Patsy Westcott - The Healthy Thyroid - What you can do to prevent and alleviate thyroid imbalance

Thorsons Element

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

and Thorsons are trademarks of HarperCollins Publishers 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

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

HarperCollins Publishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication.

Source ISBN: 9780007146611

Ebook Edition © FEBRUARY 2016 ISBN: 9780007392001

Version: 2016-02-29

Cover

Title Page The Healthy Thyroid What you can do to prevent and alleviate thyroid imbalance Patsy Westcott

Copyright Copyright Copyright Chapter 1 The Hidden Illness Chapter 2 Understanding Thyroid Problems Chapter 3 The Out-of-Balance Thyroid Chapter 4 Getting a Diagnosis Chapter 5 Treatment Options 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 Chapter 11 Questions and Conundrums Glossary Resources Index Acknowledgements About the Publisher Thorsons Element An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk and Thorsons are trademarks of HarperCollins Publishers 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 All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books. HarperCollins Publishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication. Source ISBN: 9780007146611 Ebook Edition © FEBRUARY 2016 ISBN: 9780007392001 Version: 2016-02-29

Chapter 1 The Hidden Illness

Chapter 2 Understanding Thyroid Problems

Chapter 3 The Out-of-Balance Thyroid

Chapter 4 Getting a Diagnosis

Chapter 5 Treatment Options

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

Chapter 11 Questions and Conundrums

Glossary

Resources

Index

Acknowledgements

About the Publisher

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.