthyroidism) or less thyroid hormone (hypothyroidism) than the body needs. Hyperthyroidism can cause many of the body’s functions to speed up while hypothyroidism, in which many of the body’s functions slow down. Two pregnancy-related hormones—human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and estrogen—cause increased thyroid hormone levels in the blood. Normal fetal development requires both mother and fetus to supply appropriate levels of thyroid hormone at different times. Alcohol consumption during pregnancy can alter thyroid function in both the mother and fetus.
http://www.umm.edu/endocrin/thygland.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyroid
http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/dept/thyroid/hyperthyroidism.html
http://endocrine.niddk.nih.gov/pubs/pregnancy/
http://scienceblog.com/community/older/2002/G/2002141.html
http://thyroid.about.com/cs/basics_starthere/a/symptoms.htm (interviw)
Now lets talk to one of viewers who experienced hypothyroidism. Mary Shomon, who was in her early pregnancies noticed some unnormal changes through her body. And now here she is.
Mary Shomon, :In my case, after I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, I started developing a variety of symptoms they didn't mention in the doctor's office. The doctor initially described hypothyroidism as something can make you tired and gain weight. While problematic, these were understandable symptoms. Then my hair fell out. And my periods started coming more frequently, and more heavily. And my skin started flaking. The doctors and articles didn't mention many of some the less common symptoms of hypothyroidism I started to experience So I read more, and I surfed the web. And I talked to other thyroid patients. And I found out that things like hair falling out, and weird menstrual periods, and feeling depressed were all utterly "normal" symptoms of hypothyroidism. For me, despite the fact that these were caused by my thyroid, I felt that knowing was better than not knowing! Many of us feel so sick that we sometimes worry that we had some incurable disease. I'd rather realize that my thyroid problem still needs some further treatment than worry in the middle of the night that something awful is happening to my body!
Well thank you very much Mary, hope you’ll get better soon. Today we have Doctor Pye, who has about 10 years of experience in this field. Hello Mr. Pye and thanks for coming.
Mr. Pye: Hi, and it’s a pleasure. Many people especially during pregnancy don’t take thyroid diseases as serious. However it’s very important too look for the symptoms of this disease.
Symptoms of hypothyroidism, include slowing down - coldness, sluggishness, dry skin and scanty hair growth. At the opposite extreme, the person with hyperthyroidism, may have an increase in body metabolism, which results in weight loss in spite of an increased appetite, excessive warmth and sweating, noticeably trembling hands, pounding of the heart and, in some cases, bulging eyes. Individuals with suspected thyroid problems need to be assessed by a physician. To assess thyroid hormone levels and the function of the thyroid, several tests are performed that measure the amount of several thyroid and pituitary hormones in the blood. Other tests include radioactive iodine uptake and thyroid scanning. The nature and extent of tests performed is guided by the clinician's history and physical exam. http://www.healthscout.com/ency/68/741/main.html#TreatmentofThyroidDisorders
http://scienceblog.com/3025/prenatal-thyroid-screening-proves-beneficial-to-women-and-their-children/
There are several treatments for thyroid diseases. Based on age, physical condition, the cause of thyroid disease, and how severe the condition is, an appropriate treatment will be chosen. Most adults who develop hyperthyroidism are taken radioactive iodine by mouth. It gets into the blood stream and causes the level of thyroid hormone in the body to decrease. Another way to treat hyperthyroidism is to take Anti-thyroid medicine. These drugs block the thyroid's ability to produce hormones. The least popular treatment is to remove most of your thyroid gland with a surgery called a thyroidectomy. After surgery, most patients are likely to develop hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid disease) and then need to take a thyroid hormone supplement to restore hormone levels to normal. Treatment for hypothyroidism is a synthetic thyroid hormone taken daily in pill form to regulate hormone levels and shift metabolism back to normal. It will also lower LDL cholesterol and may help reverse weight gain. It may take a few tries to get the right dose of synthetic thyroid hormone. Doctors can tell if the right dose of thyroid hormone is taken, based on how the patient feels, by examination and by blood testing.
Thank you very much Mr. Pye and hope the information was helpful to our audience.
http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/common/hormone/915.html
http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/common/hormone/869.html
In conclusion the thyroid gland plays a fairly important role in the body and keeps your body’s metabolism in balance. However when it malfunctions it can become your worst nightmare. Thyroid diseases occurs when the thyroid gland produces more or less thyroid hormone causing the body’s functions to speed up or slow down. Yet, if you are aware of the symptoms, the thyroid disease is mostly preventable and treatable. Some of the most common symptoms include hair loss, thinning of skin, muscular weakness, racing heart, more or less frequent bowel movements, more or less frequent menstrual periods. Especially during pregnancy, it’s absolutely necessary to visit a physician to check your thyroid function through your body. By taking the right amount of iodine you are almost guaranteed to have an excellent working thyroid. And that was it for today’s Fact Of The Day. Thanks for your interest, sabre followers and we’ll be back with more next week.
by Mahtab S.
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