Thyroid Disorders Prevention
The thyroid helps set your metabolism – how your body gets energy from the foods you eat. Millions of people in the U.S. have thyroid diseases. Most of them are women. If you have a thyroid disease, your body uses energy more slowly or quickly than it should. A thyroid gland that is not active enough, called hypothyroidism, is far more common. It can make you gain weight, feel fatigued and have difficulty dealing with cold temperatures. If your thyroid is too active, it makes more thyroid hormones than your body needs. That condition is hyperthyroidism. Too much thyroid hormone can make you lose weight, speed up your heart rate and make you very sensitive to heat.
In an article in ThyroWorld, Dr. David Cooper says that it’s time that a preventive approach be applied to thyroid disease.
According to Dr. Cooper, there are three different ways a disease is “prevented:”
- primary prevention, which is preventing the disease in healthy people. Vaccines, and seat belts fall into this category. For thyroid patients, Dr. Cooper believes that “adequate iodine intake is the major way to prevent thyroid disease in iodine-deficient areas of the world.” He also discusses smoking as a primary risk factor.
- secondary prevention, which is preventing mild, latent or sublinical disease from progressing to more severe levels. For thyroid patients, Dr. Cooper recommends “screening of individuals for mild or ‘subclinical’ hypothyroidism. If mild hypothyroidism is detected, secondary prevention would also entail treatment with thyroxine to prevent progress to a more advanced degree of thyroid failure.”
- tertiary prevention prevents an existing disease from worsening. For thyroid disease, says Dr. Cooper, this involves “monitoring for disease progression with clinical and laboratory assessment, and, theoretically, avoiding iatrogenic disease (inadvertent illness induced by the doctor), such as prescribing too much thyroid hormone.”
Says Cooper: “It is my hope that “preventive medicine” in the United States will expand its horizons to include thyroid disease. Until now, prevention of thyroid disease has received too little attention from policymakers and physicians alike.”
If you have been treated for thyroid conditions, you should understand:
- When to take your thyroid hormone medication
- Signs or symptoms of too much or not enough thyroid hormone
- When to go to your doctor for blood tests to check thyroid hormone levels, or to check for nodules
- That other drugs you may be taking for other medical conditions could affect your health or interact with the medication for your thyroid problems. Ask your doctor about possible interactions, side effects, or warning signs.
You can further protect your health by eating a balanced diet, getting enough sleep, exercising several times a week, and getting fresh air and relaxation. Healthy living is an important part of recovery from thyroid conditions. These steps may also help to prevent future problems.
