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Anxiety Disorder or Hyperthyroidism?

Aubrey had few complaints until, with no history of trauma or clinical anxiety, she suddenly found herself experiencing full-blown panic attacks almost daily, complete with heart palpitations, breathlessness, and trembling hands.

After several weeks, she sought help from both a psychiatrist, who prescribed Klonopin, Effexor, Lexapro ... and me. My initial experience of Aubrey was that, while she was not someone who immediately presented with a long-standing mood disorder, she was definitely confronting some pressing family issues that made sense of her symptoms.

I introduced her to some breathing techniques to help with her general anxiety and frequent teariness. We also…

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Featured

 Improved Treatment for Hyperthyroidism

Radioactive iodine is to be recommended as the frontline treatment for patients with thyroid gland overactivity caused by conditions such as Graves’ disease, following an evidence review led by University of Birmingham researchers.

 The Stuff Legally Allowed in Your Bottle of Supplements is Alarming as Hell

The ingredients were a grocery list of chemicals and herbs. One at the very bottom sounded familiar: 3,5'-diiodo-L-thyronine. Save for a single iodide ion, it was structurally identical to triiodothyronine (T3), a hormone made by the thyroid gland. Medical journals confirmed a more alarming similarity—its function. Inside cells, 3,5'-diiodo-L-thyronine, or T2, could exert the same effects as T3, but at a faster rate. It also suppresses thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), thereby shutting down normal thyroid activity. T2 even stimulates (and I don't mean this in a good way) the cardiovascular system, increasing heart rate and, in high enough doses, the size of the heart.

Articles of Interest

Hyperthyroidism

Hyperthyroidism is characterised by increased thyroid hormone synthesis and secretion from the thyroid gland, whereas thyrotoxicosis refers to the clinical syndrome of excess circulating thyroid hormones, irrespective of the source.

Thyroid Storm

Thyroid storm is an uncommon but potentially fatal endocrine emergency at the severe end of the spectrum of thyrotoxicosis. Thyrotoxicosis is thought to affect approximately 1.2% of the United States population and, of those, only 1 to 2% develop thyroid storm. Thyroid storm is more common in women and in the 3rd and 4th decades of life. Thyroid storm typically presents with the signs and symptoms of a hypermetabolic state...

Carnitine and Thyroid Disease

Recently, a team of scientists discovered that the nutrient L-carnitine can play an important role in treating thyroid disease, including the potentially debilitating muscle weakness associated with hyperthyroidism. Furthermore, preliminary scientific findings suggest that L-carnitine may help protect against the lethal threat of thyroid storm.

Hyperthyroidism: Too Much Of A Good Thing

This should be the scary icing on the morbidly uncomfortable cake that is hyperthyroidism, proving beyond a doubt that when it comes to thyroid hormone (as with so many things - even cake), too much is definitely not a good thing.

Overactive thyroid

You are sensible to want to try alternative therapies. So much evidence suggests that thyroid problems are due to an allergic or environmental cause that it seems sensible to remove those substances known to affect the thyroid to see if this corrects the condition before taking any medication.

What Doctors Don't Tell You: Overactive thyroid

So much evidence suggests that thyroid problems are due to an allergic or environmental cause that it seems sensible to remove those substances known to affect the thyroid to see if this corrects the condition before taking any medication... Although it isn’t clear why the thyroid gland begins to overwork itself, there are many environmental causes.

Resources

Thyroid.org

No single treatment is best for all patients with hyperthyroidism. The appropriate choice of treatment will be influenced by your age, the type of hyperthyroidism that you have, the severity of your hyperthyroidism, other medical conditions that may be affecting your health, and your own preference.

Sammy's Hyperthyroid & Grave's Disease Blog

This blog is intended as a resource for those who have hyperthyroidism and/or Grave's Disease. I have both hyperthyroidism and Grave's and want to share my experiences.

You & Your Hormones

In more than 75% of cases symptoms of hyperthyroidism include: nervousness, irritability, the inability to relax, feeling warm, heat intolerance, increased sweating, palpitations, fatigue, increased frequency of bowel movements, increased appetite and weight loss.

EndocrineWeb

The most common cause of hyperthyroidism is the autoimmune disorder Graves’ disease. In this disorder, the body makes an antibody (a protein produced by the body to protect against a virus or bacteria) called thyroid-stimulating immunoglobulin (TSI) that causes the thyroid gland to make too much thyroid hormone. Graves’ disease runs in families and is more commonly found in women.

MedicineNet

There are really not many emergencies that we need to worry about regarding the thyroid gland - but thyroid storm is one of the rare exceptions. Thyroid storm is a crisis or life-threatening condition characterized by an exaggeration of the usual physiologic response seen in hyperthyroidism. Whereas hyperthyroidism can cause symptoms such as sweating, feeling hot, palpitationsand weight loss - symptoms of thyroid storm are more severe...

NHS

Women are 10 times more likely to have an overactive thyroid gland than men. It is estimated that around 1 in 50 women in England currently live with an overactive thyroid gland.

Patient

The thyroid gland, in response to TSH, produces thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3). Greater amounts of T4 are produced than T3. T4 is inactive and needs to be converted to T3 - which occurs peripherally (such as in the liver and kidney).

RebelEM

Hyperthyroidism can present along a spectrum from the minimally symptomatic to severely decompensated and presentation can vary with age. If there are a lot of interconnecting systems complaints consider obtaibning a TSH, t3 and t4. Once you’ve diagnosed hyperthyroidism, dont anchor on it. Look for what might have caused it especially in those with comorbidities

UpToDate

Graves' disease is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism. It is not clear why Graves' disease develops in most people, although it more common in certain families.