Thyroid Disease Symptoms

To understand the adverse effects of thyroid diseases, it is important to understand the importance of the thyroid gland and its functions.

The thyroid gland is located in the neck and comprises of two halves, called “lobes”. The thyroids main objective is to collect a chemical, called iodine, from the foods and liquids consumed by a person, and uses this to create hormones that help in growth and making sure the body matures as it should. Hence, the thyroid gland is of prime importance to a person still in a stage of development such as a teenager. Apart from this, the thyroid also makes sure that other organs function correctly and hence, a faulty thyroid could lead to complications with many other parts of the body. When a person develops a thyroid disease, it results in the bloating of the gland as well, which is one of the foremost indications of the disease.

Thyroid diseases come up when the thyroid dos not supply the correct amount of thyroid hormones to the body and can be classified into 2 distinct types. The first condition, hyperthyroidism, is when the thyroid produces a much higher quantity of the thyroid hormone than it should, causing the body to use more than the required amount of energy and boosting chemical activity like metabolism in the cells.

The second type of thyroid disease, hypothyroidism, is primarily the opposite and occurs when the thyroid gland produces a much lower quantity of the hormone that the body requires. This results in the body using very little energy and greatly reduces the speed of chemical activity like metabolism.

Since the two classifications of the disease are both very independent of each other, they often give out very different symptoms. For example - a person with hyperthyroidism, due to the increased levels of energy, will appear to be nervous and irritable. They will also have great difficulty in falling off to sleep. Some women might even experience irregular menstrual cycles. One of the more common forms of hyperthyroidism is graves disease which causes the immune system to act abnormally. It has been noticed, yet not explained, that women have a higher tendency of getting graves disease.

With hypothyroidism, however, a person will feel lethargic and weak. The condition will also lead to the individual putting on a lot of weight even though there has been no increase in the amounts of food consumed. This can be mainly attributed to the decrease in rate of metabolism.