Suffering from thyroid? The thyroid is the most common and perpetual issue but, is it just the minor one or the complex endocrine imbalance how would you know?
From border line to the extensive thyroid, a person can suffer from anyone.
What is a thyroid?
The thyroid is a gland in the shape of a butterfly that resides in the front of your neck. It controls your weight, mental health and much more. However, if you are feeling dull, tired have a constipation problem, muscle pain, irregular periods, fertility problem, high cholesterol then you are suffering from a thyroid problem.
While we usually ignore these are minor symptoms, they can be troublesome if you are thyroid patients and can also lead to hypothyroidism.
What is Hypothyroidism?
Hypothyroidism is used to describe a metabolic state which occurs due to thyroid imbalance. The high-stress level in the body stimulates energy production making thyroid gland to withdraw the stimulating energy hormone. For instance, if you are consuming too much sugar, caffeine or are taking the high stress, thyroid gland will withdraw its energy stimulating hormone making you feel sluggish.
Also, thyroid is a sensitive gland, which means things like smoking, pollution, consuming heavy metals and circulating free radicals can damage the tissue giving rise to extensive thyroid test. An at home thyroid test kit can detect whether there’s an issue with your thyroid.
How Thyroid Affects Mental Health?
Inappropriate working of thyroid hormone results in reduced function of mitochondria. Mitochondria, which is the thyroid hormone, has a whole lot of responsibilities from creating energy to gauging the life of a cell.
However, when the hormone fails to function properly, it results in some noticeable symptoms few being low metabolism, fatigue, constipation, weight loss, hair loss, depression and much more. These symptoms are a sign of mental illness.
In severe cases like in extensive thyroid condition, a patient may feel anxiety, palpitations, sweating, insomnia and other severe problems.
Important Tests to Measure Thyroid Function:
While six main tests unlock the mystery of thyroid function, few of them are:
- Thyroid Profile Extensive Blood Test:
An extensive thyroid test is a hormone test which is designed to have a complete analysis of thyroid hormone metabolism. The test will measure thyroid production and secretion, peripheral thyroid conversion, thyroid gland regulation and activity as well as thyroid autoimmunity. Not only this, but the test will also measure levels of TSH, free T4, T3, reverse t3, anti-TG antibodies and anti-TPO antibodies to access thyroid autoimmunity.
- TSH (Thyroid stimulating hormone test):
TSH is produced in the pituitary gland; therefore when a healthy thyroid is asked to stop building more hormones, it creates two hormones called T3 (triiodothyronine) and T4 (thyroxine). However, when the high-stress level suppresses the pituitary gland, the patient will feel low or normal THS level due to the presence of low production of T3 and T4 thyroid hormones.
- Thyroid Antibodies Test:
This test aims to measure autoimmune thyroid disease and other forms of thyroid hormone dysfunction.
- Reverse T3 or rT3:
Reverse T3 is one of the most popular and abundant forms of thyroid hormone. The test will measure the inactive T3 hormones which occur when you are sick, or under some stress. The reverse T3 works by diverting the active hormones to the inactive or reserve state.
How to Treat Hypothyroidism?
- The first thing to treat hypothyroidism is to re-stimulate thyroid function. Just keep your iodine intake high for some time.
- Take support from minerals like zinc, selenium, potassium, and iodine that are used in manufacturing thyroxine.
- Refrain from reactive foods like gluten, sugar, and dairy.
- Remove intake of synthetic hormones
- Treat the larger endocrine imbalance
- Keeping stress level low by doing yoga, meditation as well as exercise
The undiagnosed thyroid is one of the main reasons behind mental illness. It can cause depression and other chronic mental problems. So, now that you know what a hyperthyroid is, and what are the reasons for their occurrence, keep them in mind and get rid of these problems.