Disorder thyroid

Thyroid gland disorders and their symptoms: Thyroid is an endocrine gland located in the neck. Its activity governs body’s various metabolic activities. Some times the glands do not work properly and start to produce excessive amounts of hormones and some times they become very sluggish and the hormone secretion drops to very low levels. The disorders due to which the Thyroid glands start functioning abnormally are called Thyroid Gland Disorders .There are various symptoms exhibited by the persons who are suffering from Thyroid gland disorders. The persons show different types of symptoms in case of over activity and under activity of thyroid gland .In case of Overactive thyroid glands the patients show the symptoms of having difficulty in sleeping, increase in heart rate and fatigue even in resting conditions, heat intolerance, polyurea, vomiting , shortness of breath. It can also adversely affect the nervous system (related to brain) and the cardiac system (related to heart). One severe disease ‘Grave’s disease/disorder’ results due to hyper activity of thyroid glands In the case of under activity of the thyroid glands the person starts showing the signs of slow heart rate, hoarseness in voice, reflexes become sluggish, the hair become dry and stare to fall skin also becomes pale and calcium retention drops leading to osteoporosis. In women the menstrual cycles become irregular or abnormal; also they face difficulty in pregnancy (conceiving). Sometimes the pregnancy ends up immaturely in the form of abortion too. Elderly people can also go into depression in some cases.

Autoimmune Thyroid Disorder: It has been found in several cases that the autoimmunity (turning up of body’s defense mechanism against the body itself) is one of the major causes responsible for the disorders related to thyroid gland’s proper functioning. The body’s defenses become autoimmune due to several reasons and scientists are still trying to exactly figure out the mechanism which can trigger the body’s defense cells to become autoimmune and there is complete failure of the defense mechanism as is the case in muscular atrophy or multiple sclerosis. One such case is the situation in the Hashimoto’s disease or low thyroid condition. This arises when there is the incidence of autoimmunity and antibodies fail to recognize thyroid gland’s cell and start attacking them, thereby causing the gradual destruction of the thyroid gland’s follicles.

Goiter: An anatomical problem of disorder in thyroid gland: An inflamed thyroid gland may get swollen and makes the neck acquires the condition called bronchocele. It can be a diffused goiter or a toxic goiter. The diffused goiter spreads through out the neck whereas the toxic goiter refers to a particular condition arising out of over activity in the thyroid gland. The cause of Non toxic goiters may be some other chemical like lithium and some type of autoimmune conditions.

Cretinism condition in the child and Postpartum thyroidism in weaning mothers: The autoimmunity is not restricted to living human beings it can also affect the unborn child developing in the womb of a pregnant woman. This disorder can cause a severe disease called Cretinism. The child who is affected by Cretinism has a stunted growth being reflected from the very first year of birth. It can be genetic, sporadic or even endemic. The child if left untreated will show retarded mental physical growth and sexual abnormalities. Though the exact reasons are not clear but it is believed that due to some immunity disorder a type of thyroiditis starts affecting some mothers usually four to twelve months after giving birth. It is called postpartum thyroidism. It is signified initially by overactive thyroid gland which can last up to four months and it is followed by a phase of under active thyroid gland. In most cases normal thyroid functioning resumes around twelve to eighteen months after emergence of the symptoms. But in some cases women may have to take thyroid replacement therapies.