I always have cold hands and feet, ease to put weight on and constipation. I always wake up with swollen face and eyes, as well as have a lot of joints pain. Lately, I have been feeling more depressed. Could I be suffering a thyroid disorder?
Yes. The thyroid condition is very frequent. A study published in 1997 by Mayo Clinic, revealed that 60% of the autopsies made revealed that the bodies had thyroid conditions and that 50% of the patients randomly allocated to the study, revealed ultrasound injuries. In order to be able to study thyroid correctly, we have to have a clinic evaluation, analytically done and with ultrasound.
The thyroid is a gland, located on the neck, in front of the trachea. It produces thyroid hormones such as thyroxin (T4), triiodothyronine (T3) and calcitonin that regulate our bodies’ metabolism.
These hormones are essential for the functioning of our body, through the control of the speed of the metabolism of our cells. In this sense, it is essential for the growth and development of the body, it regulates the body temperature, the heartbeat frequency and blood pressure, the functioning of the intestines, the weight watch, our moods and many other functions.
Symptoms and sings of hypothyroidism (low functioning)
– Puffy face, lowered external third of the eyebrow, swollen eyelids especially in the morning, swollen tongue and lips.
– Cold and increased hands, laxity of the fingers, brittle nails due to slower growth
– Lack of tolerance to cold
– Weak heart sounds, with slow heartbeats
– Minimum blood pressure elevated, with short difference from the maximum, pulses of low pulsation
– Skin of the hands’ and feet’s palms sallow
– Face, elbow and legs’ skin dryness (follicular keratosis)
Emotionally, along with morning depression we can also verify:
– Slow pace;
– Lack of focus, loss of memory, ease to get distracted, lowered school’s performance with inability to focus
– Slow rationale and slow reactions
– Joints’ pain and stiffness
A sign of the decrease in the thyroid functioning is the reduced basal temperature, sometimes it drops to even 36,7ºC. It should be monitored in the armpit, before you get up, after a good night sleep, without the influence of alcohol and in women at their fertile age, it should be at their 2º, 3º or 4º day of menstruation. The contraceptive pill, as it increases the basal temperature, it interferes with the aims of the test.
This test has diagnosis’ interest, but not in the therapeutically monitoring. Exams to thyroid should always be conducted for analytical certification, even though a lot of times in slight situations there isn’t analytical effects, only clinical.
I raise the attention to the importance of tracking it in women before conception, during and after the pregnancy period, given the repercussions it can have to the unborn child and toddler to be.
The thyroid hormones are important for the development of the baby, specially to the brain and nervous system, and this depends on the hormonal level of the mother up until they are 12 weeks old, period in which their own gland starts to function.
Mothers with low functioning of their thyroid, the so called hypothyroidism, have babies that can have consequences on the development of their cognitive system, revealed only by schooling age, with the lack of focus, struggle to learn and an IQ lower than expected, sometimes even with psychomotor perturbations.