Consequences of reduced thyroid gland

The thyroid gland, pituitary gland and brain form a balancing mechanism of our body's hormones, influencing and balancing each other. For newborns, a decrease in thyroid hormone secretion affects their intelligence, while for adults, a decrease in thyroid hormone means a sharp decline in physical health. Patients will experience adverse conditions such as memory loss, anemia, dizziness and chills. The decrease in thyroid hormone secretion is largely due to congenital defects, but long-term insufficient iodine intake can also cause thyroid problems.

Symptoms and reactions of low thyroid

Hypothyroidism in newborns may cause a series of problems such as drowsiness, feeding difficulties, diarrhea and bloating. What's worse, it will affect the intellectual development of children, causing our newborns to have mental retardation problems and affecting the normal growth of children. If this problem occurs, we must go to the hospital to seek professional treatment. Daily supplementation of thyroid hormone can greatly reduce the chance of this problem.

Early symptoms of thyroid disease in adults may cause us to have problems such as pale complexion and dull eyesight, may cause us to be often afraid of cold, and may greatly reduce our memory and cause slow reactions. It can also cause anemia and make us feel dizzy and have headaches. Many patients with hypothyroidism may also increase their risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, which may cause their own heart sounds to become weak.

What causes low thyroid?

Thyroid dysplasia or congenital defects, as well as the lack of some enzymes that normally synthesize thyroid hormones, lead to impaired synthesis of thyroid hormones and hypothyroidism. Under normal circumstances, many tissues throughout the body have receptors for thyroid hormones, and only with these receptors can thyroid hormones function. When congenital reasons cause defects in the thyroid hormone receptors of tissues, even if the amount of thyroid hormone is sufficient, the defect in the receptors will cause the thyroid gland to fail to function normally, thus leading to hypothyroidism.

In addition, long-term iodine deficiency can lead to insufficient raw materials for the synthesis of thyroid hormone, which in turn leads to hypothyroidism due to reduced production of thyroid hormones. Also, if the entire thyroid gland is removed during thyroid surgery, or if too much thyroid tissue is removed, it may also cause hypothyroidism. Some patients with hyperthyroidism use too much iodine during radiotherapy, which causes excessive destruction of thyroid tissue and may also develop symptoms of hypothyroidism. Various thyroid inflammations can also cause damage to thyroid tissue, which in turn can affect thyroid function and lead to hypothyroidism.

Treatment of hypothyroidism

Lifelong replacement therapy with thyroid preparations is recommended, and early mild cases are mainly treated with oral thyroid tablets or levothyroxine. Test thyroid function and maintain TSH within the normal range; in addition to oral thyroid tablets or levothyroxine, severe cases in the middle and late stages require symptomatic treatment such as oxygen, infusion, infection control, and control of heart failure; in severe diarrhea and cholecystitis, the treatment of hypothyroidism requires increasing the replacement dose of thyroid preparations, because 1/3 of the thyroid hormone in a normal human body is excreted through the bile duct, and half of it is reabsorbed through the intestines. Severe diarrhea and steatorrhea increase hormone excretion and reduce reabsorption, so the replacement dose should be increased.