{"id":8150,"date":"2008-10-06T05:56:25","date_gmt":"2008-10-06T12:56:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gasdetection.com\/?page_id=8150"},"modified":"2021-08-29T11:16:57","modified_gmt":"2021-08-29T18:16:57","slug":"hypothyroidism-easy-test-often-diagnosed","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.gasdetection.com\/interscan-in-the-news\/magazine-articles\/hypothyroidism-easy-test-often-diagnosed\/","title":{"rendered":"Hypothyroidism: Easy To Test For, But Often Not Diagnosed"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Health<\/a><\/p>\n

October 6, 2008<\/p>\n

Hypothyroidism: Easy To Test For, But Often Not Diagnosed<\/p>\n\"Hypo\n

By\u00a0 Michael D. Shaw<\/p>\n

In a widely cited paper from 2000, entitled “The Colorado Thyroid Disease Prevalence Study,” published in the Archives of Internal Medicine<\/em>, the authors estimated that there may be in excess of 13 million cases of undetected thyroid gland failure nationwide.<\/p>\n

The researchers looked at 25,862 participants in a statewide health fair held in 1995. Among those subjects not taking any thyroid meds, 8.9 percent were hypothyroid (too little thyroid hormone) and 1.1 percent were hyperthyroid (too much thyroid hormone).<\/p>\n

[Full disclosure: The study was funded by Knoll Pharmaceutical Company, manufacturers of Synthroid, a popular drug for the treatment of hypothyroidism.]<\/p>\n

The thyroid gland is often described as butterfly-shaped, and it is located at the base of the front of your neck, below the Adam’s apple. Three hormones are produced by the thyroid: thyroxine (T4), triiodothyronine (T3), and calcitonin. T4 and T3 regulate many aspects of metabolism, and calcitonin is one factor in regulating blood calcium levels.<\/p>\n

Control of T4 and T3 levels begins in the hypothalamus (at the base of the brain), which signals the pituitary gland to secrete thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH). The amount of TSH produced is a function of the T4 and T3 levels already in the blood. Thus, production of T4 and T3 in the thyroid is controlled by the amount of TSH received. T4 is the predominant thyroid hormone in the blood\u2014usually by a ratio of about 20:1\u2014and T3 differs from T4 only in that it contains one less iodine atom per molecule (three instead of four).<\/p>\n

T3 is produced from T4 in the cell by deiodinase enzymes.<\/p>\n

There are numerous reasons why someone might have too low a level of T4, but one of the historically most common\u2014a diet deficient in iodine\u2014has been eliminated in most developed countries with the use of iodized table salt. One cause of goiter (enlargement of the thyroid gland) is iodine deficiency, whereby the thyroid cannot produce enough T4 and T3, and enlarges is response to excess stimulation from the pituitary.<\/p>\n

The medical literature lists a host of symptoms of hypothyroidism…<\/p>\n