Danger level: Medium
What is it?
Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis (or in short Hashimoto) is a disease that affects the thyroid gland, causing it to function less than it should.
Who gets it?
As many as 3.5 out of 1000 women, and 0.8 out of 1000 men have Hashimoto’s in the United States (all over the world it’s around 0.3-1.5 per 1000 people).
As you can see, it’s about 10-15 times as common in women than in men. The most common age of getting Hashimoto is 30-50.
What causes it?
Hashimoto is an autoimmune disease – This means the body’s immune system, which was meant to attack infections, attacks the body for some reason. (We discussed other autoimmune diseases here previously, like Graves, Lupus, Celiac, Myasthenia Gravis, Vitiligo).
In Hashimoto, antibodies (the molecules of the immune system) attack our thyroid gland.
Our thyroid gland produces hormones called T3 and T4, which are responsible for a few things in our body:
- Increasing our metabolic rate, or energy
- Help with the growth of bones
- They increase our sensitivity to adrenaline
These are just some of their roles.
Since in Hashimoto the thyroid is attacked, less hormones are produced.
The thyroid gland in the neck. The body attacks it in Hashimoto.
How does it feel?
The condition that is caused by a lack of thyroid hormones is called hypothyroidism (there’s a name for it since this disease isn’t the only one that causes it. We’ll discuss others that do the same thing in the future).
Here are the features of hypothyroidism -
- Loss of energy
- Difficulty losing weight
- Cold extremities
- Sensitivity to cold
- Difficulty concentrating
- Depressed mood
- Hair loss
- Dry skin
- Constipation
- Fluid retention
- Muscle pain and cramps
These are just the main symptoms. There are even more. This video sums it all up nicely -
How is it discovered?
To discover the disease, blood tests are performed. In them, the doctor will look for levels of the thyroid hormones, T3 or T4, and for the levels of a substance called TSH, which rises in hypothyroidism (to understand why, you can read about Graves disease, where the “feedback mechanism” is explained). Another thing that can be tested is the levels of the antibodies that attack the thyroid.They can also be found in the blood.
The problem is that not every doctor will think about this disease on time, since the symptoms above might hint at other diseases, such as depression.
How is it treated?
The treatment is very simple – your doctor will give you a drug called L-thyroxine, which is simply a synthetic version of the thyroid’s T4 hormone.
What happens after treatment?
With the appropriate treatment, people with Hashimoto can lead a normal life.
It’s important to remember that treatment is necessary – Without treatment, a state called a myxedema coma can develop, which has a 60% chance of mortality.
The bottom line – How Do I avoid it?
There are cases when Hashimoto might be more common, and in these cases it’s recommended to test the TSH levels in the blood once a year. These cases include:
- Elderly people: Hypothyroidism is more common in the elderly. The symptoms in the elderly might me more subtle, so they might not even suspect having it.
- People with other autoimmune diseases, such as Addison disease, type 1 diabetes, vitiligo, pernicious anemia, lupus.
- People who have the disease running in their family.
- People with Down syndrome, or with Turner syndrome.
Detecting the disease early on will not prevent it, but might lead to an earlier treatment.
What next?
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April 7th, 2009 at 3:25 am
Hi, I love this site, am I a medicine freak?
I used to have fatigue, for months, and my throat was swollen and sore.
I read about Hashimoto, and I thought maybe it was subacute Thyroiditis, but then my doctor gave me some blood tests to do, and it showed I had Mononucleosis, EB Virus, they are not connected, are they? They have some common features, though.
Anyway, thanks for all the info!
Wafaa
London
April 7th, 2009 at 5:22 am
Wafaa,
Thanks for the kind words (and for the visits
)
Mononucleosis isn’t directly related to subacute thyroiditis. Both cause a pain around your throat or neck, and subacute thyroiditis is thought to be of viral origin, but EB virus wasn’t proven as the cause.
Hope I answered your question,
Roy
April 21st, 2009 at 3:15 am
[...] which is called auto-immune. We covered other auto-immune diseases here in the past, such as Hashimoto, Myasthenia Gravis, Vitiligo and Graves [...]
September 29th, 2009 at 5:33 am
Hair loss or Alopecia is a problem most of us are facing on a daily basis. Some studies say that men tend to “get” balder faster or that stress contributes to this problem or plainly we're just born with it – carried by genes that is. Nevertheless when it comes to hairloss or caderea parului we have to agree that women suffer the most and spend up a fortune to get rid of this problem. The thing is most products aren't even half good as they are marketed so what's a woman to do ? I think that natural remedies (using eggs and aloe vera) can help your hairloss problem but if people don't start eating and living healthy there's no stop to this issue.
September 29th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Hair loss or Alopecia is a problem most of us are facing on a daily basis. Some studies say that men tend to “get” balder faster or that stress contributes to this problem or plainly we're just born with it – carried by genes that is. Nevertheless when it comes to hairloss or caderea parului we have to agree that women suffer the most and spend up a fortune to get rid of this problem. The thing is most products aren't even half good as they are marketed so what's a woman to do ? I think that natural remedies (using eggs and aloe vera) can help your hairloss problem but if people don't start eating and living healthy there's no stop to this issue.
May 10th, 2010 at 4:25 pm
my question is . why is the name in japanese ? any historical about this illness?
May 11th, 2010 at 4:12 pm
Hi,
The disease has its name since it was first described by the Japanese specialist Dr. Hakaru Hashimoto in Germany in 1912. It was, naturally, called after him…
July 3rd, 2010 at 9:04 am
I just sent this post to a bunch of my friends as I agree with most of what you’re saying here and the way you’ve presented it is awesome.
July 9th, 2010 at 3:25 pm
I have Hashimotos, and my question is – how often does hair loss/hair thinning occur in patients? My doctors keep saying it has nothing to do with this disease or with the small goiter. I just find that hard to believe. I seem to have a majority of the symptoms
July 10th, 2010 at 7:18 am
Hi Dolcenazza,
In regards to hair loss, it can certainly happen with Hashimoto's. Hair thinning, on the other hand, isn't a classic sign of Hashimoto's (which is a disease of hypothyroidism – or poor functioning of the thyroid gland). It's more a sign of hyperthyroidism (over-functioning of the gland). In hypothyroidism, actually, the hair tends to be coarse.
I don't have exact data regarding how often is happens with thyroid diseases, but as with any case of hypothyroidism, you should get treated first and see if it changes things. If it doesn't, it could be that your hair loss is related to another cause.