What causes Hashimoto's thyroiditis, and what is the best method of treatment? Can iodine help this condition?
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Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) is a condition caused by inflammation of the thyroid gland. It is an autoimmune disease, which means that the body inappropriately attacks the thyroid gland - as if it was foreign tissue. The underlying cause of the autoimmune process remains unknown. Hashimoto's thyroiditis tends to occur in families. It can be associated with other autoimmune conditions such as type 1 diabetes or celiac disease. Hashimoto's thyroiditis is 5 to 10 times more common in women than in men and most often starts in adulthood. Blood drawn from people with Hashimoto's thyroiditis typically reveals an increased number of antibodies against thyroid-specific proteins, including thyroperoxidase and thyroglobulin. T- lymphocytes, a type of cell involved in the inflammation process, invade the thyroid gland cause silent, painless inflammation that destroys it; ultimately, the individual produces little or no thyroid hormone and becomes hypothyroid.----------------During the early stage of thyroiditis, the levels of thyroid hormones (T3 and T4) may be normal. With chronic hypothyroidism, the thyroid hormone levels fall, and the level of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) becomes high. The most useful assay for determining thyroid status is measurement of TSH in the blood. As mentioned earlier, TSH is secreted by the pituitary gland. As the level of thyroid hormone falls, the pituitary gland responds by releasing more thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH). The increase in TSH can actually precede the fall of thyroid hormone to low levels by months or years, so the first sign of hypothyroidism may be an elevated TSH level even when levels of thyroid hormones are normal. ---------------------?The treatment of choice for Hashimoto's thyroiditis is typically synthetic T4 or thyroxine (levothyroxine) along with homoeopathic medicine THYROIDINUM- 3X (Schwabe Gernam) by chewing 2 tabs twice daily so as to keep the dosage of Levothyroxine under check. The medication must be taken indefinitely, and successful treatment alleviates the symptoms and signs of hypothyroidism. Without medication, there is very little chance the thyroid would be able to maintain hormone levels within the normal range, and symptoms and signs of hypothyroidism would occur or worsen.--------------------------NowayIodine will make the things worse in erson having HT as Iodine intake increaes the TSH levels whereas HT presents itself with Hypothyroidism where the levels of TSH are already high--------
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