Your thyroid is a gland below the Adam’s apple in your neck.
Your thyroid releases thyroid hormones. The hormones control how fast your body’s chemical functions work (metabolic rate). Almost every cell in your body needs thyroid hormones. Among many other things, thyroid hormones help control:
How fast you burn calories
How fast your heart beats
Your body temperature
Locating the Thyroid Gland
What is Hashimoto thyroiditis?
In Hashimoto thyroiditis, your body's immune system mistakenly attacks your thyroid. This type of disease is called an autoimmune disease.
Your thyroid gland gets bigger and stops making enough hormones (hypothyroidism)
People with hypothyroidism usually feel tired and get cold easily
If you get hypothyroidism, you will need to take thyroid hormone pills for the rest of your life
What causes Hashimoto thyroiditis?
Doctors don't know why your body's immune system attacks your thyroid gland. It's more common in middle-aged women and tends to run in families. Sometimes it happens in people with other autoimmune problems such as rheumatoid arthritis.
What are the symptoms of Hashimoto thyroiditis?
Early on, you may have no symptoms, or you may notice:
Painless, firm, slight swelling of your thyroid gland
Feeling of fullness in your neck
If your thyroid stops making enough hormones, you get symptoms of hypothyroidism, such as:
Feeling tired
Getting cold easily
Puffy eyes and face, droopy eyelids
Thin, rough, dry hair
How can doctors tell if I have Hashimoto thyroiditis?
Doctors will do:
Thyroid function tests, including blood tests and imaging tests of your thyroid gland
Blood tests may also check for antibodies to your thyroid. Doctors will usually also do an ultrasound of your thyroid.
How do doctors treat Hashimoto thyroiditis?
There's no treatment for Hashimoto thyroiditis itself.
If you have hypothyroidism, doctors will give you:
Thyroid hormone pills
Once treatment is started, doctors will gradually adjust the dose of hormone pills based on blood tests.
