The thyroid is an endocrine gland that produces thyroid hormones that regulate the rate of action of all organs in the human body. It can be thought of as the pacesetter or timer for the human body. It controls every single tissue in the human body by acting on receptors within the nucleus of every cell to modify protein generation.
Too much hormone accelerates this process and too little retards or slows down protein manufacturing. When hormone levels are out of range or "out of control" symptoms of thyroid disease develop.
Hyperthyroidism refers to the overproduction of thyroid hormone and hypothyroidism refers to the underproduction of thyroid hormone. Thyroid storm refers to a medical emergency due to a severe overproduction of thyroid hormone. However, many people face their own personal storms as they come to grips with a chronic and sometimes confusing health problem. Later in this blogpsot we will learn more about the common causes for these disorders.
But first did you know that the thyroid gland is in touch with its environment. The thyroid gland traps iodide absorbed from food that we eat and concentrates this element within the gland. From there it uses iodine and links it to proteins such as tyrosine to make the basic thyroid hormones.
Therefore the amount of iodine ingested is important for the normal function of the thyroid. Iodine deficiency may lead to a range of iodine deficiency disorders, including thyroid enlargement (goitre) and underproduction of thyroid hormone. In severe deficiency it may lead to brain damage or cretinism (http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/content/citation/77/3/587).
There are two important hormones, T4 and T3 produced by the thyroid. In fact T4 is a pro-hormone and acts as a safety reservoir to be converted to T3 for action. T3 is the only active hormone and 80% of it is produced through peripheral (outside of the gland) conversion at the level of the tissue. Each tissue converts and uses T3 in differing amounts to regulate function.
Thyroid hormone production is regulated by the pituitary gland hormone, TSH or thyroid stimulating hormone. This regulation acts through a feedback loop; too much T3 turns off TSH and too little turns it on. Later we will discuss how these hormone levels are used to measure thyroid hormone function.
I am reflecting that not many people think of the thyroid as a part of the body to care about, there is a lot of information in different media about caring for our heart, breast, etc, but not enough of thyroid care, the problem with the thyroid is that is not easy to detect when there is problem unless a growth is visible. It is so important to be aware of every single part of our bodies.
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