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PIONEER THEN, LEADER NOW

Times Health - Saturday, January 26,2013

UNRAVELING THE MYSTERIES OF THE THYROID GLAND

The number of people suffering from thyroid disorders continues to rise each year. According to a projection from various studies on thyroid disease, it has been estimated that about 48 million people in India suffer from thyroid diseases. There are signs and indications that signal the onset of thyroid related problems and these signs are felt by the patients in various ways. Almost early signs of hypothyroidism is revealed from head to toe.

EARLY SIGNS TO LOOK FOR

Early signs that most people overlook is hair coarseness, early baldness, silvery hair, loss of over 1/3rd of the eyebrows, scanty hair on the body surface including the armpits and pubic hair. Hyper pigmentation on the nose and paranasal area(the area usually painted by cricketers) orange peel like appearance, nodules and pimples on the paranasal area.

"In the list of signs are also corns and worts, which are commonly seen around the eyes and neck. Abdominal obesity is another notorious sign, ganglion or nodules around the wrist joints(both painful and non-painful) are also clear indicators. Usually we look for this sign in our patients during camps at school, colleges and educational institution", says Dr. Mahendran of Thyroid Centre, a leading centre for treating thyroid related ailments. Restriction of joints and smaller joints in fingers are evidence of hypothyroidism or over active parathyroidism. In other cases pigeon chest deformity, abdominal (umbilical) malfunction or dislocation is also noted.

Other signs that are not to be ignored are swelling of the lower part of the calf muscle and ankle joints, thickning or crackling or fissuing skin on the outer side of the ankle joints.

SYMPTOMS

"When it comes to thyroid, Some times it is hard to find whether it is underactive(hypothyroidism) or overactive (hyperthyroidism) by the diagnosis itself", shares Dr. Mahendran.

• Recurrent Cold and Nasal block
• Constipation and Piles
• Recurrent Sneezing
• Intolerance to cold and heat
• Early memory loss
• Frequent dropping of objects
• Irregular periods
• Excess weight gain or loss
• Tiredness
• Swelling in the Neck
• Slowness in working, walking, speaking and thj\inking
• Infertility

In addition of blood test T3, T4, TSH and auto antibody tests (ATG,AMA) clinical knowledge is essential for hte early detection of thyroid related problems.