The Healthy Thyroid: What you can do to prevent and alleviate thyroid imbalance
Thyroid health is an increasingly common concern. This updated edition (formerly titled 'Thyroid Problems’) is a clear and practical guide to symptoms, treatment options and self-help measures for those who have, or think they may have a thyroid related problem.Sales Handles:• It’s estimated that 1 in 10 women have a thyroid imbalance**, but as symptoms are diverse the problem is often unresolved. This book shows how to identify a thyroid problem, relieve symptoms, and obtain treatment.The symptoms of a thyroid imbalance include Chronic Fatigue, Weight Gain, Mood Swings, as well as dried out skin and hair, changes in libido and menstrual problems.This new edition has been fully re-structured and includes a large amount of new material to reflect the needs of today’s readers.Contains detailed information about natural health and complementary treatments to help relieve symptoms.Gives the low-down on thyroid hormone tests and other orthodox medical procedures that may be offered.Is an informative yet simple book that provides a ‘patients-eye’ view of thyroid imbalance so readers can better understand their doctors.Discusses the links between sub-clinical thyroid problems (the most common sort – that cause longterm problems but are hard to pin down) and other conditions such as depression, obesity.
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The Healthy Thyroid
What you can do to prevent and alleviate thyroid imbalance
Patsy Westcott
Thorsons Element
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF
and Thorsons are trademarks of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
First published as Thyroid Problems by Thorsons 1995 This revised edition published by Thorsons 2003
© Patsy Westcott 2003
Patsy Westcott asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
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Source ISBN: 9780007146611
Ebook Edition © FEBRUARY 2016 ISBN: 9780007392001 Version: 2016-02-29
Contents
Chapter 2 Understanding Thyroid Problems
Chapter 3 The Out-of-Balance Thyroid
Chapter 6 I Just Want to Feel Normal Again
Chapter 7 Integrated Treatment: Complementary Therapies
Chapter 8 The Eyes Have It: Thyroid Eye Disease
Chapter 9 Thyroid Problems and Reproduction
Chapter 10 The Menopause and Beyond
Thyroid disease is common and affects women more frequently than men.
Many books and articles on thyroid problems for both the general public and medical profession begin with these or similar words. But this bland statement barely begins to suggest the number of women afflicted by thyroid problems or the impact of thyroid disorders on our lives. In fact, according to a review in the British Medical Journal, taken together, underactive and overactive thyroid conditions represent the most common hormonal problem – and this problem overwhelmingly affects women.
In terms of statistics alone, thyroid problems in women deserve to be taken seriously:
• Four out of five people with thyroid disorders are women.
• One in 10 women will develop a thyroid disorder at some stage in her life.
• Between one and two in 100 women in the UK will develop an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism), a condition 10 times more common in women than men.
• Two out of every 25 women – and one in 10 past the menopause – have so-called mild thyroid failure that is considered borderline on blood tests. These ‘subclinical’ problems are linked with nagging ill health, such as fatigue, mood swings and overweight, as well as more serious medical problems such as depression, heart disease and osteoporosis.
• Overactive thyroid conditions (hyperthyroidism) are also common in women, affecting between five in every 1000 to one in 50 – or 10 times more women than men.
• One in every 100 people in the UK will develop an autoimmune thyroid disorder, when the body turns against itself to cause the thyroid to become either underactive or overactive. Autoimmune disorders, including those affecting the thyroid, are estimated to be the third biggest killer after heart disease and cancer.
• Having a personal or family history of autoimmune disorders, such as diabetes or rheumatoid arthritis, gives you a 25 per cent greater risk of developing a thyroid disease than someone without such a history.
• Hashimoto’s thyroiditis – an autoimmune disorder causing an underactive thyroid – may account for up to one-third of such cases in this country and is five times more common in women than men.
• Graves’ disease – an autoimmune condition causing an overactive thyroid – is 15 times more likely to affect you if you are a woman.
• Goitre (a swollen or enlarged thyroid gland) is four times more common in women than in men.
• Thyroid nodules or lumps are also more common in women – estimated to affect about one in 20 women.
• Thyroid cancer, although rare, is also more likely to develop if you are a woman.
Only as Healthy as Your Thyroid?
Thyroid problems can affect a woman at any age or stage in life – from the teens to retirement. Throughout this time, they are a source of much ill health and unhappiness. During the reproductive years and after the menopause, they can exacerbate other female health problems as well as create a host of debilitating symptoms that affect every system of the body:
• Thyroid problems can cause menstrual disturbances, such as heavy or absent periods, and worsen problems such as premenstrual syndrome (PMS).
