World Thyroid Day – 25th May 2017

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The 25th May marks World Thyroid Day, which is a great opportunity to be raising awareness on thyroid disease. 

The World Health Organization estimates that 750 million people in the world have some form of thyroid disease, including 1 in 20 people in the UK, but as many as 60% are undiagnosed. And that’s not good! 

This is just one reason why we need to carry on sharing information and raising awareness about the condition and encourage anyone with symptoms of hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism to get checked out. 

But with a full thyroid panel. Not just TSH, but Free T3, Free T4, TPOAB and TGAB.

(see here why testing Reverse T3 is often controversial and why I’m dubious about whether it’s truly useful. I lean more towards ‘no’, however, you will see other thyroid resources suggesting we must have it checked.)

Symptoms for hypothyroidism include ongoing fatigue, muscle aches and pains, sensitivity to cold, depression, weight gain, sleep disturbances, low libido, dry skin, hair and nails and never feeling fully well.

Symptoms for hyperthyroidism include anxiety, palpitations, unexplained weight loss, flushes, irritability and sensitivity to heat.

For those of us already diagnosed, we can gain awareness about how to check our thyroid glands regularly for any abnormalities, what vitamins may help us and what tests we need to ensure our doctors are doing on us.

For hypothyroidism especially, we should also be aware of what results we are looking for.

We should also share any resources we’ve found helpful. Find my list here. They have resourceful information that can help you to make steps in improving your health and embrace being your own advocate, which is incredibly important to do.

World Thyroid Day is about creating awareness of thyroid disease and disorders as a whole – for those going undiagnosed, for those going untreated or under-treated and for those doing well like me, but can always learn some more about this far-reaching condition.

Some helpful materials you can use to spread awareness:

A Letter: To Family and Friends of those suffering with Graves Disease

An Open Letter to Friends, Family, Work Colleagues and Doctors of Those with an Underactive Thyroid/Hypothyroidism.

You can click on the hyperlinks in the above post to learn more and see references to information given.

Do you have a thyroid condition?