What is thyroid gland hypotrophy and how to overcome it?

The decrease in the level of hormones produced by the thyroid gland, usually occurs imperceptibly, even for the patient. Symptoms of the disease are not very pronounced, they are often taken for natural age changes or the manifestation of some kind of malfunction of the body.

Hormonal insufficiency is most often caused by a primary change in the organ itself. Such a malfunction is due to illness( tumor, consequences of bacterial attack) or surgical removal of a significant proportion of the gland, as well as the destructive effect of radioactive iodine. The tissues of an inflamed gland can also destroy the body itself, attacking it with autoantibodies.

The normal activity of the gland can be disturbed by the lack of proper stimulation by its adenohypophysis. It produces a thyrotropic hormone( TSH), which causes the thyroid gland to produce its "products" - iodine-containing T4 and T3.In turn, and the hypothalamus - the main coordinating center of the endocrine system - can also disrupt their joint work. The amount of thyroid hormone produced by tyroliberin directly affects the work of the pituitary gland.

Prolonged and persistent deficiency of thyroid hormones is the cause of hypothyroidism, which causes:

1. Serious mental disorders.
2. Aggravated sensitivity to cold.
3. Inhibition of the basic metabolism, which leads to a lack of energy.
4. Increased cholesterol in the body.
5. Reducing the strength of the contraction of the heart muscle and, as a consequence, reducing the volume of pumped blood.

Age changes in the hormonal system

Various kinds of thyroid problems and autoimmune diseases are more common in women than in the male part of the population. It is believed that the reasons for this - the huge burden of pregnancy, but suffer from similar diseases, not only gave birth to moms. At preventive examinations of women of any age, doctors pay attention to the condition of the patient's gland.

Aging of the body is accompanied by significant changes in the function of the hypothalamus - the controller of the level of hormones in the blood of a person. Hypotrophy of the thyroid gland can be the result of joint functional disorders of its own and hypothalamus.

A control group of women aged 47 to 57 years without health pathologies was examined, with mild symptoms accompanying hypothyroidism. At the same time, the experts thoroughly studied the work of the entire thyrotropin-thyroid group of participants in the experiment.

The study of the general balance of hormones TTG, T4 and T3 showed that with increasing age, the functional activity of the thyroid gland unequivocally decreases and the production of TSH by the adenohypophysis decreases in parallel. Such synchronicity in lowering their productivity suggests that hypothyroidism of the thyroid gland with age is not pathological. The same pattern is observed in the structure of the gland: with age, both the size of its follicles and collagen tissue decrease. Women achieve a 75-year limit lose up to half the mass of the gland.

Timeliness of treatment started gives a good prognosis

Modern thyroid medicine can easily solve the problem of thyroid hypotrophy with the help of replacement therapy with synthetic hormone T4.It is important not to start the disease and start treatment as early as possible. This will help to prevent deep changes in the organs and live fully to the venerable age. Particularly sensitive to the lack of iodine-containing hormones is the brain.

Adult people who have developed the development of the nervous system and the formation of a physical form, hypothyroidism will not cause irreparable harm. In teenagers and small children, it causes serious consequences:

1. Diseases of the bones.
2. Damage to the nervous system.
3. Mental and motor disorders.