Causes, symptoms and remedies for hypothyroidism

By Cristiano Antonino Last updated Feb 15, 2023

Let’s talk about hypothyroidism: the thyroid gland is a very important gland for our body and is located at the base of the neck

It is important because it produces the thyroid hormones that regulate our body’s metabolism and energy production and, therefore, also growth during growth and fertility in young women.

Various disease conditions can affect the thyroid gland in all age groups.

The most common is the condition of hypothyroidism in which the thyroid gland can no longer produce an adequate amount of thyroid hormones for the body’s needs. There can be many causes, ranging from Hashimoto’s thyroiditis to certain specific treatments for neoplasms.

The incidence and causes of hypothyroidism

Hypothyroidism is a very frequent condition, especially in female subjects; in the mildest forms, it can affect up to 2% of the population.

In this specific condition, the thyroid gland is no longer able to produce the hormones FT3 and FT4 to meet the body’s needs.

Thyroid hormones are very important in controlling energy metabolism, both in terms of energy expenditure and energy stores in the form of fat or glycogen in the liver and muscles.

The causes of hypothyroidism are many and the most frequent are acquired

These include:

autoimmune forms such as Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis (or chronic autoimmune thyroiditis), an autoimmune inflammatory process of the thyroid gland where the immune system attacks and destroys the cells of the gland thereby reducing its ability to produce thyroid hormones;
certain viral thyroiditis;
certain surgical procedures that require partial or complete removal of the thyroid gland (total thyroidectomy);
certain radiometabolic or iodine treatments even for benign or malignant thyroid cancer diseases’.

There are also very important congenital forms because they are not so infrequent (1 case per 2,000 births approximately).

Symptoms of hypothyroidism

Hypothyroidism manifests itself with rather non-specific signs so it is often difficult to identify and often varies from person to person.

Typical symptoms are

profound tiredness, sometimes even preventing activities of daily living;
tendency to gain weight or not lose weight during a diet treatment;
increased hyposthenia (weakening) in the muscles;
drowsiness;
intolerance to cold;
sometimes even constipation.

Women of childbearing age with a desire to become pregnant, especially those with a family history of hypothyroidism or other autoimmune diseases (e.g. rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, vitiligo, coeliac disease), should check their thyroid function before conception precisely because the thyroid gland must work well on this occasion, both for the course of the pregnancy and for the development of the embryo first and the foetus later.

The unborn child’s hormones start to develop from the 4th month onwards, before it uses the mother’s, which is why it is important that everything works well.

In hypothyroid subjects, at the level of symptoms, alterations in menstrual cycles are frequent, including polymenorrhoea, i.e. the condition in which menstrual cycles tend to become shorter.

In the elderly, the symptoms are neurocognitive with decay that is not associated with classic senile dementia, but rather with the condition of the thyroid gland; while in children, there is an interruption or slowing of growth in height.

How to diagnose hypothyroidism

When there is a suspicion of malfunctioning of the thyroid gland, it is a good idea to carry out a blood test, i.e. a blood sample, by which to determine the concentrations of thyroid hormones, in particular TSH, FT3 and FT4.

TSH is a hormone produced by the pituitary gland that regulates the function of the thyroid gland, but it is a very sensitive marker that can show us how the thyroid gland itself is functioning.

If you find increased TSH values and reduced FT3 and FT4 values compared to normal limits, you are already facing a diagnosis of overt hypothyroidism that needs to be treated.

Replacement therapy for hypothyroidism

Replacement therapy is used as a treatment: where the thyroid gland can no longer produce enough thyroid hormone, this deficiency is made up for by supplying it from outside.

A synthetic hormone is available that is absolutely identical to the missing hormone produced by the thyroid gland, so it is not recognised as foreign by the body.

It is a very well-tolerated therapy that can fully replace the function of the thyroid gland, even during pregnancy.

In hypothyroid women it is absolutely imperative, for the health of the embryo first and the foetus later, to continue replacement therapy especially during gestation.

Synthetic thyroid hormone is a safe therapy

Once even the optimal dosage has been established, annual checks are sufficient to ensure that the dosage is always adequate for the patient’s condition.

Several formulations are currently available to help individualise the L-thyroxine dosage to achieve optimal compensation in each subject.

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