Your thyroid is a tiny, butterfly-shaped gland at the base of your neck. Sometimes described as the body's thermostat, it controls energy flow. Hypothyroidism, also called low thyroid, means the gland isn't producing enough hormones to do its job. The most frequent cause is Hashimoto's thyroiditis, a condition that causes your body to produce antibodies that attack the thyroid. A shortage of thyroid hormones makes you sluggish at every level.
Slowed digestion causes constipation, sluggish metabolism leads to weight gain and elevated cholesterol, even hair and skin can become dry and coarse (and hair can fall out) because they're not getting enough nutrients. The brain also needs thyroid hormones to use oxygen and stimulate the production of chemicals like serotonin and dopamine that regulate emotions. That's why hypothyroidism can lead to depression and moodiness, not to mention the fuzzy thinking that nearly every thyroid patient complains about. Other symptoms, such as heavy periods, cramps, and a queasy stomach, are trickier for doctors to connect to an underactive thyroid. (Health.com: Making sense of medical tests)
Most of these symptoms may sound familiar--it's not unusual for a 30-, 40-, or 50-something woman to feel tired, bummed out, and a little bit overweight -- and this makes hypothyroidism that much harder to diagnose. In many cases, doctors assume a woman is simply going through perimenopause or suffering mild depression. "It's all too common for a doctor to hear 'tired, moody, forgetful' and offer the patient a prescription for antidepressants," says Richard Shames, M.D., of San Rafael, California, a thyroid specialist.
There are few things more frustrating than getting the wrong treatment. My younger sister was told to take antacids for her nausea. Doctors didn't immediately recognize her hypothyroidism in part because she's thin and didn't feel tired. "It was awful," she says. "My husband would cook us a great dinner, I'd eat one bite and feel so sick I'd have to crawl into bed."
After doing her own research and insisting that her doctor give her a relatively new kind of test, my sister got an accurate diagnosis. It took a while to get the right dosage of medication, and that's not uncommon. (Treatment usually consists of replacement hormones.) But the nausea is gone now.
