Hyperthyroidism Vs. Hypothyroidism - the Difference

What is your idea of balance? Probably you will think of a scale correctly standing its weighing platforms at equal sides of the zero indicator. And it is pretty standard for us to have the 50:50 image in our minds for what we consider equilibrium. But, that idea of balance is not suitable for all the cases. Let us take a look at our thyroid. This small, butterfly-shaped gland placed in the front of the neck (just below Adam’s apple), is responsible for activating or deactivating essential processes related to energy in our body by means of producing hormones.

The thing is, thyroid hormone produces triiodothyronine (known as T3), reversedtriiodothyronine (addressed as RT3), and thyroxine(so-called T4). It also createscalcitonin, a hormone that helps to regulate calcium levels in the blood. Now, let us focus on the primary hormones, T3 and T4. Here is where the “fifty-fifty” balance stuff does not apply. Despite being related from the chemical composition point of view, their ratio in our blood is very different in proportion.

T3 is produced in the body in small amounts. Nevertheless, it is vital for the modulation of thebasal metabolic rate in the body. T4, in change, is circulated in the blood through proteins.A healthy, function­ing thyroid secrets about 80 percent T4 and 20 percent T3. This apparently unbalanced proportion of such similar hormones keep our body in control. Having this in mind, we can now better establish differences between two types of disorders the thyroid may undergo: Hyperthyroidism and Hypothyroidism.

We must also state that there is no cure for either Hyperthyroidism or Hypothyroidism. Still, some medications can treat these diseases. The goal is helping one’s body thyroid function so that hormones levels get restored and, as a result, keeping a healthy life. Hyperthyroidismis much less frequent than Hypothyroidism, and this last one is far more likely to develop in women than in men: five to eight times more. From now on we will spread a bit more into differences between these two disorders.

Hyperthyroidism

Hyper means “too much” or “excess.” Hence, you have a gland that originates communications in the form of hormones that work in a kind of feedback loop. The feedback may be positive or negative. A good example for this is thinking of your kids: if they are listening to you and comply with cleaning their room, then you do not need to say anything else because you feel that you have been heard. But if that command is ignored, the feedback is negative, and there is trouble to come.

In case of your thyroid, negative feedback causes it to produce more and more communications because a failure with the switch-off makes the thyroid feel no one is listening. Suddenly your blood gets a rush of hormones that lead to pain and discomfort. Part of the symptoms is afast heartbeat, increased appetite, anxiety, sensitivity to heat, or sudden weight loss.

There are three common causes of hyperthyroidism:

1. An inflammation of the thyroid known as thyroiditis.
2. A nodule is appearing in the thyroid, secreting too much T4.
3. Grave’s disease, a type of autoimmune condition.

Hypothyroidism

Hypo means “deficiency” or “not enough.” In the case of the thyroid, the burnout is the result of hyper, pushing and pushing without response. And this is why Hypothyroidismis not considered a disease, but a condition. There is insufficient thyroid hormone in the body because the gland tired out, and the patient requires thyroid hormone replacement for living a healthy life.

Hypothyroidismas a condition is the consequence of another autoimmune disease: Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. This autoimmune disease causes that antibodies attach themselves to proteins within the thyroid. The immune system understands this as an invasion and right away starts attacking the thyroid tissue with immune cells that destroy it.

Up to this point, you can tell apart “Hashimoto's” from “Hypothyroidism.” Hashimoto's is the real disease whereas Hypothyroidism is the resulting condition of the illness. Now, Hashimoto's is not the only disease that can cause the state. We tell you more; there is an autoimmune disease related to Hyperthyroidism: Graves’ disease, which was mentioned before. For preventing the thyroid from overproducing hormones, there are drugs and a radioactive iodine therapy. Another treatment includes surgical removing the thyroid itself. So, once the thyroid´s function is partially or fully disabled, there is a high chance of starting Hypothyroidismas the condition.

There is an apparent reason for addressing all the problems involving the thyroid as “disorder.” Now that you understand a little bit more all the implications, you need to know that you might be carrying on you the condition for many years without noticing it. So, How can you diagnose whetherHyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism? The answer is TSH test.

TSH test measures the levels of TSH (thyroid-stimulating hormone) in your blood. By the way, the thyroid-stimulating hormoneis released in the blood-stream by your pituitary, another tiny gland located between the brain and the roof of the mouth. If this test shows elevated levels of TSH,a doctor may consider it indicative of hypothyroidism.

Remember the balance stuff we mentioned in the introduction of this article? Well, What is considered a “normal” level of TSH in your blood can vary depending on some factors, including the laboratory where your blood test is done, How about that? But an average range for TSH is 0.4 milliunits per liter (mU/L) to 4.0 mU/L. Apparently, there are some other blood tests for determining specific protein levels such as Thyroglobulin, and so on.

At this point of your reading, you may ask, “Am I at risk for any of these disorders?” There are some factors or signs.  For instance, if you have family or personal history of other autoimmune or endocrine diseases, being over sixty years old, or if you are a woman, undergoing menopause. Also, if you are o were a smoker, drug abuser or similar. Even if you are or were in a long-term consumption of soy products must be careful due to the relation between this habit and the formation of goiters.

No doubt as science understands better the cause of this type of problems; we need to keep updating our feedback. Probably this lines will get out of date within some months or years, but for now, we hope this article has helped you to better understand the differences between hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism.

References:

1. MARY J. SHOMON. (2009) Living well with hypothyroidism: what your doctor doesn’t tell you... that you need to know / Mary J. Shomon. —Rev. ed., 3, 52-68