Goiter. Symptoms

On the front surface of the human neck is the thyroid gland, which has the shape of a horseshoe, and weighs only 20-40 grams. However, in her illness, a handsome and confident person can become fat or thin, apathetic or nervous, irritable, a number of diseases can appear. It's all thyroid hormones. They are produced by the thyroid gland. Without them, the body begins to deteriorate intensively, and the immune system weakens and the endocrine disease, which is called goitre , develops. Symptoms of it are not immediately apparent, a person can not feel any discomfort for a long time. But without timely treatment, the disease will progress.

Depending on the decrease or increase in the activity of the thyroid gland, there are diffuse, nodular and mixed forms of goiter.

With hyperthyroidism, the thyroid gland produces an excessive amount of hormones. Its characteristic feature is a goiter. Symptoms are manifested in a frequent pulse, a feeling of heat, trembling of fingers, sweating, early (from 20 years) gray hair. Identify the disease can be using a blood test for thyroid hormones. The causes of hyperthyroidism can be mental overload, exacerbation of other diseases.

Its most complex form is a diffuse toxic goiter, the symptoms of which are characterized by a sharp slimming, irritability, trembling of the hands, palpitations, sweating, cramping of eyeballs, double vision. This disease is widely known as "Graves disease".

But more common is hypothyroidism - a lack of hormones, i.e. The lack of microscopic particles forming the interaction of various chemical elements in the body. These particles stimulate the breathing of body tissues, promote the rate of oxygen consumption, control the synthesis of proteins, as well as insulin and adrenaline, ensure the supply of amino acids and sugars to the cells.

The thyroid cells for the formation of hormones must absorb a sufficient amount of iodine from the blood, which is delivered to the body from the products and the surrounding atmosphere. However, in many settlements located far from the seas, iodine is not enough. In these territories live up to 250 million people. Therefore, today the prevention of iodine deficiency by the World Health Organization is declared among the priority tasks.

At present, the diagnosis is very common - diffuse goiter. Symptoms of it appear in the appearance of chronic fatigue, forgetfulness and absent-mindedness, dizziness and hoarseness of the voice, difficult swallowing and dry cough, sensations of pressure in the neck.

The human thyroid gland is uniform in its structure, which varies with a deficiency of iodine. With diffuse goiter, the increase in the size of the thyroid gland occurs evenly, without seals.

In the other part of the patients, nodular goiter is diagnosed . Symptoms of its appearance are observed with a malignant tumor, the formation of the cyst and adenoma of the thyroid gland, with a number of other diseases.

If the thyroid gland is significantly enlarged, and the nodes are small, goiter is called mixed.

Especially dangerous is the nodal toxic goiter. Symptoms of its manifestation are more often observed in women than in men. They complain of heart palpitations, increased sweating, difficulty swallowing, a noticeable increase in the size of the front surface of the neck.

Nodules in the thyroid gland in 85 percent of cases, according to statistics, are not dangerous, but in other situations, the formation of a cancerous tumor is possible.

Diagnosis and treatment of goiter depends on the reasons for its appearance. In most cases, goiter is treated with drugs that compensate for iodine deficiency in the body or stimulate the release of hormones, make up for their deficiency in the body. In the diet it is recommended to include more seafood with a lot of iodine, as well as reduce the consumption of preservatives, strong tea and coffee, fatty and spicy foods, chocolate and spices.

The thyroid nodular goiter is also very treatable . The treatment is carried out medically and surgically. The choice is made by the treating endocrinologist. Effective is the method of introducing into the thyroid gland medicaments of radioactive iodine, which reduces or even dissolves the nodes, as a result of which its normal size and function is restored. Depending on the stage of the disease development, a decision is made to remove the nodes surgically, and in case of a malignant tumor - to remove the lobe or the entire gland. In this case, the patient will have to take hormone replacement drugs before the end of life.