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:

1. Increasing our metabolic rate, or energy
2. Help with the growth of bones
3. 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 -

1. Loss of energy
2. Difficulty losing weight
3. Cold extremities
4. Sensitivity to cold
5. Difficulty concentrating
6. Depressed mood
7. Hair loss
8. Dry skin
9. Constipation
10. Fluid retention
11. 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:

1. 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.
2. People with other autoimmune diseases, such as Addison disease, type 1 diabetes, vitiligo, pernicious anemia, lupus.
3. People who have the disease running in their family.
4. 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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