ALL ABOUT THYROID
This little gland in our necks af fects many body functions, so it’s vital to get checks to ensure it’s working properly…
Maria was tired. All the time. She was also the third patient that morning concerned about feeling tired all the time. This is one of the commonest presenting complaints to general practice. Maria felt she was not managing her tiredness at all, she went to bed exhausted and did not wake up refreshed – if anything each day felt like a long slog, as if she were constantly walking through treacle.
Now this was a warm morning, and most people in my clinic had mentioned the unusual weather and the sauna-like atmosphere in my clinic room, despite all the open windows and fan – and yet Maria was wearing a cardigan. When I pointed this out to her she said that in that last few months she had really felt the cold and didn’t know why everyone was talking about the heat as she still felt chilly! Other symptoms Maria had was that her hair and skin felt dry though she had just assumed that was because she had gone through the menopause and was getting older.
We arranged some blood tests and a couple of weeks later I called Maria back to the surgery. She had hypothyroidism, a condition where she wasn’t producing enough of the hormone thyroxine. This hormone can be replaced with medication and over the next few months we fiddled with the dosage until her symptoms improved and her blood tests showed her levels were in the correct range. Perhaps most importantly, Maria got back her get up and go – and her hair and skin felt better too!