What is Thyroid? Symptoms of Thyroid Imbalance

In human body resides a tiny butterfly shaped organ located at the base of the neck which is referred to as the thyroid gland. It plays quite a significant role in the management and the regulation of the metabolism of the human body including the optimisation of hormonal balance and energy levels.

In today’s day and age, young women are being diagnosed with hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism and other auto immune diseases like Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and Grave’s. Women aged between their late teens and early twenties are getting diagnosed at quite an alarming rate. This blogpost explores the underlying reasons behind whys and hows it happens along with comprehensive knowledge about its trends, symptoms, diagnosis and its management.

According to a popular study by NCBI,

Thyroid dysfunction was common in young women in south India. One out of every eight young women had thyroid dysfunction, and mild TSH elevation was the most common abnormality.

This calls for sincere efforts in trying to understand thyroid better. Let’s dive into it:

Understanding the role of the Thyroid Gland

The thyroid gland mainly produces 2 primary hormones:
Thyroxine (T4) & Triiodothyronine (T3)

These aforementioned hormones regulate body’s metabolism and work alongside to ensure accurate metabolic functions in body. To put it simply, these hormones ensure the optimum management of every organ in the body – from steady heart rate to ensuring reproductive and mental well-being.

Why are women prone to developing Thyroid diseases?

As per the documented data, women are 5-6 times more likely to develop thyroid conditions than men, typically the key reasons include but not limited to:

1. Hormonal Fluctuations
2. Daily Stress and Lifestyle
3. Poor Mental Health
4. Prone to Autoimmune Diseases

Why young women are getting impacted nowadays?

1. Genetic predisposition: If there’s a family history of thyroid then the chances of thyroid disorder increases significantly event at a nascent stage of bodily development.
2. Environmental factors: Nowadays the environment is filled with plastic, microplastics, BPA chemicals, pesticides, and pollutants which passively worsens the thyroid regulation. Its constant exposure impact and interfere with hormonal dynamics of the body leading to dysregulation.
3. High Stress Level Environment: Owing to the demanding lifestyle, be it academic, career and general social expectations, women do live in a constant stress which directly impacts their metabolism hence disrupting the hormonal balance.
4. Poor Dietary Habits: The skyrocket intake of processed food and junk food is also a key reason for hormonal imbalance of thyroid.  One key reason behind this is the presence of copious amount of preservatives and additives in them along with other nutritional deficiencies like Zinc and Selenium in the body leading to impaired thyroid regulation in the body which leads to issues like hypothyroidism and more.
5. Over reliance of over-the-counter medicine: The habit of consuming medications at frequent occurrence can directly and indirectly impact the hormonal imbalance of the body. Medications like anti-depressants, contraceptives and antacids disrupts the optimum level of protein that carries the thyroid hormone in the blood – leading it lesser absorption of it in the body. Thereby, disbalance of the thyroid hormone.

How to take better care when diagnosed with Thyroid?

Lifestyle Management: Mediating life through stress can be tough so its important to include exercise, sports, movements, meditation and Yoga to mitigate that. Even a little bit of movement everyday goes a long way. It helps in improving bodily metabolism thereby balancing hormone levels. In addition to that, adequate sleep in sync with the circadian rhythm is also essential. One should aim to at least get in 7-8 hours of deep sleep every night in order to feel well rested throughout the day. All these acts of lifestyle management help in controlling the cortisol hormone that directly impacts Thyroid.

Dietary Management: Your daily diet plays a key role in ensuring that your hormonal levels are well-balanced as thyroid relies on the nutritional profile of your diet to stay in balance. There are 3 key points to take into consideration:

1. Avoiding Junk Food: Processed food and pre-packaged food are loaded with preservatives which is fundamentally wrong for our body. In addition to that, Goitrogens which is found in raw veggies like Broccoli, kale and cabbage etc can interfere with the iodine absorption if consumed in excess amounts. Although iodine is essential for the body to function but excess of it can disrupt the hormone regulation of the body. 
2. Intake of Zinc and Selenium: In order to convert inactive T4 hormone to active T3 hormone, one requires Zinc and Selenium in the body as these have quite some antioxidant properties which aid protection of thyroid gland. Zinc could be derived from nuts, seeds and legumes  and selenium can be sought from eggs, sunflower seeds and nuts.
3. Iodine-rich Nutrition: Iodine is important for thyroid synthesis hence food like seafood, dairy, eggs and iodised salt can help in ensuring adequate levels of iodine in the body. Although one needs to be mindful of its excess consumption as that too can lead to worsening of thyroid balance in the body.
4. Medication: Seeking medical help when diagnosed with thyroid imbalance is a cornerstone of thyroid treatment therefore after careful consultation with an expert doctor can help in navigating the medical treatment and prescribed medicine. Some of these medicines are pivotal in maintaining normal hormonal levels in the body.
5. Monitoring: Regular monitoring of the is important for effective management of thyroid hormone. Blood tests can help you evaluate the levels of TSH, T3 and T4 in your body hence one should get tested regularly to check for it.

If you, your loved ones or your little ones are dealing with reproductive issues, metabolic problems or have been diagnosed with thyroid imbalance, you can explore the top-notch treatment by the expert doctors at Paras Health. Our facilities have the most sought-after treatment plans, doctors, support staff and advanced tools and machinery to assist the thyroid treatment, thyroid medication and hormonal and thyroid management. In case you need to talk to our health experts, please reach us at 08035358735.