Endemic goitre of the thyroid, symptoms and treatment
What kind of food we eat, what kind of water we drink,what air do we breathe every day? How many people are asked this question today? It's not even that low-quality food or air polluted with toxins can poison our body, the fact is that when certain substances, vitamins and microelements are deficient, there are such conditions that we often do not even suspect.
Thyroid gland is one of the most sensitiveendocrine organs. It is responsible for the energy and mineral metabolism in the body. Violation of its function is often directly associated with deficient conditions in the body, and specifically - with iodine deficiency.
The goiter is the general name for a group of thyroid pathologies that are characterized by an increase in size. Endemic Colic Goiter of the Thyroid Gland occurs when there is a deficiency of iodine in the body, becausethat the microelement is a part of the hormone of the gland - thyroxine. Its absence in the blood leads to a decrease in its function (hypothyroidism). At the beginning of the disease, the level of thyroxine may even increase, but eventually, if you do not carry out the treatment, there is still a defect.
The increase in the size of the gland arises as a result of the following processes in it:
- increased accumulation of colloidal fluid in the follicles (colloid goiter of the thyroid gland);
- reproduction of cells of follicles (goiter parenchymal).
Endemic goiter, symptoms
Among the diseases with reverse development, the most common is the endemic goiter of the thyroid gland, the symptoms in which quickly disappear if you take iodine preparations or follow a diet enriched with seafood.
Often goiter thyroid symptoms immediatelydoes not exhibit. General weakness, headache, obesity are not noticeable at the beginning of the illness and do not attract attention. In childhood, goiter is more dangerous and quickly manifested in the form of cretinism (delay in the development of the child, both mental and physical). In adolescents, there is a delay in sexual development.
Women may develop gynecologicaldiseases accompanying goitre of the thyroid gland. Treatment for infertility lasts for years, whereas the true cause is the lack of thyroxine in the body.
Thickening of the neck, hoarseness of voice and difficulty withswallowing by most people are perceived as cold or allergy symptoms, they get used to them and eventually cease to pay attention. But these are the main signs of goitre.
Diagnosis of iodine deficiency goiter
Determine the level of iodine in the blood or urine can be withusing special laboratory tests. Also, to clarify the diagnosis of "goiter of the thyroid gland," the symptoms in which are similar to other diseases of the endocrine system, you can conduct an ultrasound of the organ with fine-needle biopsy. This method allows you to accurately determine the degree and severity of the course of the disease.
Endemic nodular goitre of the thyroid gland, symptoms at which are associated with hypothyroidism, alwaysis accompanied by an increase in the blood level of thyrotropin pituitary, so the determination of this hormone in the blood can be used as an important diagnostic criterion of the disease.
Thyroid gland, treatment
Therapy of endemic goiter is carried out with drugsiodine (antistrum, iodomarine, iodophol), for adults the daily dose is about 150 mg, and for children it depends on the age and degree of cretinism. Large goiter sizes that disrupt the function of other organs or the formation of nodes in the thyroid gland may be indications for the surgical removal of a part or the entire organ. After the operation, the patient must be for life on hormone replacement therapy. </ strong </ p>
