Essay #3- Thyroid Disease PDF

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Thyroid disease is a general term for a medical condition that keeps your thyroid from making the right amount of hormones....

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Brian Zemaitis Professor Taunt Med Terminology 10 November 2019 Essay #3: Thyroid Disease The thyroid gland is a gland found in the bottom of your neck below the Adam’s apple. The purpose of this gland is to produce hormones that are able to regulate your mood, muscle control, digestive function, and the body’s metabolic rate. A healthy thyroid is dependent upon several factors with the most important being a consistent iodine intake. The hormones that are released from the thyroid gland is controlled by a releasing hormone in the hypothalamus called thyrotropin and is stimulated by a hormone in the pituitary gland called the thyroid stimulating hormone. During these processes, the thyroid can become overactive (hyperthyroidism) or underactive (hypothyroidism). In our case, we are discussing hypothyroidism, an enlargement of the thyroid. This overactive thyroid gland (also called goiter) is producing an excessive amount of thyroid hormones (thyroxines) that circulate in the blood. Hypothyroidism is caused by a number of things but mainly caused my iodine deficiency. In other cases, the body’s immune system sometimes mistakenly recognizes the thyroid gland as a foreign body. Seeing the thyroid as a foreign body, the body will attack it and sometimes destroy it. Hyperthyroidism can mimic a couple other health issues, which can make it hard for a doctor to diagnose. It is usually treated with medication that feeds the correct number of hormones back into your thyroid to repair it. According to www.yourhormones.info, Hypothyroidism can be treated with levothyroxine tablets – a synthetic version of thyroxine given to replace the sub-optimal level of thyroid hormones. The treatment is given on an outpatient basis. Once the levothyroxine is absorbed in the bloodstream, it is converted to triiodothyronine, which is the active thyroid hormone that the tissues and cells require to function.

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Sources

“Hyperthyroidism (Overactive Thyroid).” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 3 Nov. 2018, www.mayoclinic.org/diseasesconditions/hyperthyroidism/symptoms-causes/syc-20373659.

Society for Endocrinology. “Thyroid Gland.” You and Your Hormones, www.yourhormones.info/glands/thyroid-gland/.

You and Your Hormones, www.yourhormones.info/endocrine-conditions/goitre/....