The thyroid has a big job: The hormones it secretes help regulate heart rate, maintain healthy skin, and play a crucial part in metabolism. When the gland is sluggish (hypothyroidism), it can rob you of energy, dry out your skin, make your joints ache, cause weight gain, and kick-start depression. When it becomes overworked—hyperthyroidism—and produces too much hormone, it can cause racing heart, sleep disturbances, and weight loss. That's a lot of grief for a gland the size and shape of a buckeye butterfly.
Given what can go wrong, you may be surprised to hear that about half of the estimated 27 million Americans with thyroid disease remain undiagnosed, according to the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.
Most people with thyroid disease, about 80 percent, have the hypo version. Should symptoms drive you to make a doctor's appointment, one of the first things your physician will ask is if you have a relative with the disease, since thyroid disease tends to run in families. Your risk also increases as you get older; in addition, being female (the disorder is as much as eight times more common in women), or having another autoimmune disorder such as type 1 diabetes or rheumatoid arthritis can worsen your odds.
Here is how you can test yourself for hypothyroidism--this was sent to me by Janel--
If you suspect hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid function) – you may consider the following methods and tests to help identify this problem:
Symptom Questionnaire
Complete a questionnaire on hypothyroid symptoms such as the one found in books by Mary Shomon’s Living Well with Hypothyroidism or Richard and Karilee Shames’ Thyroid Power. You may want to bring a completed questionnaire to your physician for his or her review.
Basal Temperature
Record your underarm basal body temperature with a glass thermometer (not digital). The procedure for doing so is the following:
1. Get a glass thermometer, not digital (the digital ones stop reading after a minute or two and are not as accurate). Non-mercury glass thermometers are now commercially available at Walgreen’s and other pharmacies (if you have trouble locating a mercury thermometer).
2. Shake down the thermometer the night before you do the test (using your muscles to shake the thermometer will raise your temperature and throw off the test).
Place the thermometer at your bedside with a book (the book will be obvious in a moment).
3. Go to sleep without an extraneous heat source such as a bed partner (spouse, dog, etc), an electric blanket or on a waterbed (they are heated). You are allowed to wear pajamas and use as many blankets as you desire, as they do not throw off the test.
When you wake up in the morning (or if you sleep during the day, when you wake up after at least 4 hours of sleep), use as little movement as possible (all movement moves your muscles and raises your temperature) and place the thermometer in your armpit. Why the armpit? Patients with low thyroid often have allergies or get sinus infections – which raise the temperature inside the mouth. Patients rarely get armpit infections, so this site is more reliable. I have had only one patient who had a difference in temperature between armpits, but that was due to unusual anatomy (she had something called an atrial-venous malformation (AVM) in one armpit). Leave it there for at least ten minutes (hence, you have a book to read. J)
4. Women who still have periods should take their temperature over the first 3 days of their period and average the numbers. Women who have had a hysterectomy but still have at least one ovary will probably want to test over a period of 14 days and use the 3 days with the “lowest" readings. Men and postmenopausal women can test for any 3 days and average.
5. Normal axillary body temperature is between 97.4 and 98.2 degrees Fahrenheit. Temperatures below that are suggestive of low thyroid.
Given what can go wrong, you may be surprised to hear that about half of the estimated 27 million Americans with thyroid disease remain undiagnosed, according to the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.
Most people with thyroid disease, about 80 percent, have the hypo version. Should symptoms drive you to make a doctor's appointment, one of the first things your physician will ask is if you have a relative with the disease, since thyroid disease tends to run in families. Your risk also increases as you get older; in addition, being female (the disorder is as much as eight times more common in women), or having another autoimmune disorder such as type 1 diabetes or rheumatoid arthritis can worsen your odds.
Here is how you can test yourself for hypothyroidism--this was sent to me by Janel--
If you suspect hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid function) – you may consider the following methods and tests to help identify this problem:
Symptom Questionnaire
Complete a questionnaire on hypothyroid symptoms such as the one found in books by Mary Shomon’s Living Well with Hypothyroidism or Richard and Karilee Shames’ Thyroid Power. You may want to bring a completed questionnaire to your physician for his or her review.
Basal Temperature
Record your underarm basal body temperature with a glass thermometer (not digital). The procedure for doing so is the following:
1. Get a glass thermometer, not digital (the digital ones stop reading after a minute or two and are not as accurate). Non-mercury glass thermometers are now commercially available at Walgreen’s and other pharmacies (if you have trouble locating a mercury thermometer).
2. Shake down the thermometer the night before you do the test (using your muscles to shake the thermometer will raise your temperature and throw off the test).
Place the thermometer at your bedside with a book (the book will be obvious in a moment).
3. Go to sleep without an extraneous heat source such as a bed partner (spouse, dog, etc), an electric blanket or on a waterbed (they are heated). You are allowed to wear pajamas and use as many blankets as you desire, as they do not throw off the test.
When you wake up in the morning (or if you sleep during the day, when you wake up after at least 4 hours of sleep), use as little movement as possible (all movement moves your muscles and raises your temperature) and place the thermometer in your armpit. Why the armpit? Patients with low thyroid often have allergies or get sinus infections – which raise the temperature inside the mouth. Patients rarely get armpit infections, so this site is more reliable. I have had only one patient who had a difference in temperature between armpits, but that was due to unusual anatomy (she had something called an atrial-venous malformation (AVM) in one armpit). Leave it there for at least ten minutes (hence, you have a book to read. J)
4. Women who still have periods should take their temperature over the first 3 days of their period and average the numbers. Women who have had a hysterectomy but still have at least one ovary will probably want to test over a period of 14 days and use the 3 days with the “lowest" readings. Men and postmenopausal women can test for any 3 days and average.
5. Normal axillary body temperature is between 97.4 and 98.2 degrees Fahrenheit. Temperatures below that are suggestive of low thyroid.
Resource: about.com and oprah.com
hmmmm, interesting.~bob
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