The things that can go erring with your body when your thyroid function is low are so pervasive and extensive it’ s stupendous. So many of the difficulties and indignities we learn to live with, thinking they’ re an subsequent part of aging, are altogether the determination of low thyroid function and are reversible.
As you read this chapter, you may find it hard to conclude that your thyroid can have such powerful effects throughout your body. But the truth of the matter is that adequate thyroid function plays an important role in maintaining good quality of life as we age and staying free from pain and disease. Our basic original functions, general well - being, appearance, energy levels, mental function, emotions, and even our very sanity all depend on adequate thyroid function. Thanks to symptoms that affect physical appearance much fair up initially ( and can be so cramped ), let’ s look at them.
- PHYSICAL APPEARANCE -
As we age, we certainly want to take advantage of piece that can keep us youthful, attractive, and svelte. Who needs all-around surgery when maintaining good thyroid function is a tawdry, noninvasive way to abutment off accelerated aging? When you take a close look at the influence low thyroid function can have on all parts of your body, you’ ll catch that you need to take your thyroid seriously in standardization to age gracefully.
HAIR
Since hair and skin are some of our fastest growing tissues, we regularly cognizance slowing metabolism in these areas first. Hypothyroidism leads to hair that is dry, brittle, and dull. It also becomes straighter, worthier, and thinner and may even turn gray prematurely. Thin, cacophonous, patchy gray hair isn’ t the look we’ re after as we head into our forties or fifties! Also sign of low thyroid function, discovered over a century ago, is the loss of the out questioning of the eyebrows. Body hair and eyelashes also generally disappear.
SKIN
Slowing thyroid function takes a big customs on the skin. The first signs are coarse, dry, wan, pasty, unhealthy looking skin, which also may get very itchy ( Owen and Lazarus 2003 ). This can progress to acne, red spots, boils, premature wrinkling, yellowing or grayish skin, rashes, and even eczema or psoriasis. Adequate thyroid function is necessary for good blood circulation, so hypothyroidism results in inadequate blood flow throughout your body. When this happens, blood is preferentially sent to your brain and vital organs to keep essential functions going. Our skin may be our largest organ, but in hypothyroidism it takes a backseat to survival, and as a denouement, it isn’ t properly nourished and replenished by the oxygen that blood provides. Poor circulation can also lead to the development of varicose veins.
Skin can also get puffy and swollen, particularly on the face, arms, and front of the thighs due to sap building up in the connective tissues. This predication, known as myxedema, is a side end of slowed metabolism. It’ s caused by an accumulation of waste products that aren’ t effectively removed from the tissues. Connective tissue is omnipresent in the body, so this swelling doesn’ t affect just physical appearance; it also impacts the function of the glands, organs, and cells as they become infiltrated with this jellylike substance. In gospel, this swelling may affect only internal tissues and organs, without pageant any outmost signs.
FACE
When thyroid function is low, the face, particularly around the eyes and jawline, usually gets puffy; this, too, is caused by myxedema. Underprivileged kidney function caused by the general slowing of metabolism also leads to serum retention, particularly around the eyes and in the hands and ankles.
This is a different type of edema and can be distinguished from myxedema by pressing your finger on it; if it leaves a depression that lasts for a longer title of time than is usual, it’ s due to poor kidney function reasonably than myxedema. As hypothyroidism progresses, the entire face can develop a coarse look, with swelling or advance of facial features.
FINGERNAILS AND TOENAILS
Slow - growing, soft, ridged, brittle nails with sallow nail beds are a sign of low thyroid function.
The crescent - shaped white area at the base of the nail bed generally gets lighter or disappears thoroughly. This can be due to in want blood circulation or inadequate protein harmony, greater fruit of the general slowing of metabolism in hypothyroidism ( Jabbour 2003 ). Ingrown toenails and fungal infections are also common.
TEETH AND Aperture
Excessive tartar buildup and cavities can be caused by low thyroid function ( Noren and Alm 1983 ). Random tarter causes red, swollen, and receding gums ( which can be made worse by low estrogen ), inasmuch as the mature saying “ getting long in the tooth. ” Paste recession isn’ t always a reliable sign of hypothyroidism, however, as glue disease due to hypothyroidism can also cause gums to become swollen and overdeveloped and extend down over the teeth instead of receding.
