![]() All these patients can lose part or all of their thyroid function. Patients with Hodgkin’s disease, lymphoma, or cancers of the head or neck are treated with radiation. Some people with Graves’ disease, nodular goiter, or thyroid cancer are treated with radioactive iodine (I-131) for the purpose of destroying their thyroid gland. If part of the gland is left, it may be able to make enough thyroid hormone to keep blood levels normal. ![]() If the whole thyroid is removed, people will definitely become hypothyroid. Some people with thyroid nodules, thyroid cancer, or Graves’ disease need to have part or all of their thyroid removed. Surgical removal of part or all of the thyroid gland.The most common forms are Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and atrophic thyroiditis. Autoimmune thyroiditis can begin suddenly or it can develop slowly over years. Then there aren’t enough thyroid cells and enzymes left to make enough thyroid hormone. In some people’s bodies, the immune system that protects the body from invading infections can mistake thyroid gland cells and their enzymes for invaders and can attack them. Here are the major causes, from the most to the least common. There can be many reasons why the cells in the thyroid gland can’t make enough thyroid hormone. If you keep your hypothyroidism well-controlled, it will not shorten your life span. Your symptoms should disappear and the serious effects of low thyroid hormone should improve. But if you take your pills every day and work with your doctor to get and keep your thyroxine dose right, you should be able to keep your hypothyroidism well controlled throughout your life. You have to make a lifetime commitment to treatment. Hypothyroidism may become more or less severe, and your dose of thyroxine may need to change over time. There are exceptions: many patients with viral thyroiditis have their thyroid function return to normal, as do some patients with thyroiditis after pregnancy. There is no cure for hypothyroidism, and most patients have it for life. If you are seeing an endocrinologist, ask that copies of your reports be sent to your primary care doctor. If you start seeing a new doctor, tell the doctor that you have hypothyroidism and you need your TSH tested every year. ![]() Tell your other doctors and your pharmacist about your hypothyroidism and the drug and dose with which it is being treated. Because thyroid disease runs in families, you should explain your hypothyroidism to your relatives and encourage them to get periodic TSH tests. Because the symptoms are so variable and nonspecific, the only way to know for sure whether you have hypothyroidism is with a simple blood test for TSH. ![]() As the body slows, you may notice that you feel colder, you tire more easily, your skin is getting drier, you’re becoming forgetful and depressed, and you’ve started getting constipated. When thyroid hormone levels are too low, the body’s cells can’t get enough thyroid hormone and the body’s processes start slowing down. ![]()
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