Thyroid Blogs

PCOD (Polycystic Ovarian Disease)

PCOD Symptoms

PCOD (Polycystic Ovarian Disease) is one of the most common hormonal condition that affect 5% to 10% of women in their childbearing ages (12 to 45-years). It affects the ovaries in women by causing cysts. Please note, cysts means fluid-filled sacs.

In PCOD, the women ovaries produce large numbers of immature or partially-mature eggs, which do not release from the ovary and remain there as fluid filled sacs (cysts). Further, due to this, ovaries become swollen and enlarged.

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Menopause

Symptoms of Menopause

Menopause is the time in life when your monthly period stops. In other words, it is the permanently end of your menstrual cycles. It is diagnosed, when you have not had a period for one year. Menopause happens because the function of your ovaries stops. As a result, no hormones (estrogen and progesterone) are produced by your ovaries, which control your period and the release of eggs.

Menopause is a natural biological process. It usually begins between the ages of 40 and 55, but can develop before or after this age range. There is no reliable lab test to predict when a woman will experience menopause.

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Thyroid and Hair Loss

Thyroid and Hair Loss

Thyroid is a small gland which has the shape like a butterfly that sits low on the front of the neck. It helps to regulate many body functions by constantly releasing a steady amount of thyroid hormones into the bloodstream.

The important hormones produced by thyroid gland are thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3)

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Levothyroxine

Levothyroxine is a medicine used to treat hypothyroidism. If you have hypothyroidism, it means your thyroid gland produce too little thyroid hormone. With low thyroid hormone levels, your body cannot function properly, which may result in poor growth, lack of energy, excessive tiredness, weight gain, hair loss, increased sensitivity to cold, joint and muscle pain, heavy or irregular menstrual periods, and depression.

When taken correctly, levothyroxine provides thyroid hormone to you and restores the balance of thyroid hormone in your body. In addition, levothyroxine also can be used to treat goiter, which is an enlarged thyroid gland. It also treats certain types of thyroid cancer.

Important Warning
1. Levothyroxine, should not be used to treat weight loss or to treat obesity.
2. Levothyroxine may cause serious or life-threatening problems when taken higher than recommended doses. Therefore, never take more than the prescribed dose.
3. Levothyroxine is only available on prescription.
4. Please talk to your doctor before you start taking levothyroxine.
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Antithyroid Medications

Antithyroid Medications

Antithyroid medications are used to treat an overactive thyroid gland (also know as hyperthyroidism). When the thyroid gland is overactive, it makes too much thyroxine (also known as T4). The extra thyroxine can accelerate the metabolism rate of your body. As a result, it can cause weight loss and irregular heart activity.

Therefore, antithyroid medications (which includes methimazole and propylithiouracil) are used to reduce the amount of hormone (T4) released by the thyroid gland. These drugs does not affect the thyroxine which is already made, but reduce the further production. Therefore, it may take four to eight weeks of treatment for your thyroxine level to come down to normal.

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