In long - standing hypothyroidism, the abyss can clock in large and the lips puffy and coarse.
The color inside the ingress is usually colourless, and the palate may be more vaulted than usual ( Barker, Hoskins, and Mosenthal 1922 ). Temporomandibular joint syndrome ( TMJ syndrome ) is also common as hypothyroidism causes problems with muscles and ligaments. In addition, both edema and clenched teeth due to chronic muscular tension can affect the jaw and cause the pain and muscle spasms of TMJ syndrome.
WEIGHT
With hypothyroidism, we don’ t metabolize food effectively and the calories we consume turn into fat instead of energy. This weight gain is artful, and neither diet nor exercise resolves it.
When weight gain is caused strictly by low thyroid function and not other endocrine deficiencies as well, fat tends to be symmetrically distributed on the body ( Barker, Hoskins, and Mosenthal 1922 ). When low pituitary function is at the root of low thyroid function, weight gain is usually confined to the spot from your intestines to just superior your knees. The skin of a person with hypothyroidism also takes on a flabby look, as overall musculature is artificial, too. Bring in mind that being obese is an belief that goes beyond wieldy appearances, as it increases your venture of many diseases and health conditions.
FEET AND LEGS
Do you have weak knees, or have you become flat - footed or bowlegged in raw years? All of the ligaments in your body can be assumed by low thyroid function. They will tend to relax and can cause conditions like flat feet, weak knees, kick - knees, hyperflexibility of joints, inclination for sprains, and even scoliosis. Early on in hypothyroidism, the knees oftentimes get weak. This starts with a sensibility of unreliability in the knees, as if your knees ability give out if you were to break into a jog or even a fast tour.
The first pass on that your ligaments are being sham is much a flattening of the arches of your feet. When they flatten, your foot rotates inward, which can consummation in painful calluses on the sides of your big toes and sore, aching feet. Else give blessing of relaxing ligaments is aching palms ( Jacobs -
Kosmin and DeHoratius 2005 ).
VOICE
Although it can’ t be heuristic, the voice is an in evidence bodkin of age and health. Due to wax in the throat, many women with hypothyroidism start to sufficient more weak and tired. The voice oftentimes gets massed and softer and also more croaking or nasal. Speech can become deliberate and slow, and as the property progresses, articulating words may become onerous, causing limping over words and slurred speech ( Madariaga et al. 2002 ). These difficulties can stem from swelling of the lips and tongue.
As with being obese, changes to the voice have impacts beyond the impression you make on others. The swelling of the throat bonded for voice changes also causes difficulties with swallowing, so choking on small objects is common. If the uvula ( the little punching bag in the back of your throat ) and tonsils swell, this can cause snoring and an inability to breath through the nose.
EARS
Not only does low thyroid function production in chronic ear infections due to lowered immune function, it can also fruition in impaired redress and abnormal physical ear classification. If long - standing, hypothyroidism can cause the ears can be set lower on the head and project more, while also becoming more swollen or thicker than normal. Overall legalization is diminished and excessive earwax is common ( Brucker - Davis et al. 1996 ). Low thyroid function can also cause tinnitus and sequel in decree strange noises, such as clicking, ringing, or buzzing sounds or the sound of running water.
POSTURE
As our thyroid function declines, so does our ability to clinch ourselves upright. Posture is one of the markers of aging, with bowed and slumped posture being part and parcel of the look of senile women. Poor posture may be caused by the weariness so common in hypothyroidism, or by the bone weakening and osteoporosis that also eventuate. This slumping is exacerbated when the innards protrudes due to relaxing musculature and swelling of the stomach caused by constipation.
MUSCULATURE
Few things signal aging more than flabby, diminishing muscles. Our muscles are closely susceptive to the metabolic process, and when it slows, they start to lose their tone and contours. The weight gain we experience at the same time obscures them even more. But again, this goes beyond appearances.
General activities will become more strenuous as the muscles also get played out easily and repeatedly feel heavy, and motility can be impaired by an increased disposition to reel or experience muscle cramps ( Argov et al. 1988 ).
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Excerpt from THE WOMAN ' S GUIDE TO THYROID HEALTH: Comprehensive Solutions for All Your Thyroid Symptoms ( New Harbinger Publications )
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