What is Hyperthyroidism and How is It Treated?

If you’ve been experiencing some concerning symptoms, such as losing weight without trying, irregular heartbeat, and tremors, you may suspect that you have hyperthyroidism. This is a condition where the thyroid, a small gland located at the base of the neck, produces too many hormones and causes various symptoms. Let’s talk further about what hyperthyroidism is and how we can help you treat it.

What is Hyperthyroidism?

Hyperthyroidism is also known as an overactive thyroid. Your thyroid is actually in control of several important bodily functions, including metabolism, heart rate, breathing, weight, digestion, and moods. When this gland starts producing too many hormones, it dysregulates the chemical reactions in your body and causes a variety of symptoms. Some of the most common ones include:

• Unexplained weight loss
• Hand tremors
• Fast heartbeat
• Irregular heartbeat
• Increased hunger
• Sweating
• Changes in menstrual cycles
• Sensitivity to heat
• Changes in bowel patterns
• Nervousness and anxiety
• Enlarged thyroid gland, also known as a goiter
• Tiredness

Since these symptoms can be caused by a variety of conditions, it can be difficult to be diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. If you suspect that the symptoms you’re experiencing may be directly related to this condition, you should get your thyroid tested.

What Causes Hyperthyroidism?

Now that you know what hyperthyroidism is, you’re probably wondering what causes it. There are several conditions that contribute to it, including:

Graves’ Disease – This is an autoimmune disorder where your immune system attacks your thyroid, therefore causing it to make too many hormones. It is typically the most common cause of overactive thyroid.
Thyroid Nodules – These are growths on the thyroid gland. Most of the time, they are benign, but they can become overactive and cause your thyroid to produce too many hormones.
Thyroiditis – This is inflammation (-itis) of the thyroid, and it can cause hormones to leak out of the gland into the rest of the body.
Too Much Iodine – It may be surprising, but taking too much iodine can cause hyperthyroidism. Iodine is found in some medications, cough syrups, seaweed, iodized salt, and seaweed-based supplements.
Too Much Thyroid Medicine – You can go from having hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) to hyperthyroidism because you’re taking too much medicine.

Hyperthyroid Complications

The imbalance of hormones that causes hyperthyroidism is a serious health issue. If you do not find an effective treatment for an overactive thyroid, these complications could arise:

• Irregular heartbeat that leads to blood clots, stroke, heart failure, and other heart issues
• Graves’ ophthalmopathy – an eye disease that causes double vision, light sensitivity, eye pain, and in serious cases, vision loss
• Osteoporosis
• Fertility problems in women
• Complications in pregnancy

Who is at Risk for Hyperthyroidism?

While almost anyone can develop hyperthyroidism, these people are more at risk:

• Women
• Anyone over the age of 60
• Being pregnant within the past 6 months
• Previous thyroid surgery or issue, such as goiter
• Family history of thyroid disease
• Having type 1 diabetes
• Having primary adrenal insufficiency
• Consuming too much iodine

How is Hyperthyroidism Treated?

In order to be diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, a health professional would do a blood test to check hormone levels. Once you’re diagnosed with overactive thyroid, your treatment would depend on your age, what type of hyperthyroidism you have, the severity of the condition, and other medical conditions.

Typically, people are presented with several options to treat hyperthyroidism, such as antithyroid drugs, radioactive iodine, and surgery. At Medical Transformation Center, we hope to avoid the necessity of these treatments with our specialized approach. However, if these treatments are a part of your plan laid out by your practitioner, we can help you even further with lifestyle and dietary changes, supplementation, peptides, hormone therapy, and other personalized, cellular and regenerative approaches.

BUY NOW

At Medical Transformation Center, we approach treatment by addressing the root cause of diseases and disorders. Through our varied and detailed testing, we are determined to find the root cause of your hyperthyroidism. Once we discover the main reason why you’re experiencing this condition, we come up with a unique treatment plan that uses our unique approach (possibly in conjunction with prescription medicines and/or surgery).

If you’re interested in supporting your body as you take on hyperthyroidism, you may be interested in one of the products from Regenavita, our supplement shop! It is called RegenaThyroidSupport and is created with nutrients and botanicals to boost thyroid health.

You may not be sure about starting a supplement like this or if you even have hyperthyroidism. If you would like hands-on guidance to optimize your health through a Personal Transformation Plan, make an appointment to discuss your options today!