As much as we like to pretend we're our own personal health gurus, totally in touch with our bodies, the thyroid gland is one of those bits that all of us have heard of, but most of us don't really understand. We know that it’s important, but ask us to tell you what it actually does and we’ll probably mutter something vague and non-committal about it being in our neck or having hormones. Ask us about the newest Kardashian baby and we can tell you
everything
.
The fact of the matter is that we should probably care more, because not only does the thyroid gland have a whacking great impact on the body, but thyroid diseases are far more common in women. In fact, hyperthyroidism - that is, an overactive thyroid gland - affects 10 times more women than men, causing everything from anxiety to heat sensitivity, and even affecting weight. According to the American Thyroid Association, an estimated 20 million Americans have some form of thyroid disease, but a shocking 60 per cent of these people remain blissfully unaware of the condition while it saps their health.
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A little butterfly-shaped gland that’s found in the lower neck, just in front of the windpipe, the thyroid's main job is to produce the hormones that help to regulate the body’s metabolism. For those who want the science stuff,
triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4) are the two main players. When the thyroid goes out of whack and produces either too much or too little of these hormones, it can cause many of the rest of the body’s functions to be thrown off balance too. Cue you feeling run down for months on end, with no obvious reason
So, what are the main symptoms that something is wrong? Well, that depends on whether the thyroid is overactive (hyperthyroidism) or underactive (hypothyroidism) - but either way, they’re all pretty easy to overlook and mistake for something else entirely. In the case of an overactive thyroid, symptoms can include nervousness, anxiety, difficulty sleeping, constantly feeling tired, increased sensitivity to heat, heart palpitations, weight loss, and swelling in your neck.
Many of these symptoms also exist with an under-active thyroid, although some are reversed, for example, while the tiredness and the moodiness may still be present, you’re more likely to experience weight gain than weight loss (it might due to the extra biscuits after all) and feel the cold sharply. Other common symptoms include dry hair and skin, and muscle aches.
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The slightly annoying thing is that despite the prevalence of thyroid disorders, the causes of them still remain largely unknown. There does seem to be a strong link between hyperthyroidism and other medical conditions, including Graves’ disease - an autoimmune disease where your immune system gets confused and accidentally attacks the healthy stuff - as well as certain medications and the presence of nodules on the thyroid. With hypothyroidism, the most common cause appears to be Hashimoto’s disease, where the body breaks down the thyroid gland so it can no longer produce the necessary hormones.
In any case, the good news is that once the symptoms have been identified, thyroid diseases such as hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism
can
be fairly easy to diagnose. Usually, your doctor will talk you through your symptoms, do a physical examination and then order a couple of tests that will screen the levels of the hormones present in your blood, checking whether they're in the normal range or not. Other thyroid-related conditions can be slightly more complicated, but once identified, most can be controlled with medication or surgery.
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The chances are, you probably already know someone with a thyroid disease, whether they've made it public knowledge or are keeping it to themselves. But if not, there's a whole host of famous faces that have fought their own battles, including actress Kim Cattrall and trainer Jillian Michaels. In January, supermodel Gigi Hadid was widely praised when she hit back at haters laying into her body shape by speaking out about her own experience of Hashimoto’s, revealing that she now takes medication to control her thyroid issues. In a lengthy Twitter thread, she explained that she had spent the last few years suffering with “extreme fatigue, metabolism issues, body’s ability to retain heat, etc …” as well as water retention, which made her look bigger than she is.
It's clear then that a thyroid disease can have a major effect on your day-to-day life, affecting everything from how sprightly you feel to your confidence when slipping on that pair of jeans.
Ultimately, no one is exactly sure why so many more women than men are affected, but doctors think that it might have something to do with the fact that autoimmune diseases are themselves much more common in women. But given that it’s so widespread, it’s pretty clear that we should all be in the know about what to watch for.
