Understanding The Importance Of The Thyroid In Our Senior Years

Did you know there are more than 40 glands in the human body? They are all important in their own way to residents of Cedar Rapids and elsewhere, but one of the more critical ones is the thyroid for those in good health and those receiving hospice care.

The team at Above and Beyond Home Health Care and Hospice are well aware of the role of the thyroid, including what can happen throughout the whole body if it ever stops working as intended, or if medication is required to help manage these processes.

For those unfamiliar with the thyroid, it’s a small gland near the neck that’s shaped like a butterfly. Its primary function is to regulate all the hormones that control the body’s metabolism. Your metabolism is basically the energy of all of your body’s systems, powered by the food you eat and the beverages you drink.

Processes the thyroid regulates include weight, speed of digestion, heart rate, and body temperature.  Often, when one of these systems isn’t working as it should be, a provider will look at thyroid functions early on. Determining if there’s a thyroid problem may address the problem rather than focusing on the smaller system.

Your metabolism is used throughout your entire body and keeps all the systems working properly.

At least that’s the basic definition. As we age, our general metabolism slows down. Plus, there are all sorts of health conditions and physical trauma that could impact these processes or the thyroid itself.

So, while your thyroid may have worked well earlier in life, it’s possible that something may have changed.

Thyroid removal

In some cases, a provider may recommend the thyroid be removed for health reasons.

If this is the case, he or she may suggest a variety of medications to simulate the processes of the thyroid.

Thyroid Hormone Replacement Therapy often means daily medications are vital to be taken for the rest of someone’s life.

How much medication is needed depends on the type of surgery. In some cases, only part of the gland is removed so some function will continue, which can be supplemented. Or if the whole thyroid is removed, a different regimen is needed. In some cases, a damaged area may be removed, and the provider may keep on watching to see if the function resumes or if more may be needed.

Thyroid disease

There are a variety of thyroid diseases and disorders, and women are more likely to get them than men. The possibility of being diagnosed with any of them also increases with age.

One of the common ones includes hypothyroidism, where the thyroid doesn’t produce as many hormones as it used to. This can cause some or all of the body to slow down.

Another common one is hyperthyroidism, which is where the thyroid begins producing too much of certain hormones and causes your overall metabolism to speed up.

Goiter is another common disease in the world that takes place when your thyroid grows larger than it should.

All three of these conditions are generally treatable with different methods, especially goiter, which usually can be treated with iodine. (It’s less common in the U.S. since most brands of table salt have some amounts of iodine.

Depending on the type of disease, or where it originates, there are a variety of surgical and non-surgical options that can help. Some may be caused directly by the thyroid or sometimes by malfunctions of other glands such as the pituitary gland.

A condition that’s increasing in frequency is thyroid cancer. This usually takes the form of nodules that need to be removed.

It’s something that more and more people are being diagnosed with, partially due to more attention and better screening methods. According to the American Cancer Society said there are more than 43,800 new cases each year as of 2022, and 2,230 deaths.

More cases and deaths are seen in women than in men. The National Cancer Institute theorizes that this isn’t necessarily about the type of cancer itself, but that women are generally more proactive about preventative screenings for medical conditions than men.

Like other cancers, there’s no specific cause or prevention method, but there are some treatment methods, including radiation. In some cases, some thyroid nodules may not even affect quality of life or increase in size so a provider may not even remove them.

Detecting disease can include changes in how you feel such as increased fatigue or general pain in the neck or throat. Swelling in the neck is one warning sign, as is a feeling of things not feeling right, like different sensations when putting on a shirt.

Learn more

For those who want to increase their knowledge about the thyroid, including ways it can go wrong, January is Thyroid Disease Awareness Month.

The American Thyroid Association has dedicated the month to increasing awareness in the medical community as well as the public. The association hopes to encourage more research and more education.