The thyroid is a strange organ, but a healthy thyroid is needed for a healthy body which functions well, uses nutrients appropriately and manages the metabolism to keep you just warm enough and just slim enough for a balanced life. Because of the strangeness of the thyroid – it is small, it is in a most peculiar place (wrapping around the lower half of your throat) and it takes very little to unbalance it – diagnosing thyroid conditions can be tricky. Let’s take a look at some common symptoms that could be caused by a faulty thyroid.
Tiredness
The covid pandemic disrupted life in a dramatic way, and the return to some semblance of normality has not been an easy one for many of us. And the end result is a deep tiredness, that makes us more glad than usual when Friday arrives with the promise of two days of relative idleness – but if your tiredness seems worse than the general malaise that affects most people, you should think about asking your medical professional for a blood test to check your thyroid hormone levels.
This would include things like falling asleep at work or otherwise during the day, never really feeling rested or refreshed. It is interesting to note that animals that hibernate in winter have been tested with very low levels of thyroid hormone as temperatures drop – it is this that allows them to sleep away most of the winter when food is hard to come by.
Agitation and Anxiety
If you have developed anxiety in recent years, having previously been fairly calm, this can be a sign that your thyroid hormone levels are too high. If your late-onset anxiety is accompanied by mood swings and sleep disorder, this can be your body letting you know that you have or are beginning to get hyperthyroidism, as it is called when your thyroid produces too much of the two thyroid hormones, T3 and T4 as they are known.
Hair Loss and Dry Skin
People suffering from hypothyroidism can sometimes suffer from thinning hair or even just hair loss, so keep an eye on your hairbrush or comb and if you see more loose hairs than usual, perhaps schedule a check-up with a doctor. The same applies if you suddenly develop excessively dry, almost scaly, skin on your hands, arms and legs. Of course, dry skin can be caused by other factors too – everything from air conditioning to your detergent can affect your skin – and everyone goes through periods of hair loss for no particular reason from time to time (most often when you are fighting off an infection or healing from a wound or injury of some kind) so while you should absolutely contact your doctor for a test, try not to worry about it until you get your test results.
If you do have thyroid issues, rest assured: while there is no one-stop cure for thyroid disorders, they can be managed very well with artificial thyroid medication (find out about Armour Thyroid dispatched to the UK here) and you will be feeling your old active self again in no time.
