Do You Have These 4 Telltale Signs? You May Have Thyroid Disease

 

Unexplained weight gain is a common symptom that sends a person to the doctor to get their thyroid checked. When levels of thyroid hormone get too low, the body’s processes start to slow down, which can result in weight gain. But there are other, less well-known signs that the thyroid is not doing what it is supposed to do.

 

Thyroid disease occurs when the butterfly-shaped gland located in the lower front of the neck isn’t working properly. A healthy thyroid gland secretes thyroid hormones that are sent to every tissue in the body. These hormones help you to use energy, stay warm, and keep all of the body’s organs working the way that they should. When the thyroid is not working properly, there is a wide range of symptom that can occur. The symptoms differ based on whether the thyroid is secreting too much thyroid hormone or not enough.

 

Sensitivity to Cold

Are you always the person in the office who is complaining that it’s too cold? Sensitivity to cold can be a sign of an underactive thyroid, especially if it’s something that you are noticing more lately.

 

Aches and pains

Have you been experiencing muscle aches, pains or cramping? This is another sign of a possible thyroid problem. Joint pain, especially in the shoulders and hips, is a possible sign of thyroid disease.

 

Memory Loss

Do you feel like you are experiencing brain fog? If you are finding your job more difficult to perform than it used to be, or feel like you are more forgetful, this can be due to an underactive thyroid. According to the American Thyroid Association, many older people ignore these signs thinking they are just a normal part of aging, when actually they are symptoms of a treatable thyroid problem.

 

Anxiety

Have you tried to treat anxiety without success? According to the Chicago Weight Loss Clinic, anxiety that doesn’t respond to medication can be a sign of an overactive thyroid.

 

If you suspect that you have signs of thyroid disease, the only way to know for certain is to take a blood test that measures your thyroid hormone levels. Some of the signs of hyperthyroidism overlap with the signs of hypothyroidism, and some symptoms of thyroid disease are also present in other illnesses. Talk to a doctor to find out whether or not thyroid disease is the cause of your symptoms.

 

Categories: anxiety, hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, memory loss, thyroid, thyroid disease

Depression and Menopause - The Myths and Secrets

Once women pass the age of 40, the dreaded menopause becomes a ticking time bomb of worrying for them. With so many myths surrounding this stage in a woman’s life, it’s easy to understand why so many women worry about what’s to come. Most women, however, come out the other side unscathed – this is a normal process in the human body after all. It’s vital that women undergoing ‘the change’ do so with a positive outlook and optimism. Failing to do so can result in depression and anxiety, which could have a damaging effect on the body. Most of the stories put out into the media about the menopause aren’t actually true, which means women are becoming scared of a natural process for no reason. Here are some of the more common myths and what really goes on.

 

Menopause makes you unstable

There are some changes to your behaviour during this time, as your hormones shift and this can make you act in a way you wouldn’t normally. You may react strongly to things or be a little unpredictable at times. However, just because you’re going through the menopause doesn’t mean you’ll be like this for life. This is a brief stage where you’re experiencing some internal changes, but they will revert back to normal soon. Relaxation techniques can be a good way of keeping a control over your behaviour while your hormones are erratic, though.

 

Menopause leads to memory loss

There is no memory loss with menopause – this is purely a myth. Young women can be just as absent minded and forgetful as older women, and there has been no relation to menopause and loss of memory despite numerous tests to determine this. Low oestrogen levels can slow the cognitive process down, but this doesn’t really affect your memory a great deal.

 

Menopause leads to weight gain and consequent depression

Some women do find that they gain a little weight during the menopause, which they find results in a lack of energy and consequent depression about their body. This isn’t always the case though, with so many women taking better care of themselves during the menopause than perhaps they did when they were younger. It’s just a fraction of women who become lazy during this stage, which has perpetuated a myth that all menopausal women do this.

 

Menopause makes you look shaggy and unattractive

There are bodily changes to expect with menopause, such as the darkening of the skin on the face, sagging muscles and greying hair, but you can also feel rejuvenated and still look attractive for your age. Depressed women tend to start giving up with taking care of themselves, which only makes the problem worse. You don’t have to give up just because you’re menopausal – it can be an incredibly freeing time for many women, it simply depends on your outlook.

 

Menopause can hamper work efficiency

This is also a myth that has become attached to the very concept of a menopause, but it isn’t true. In fact, the many years of experience these women have makes them wiser and less likely to make risky choices at work. Yes, some women may find that they get tired more easily, but this doesn’t mean that their efficiency is affected in any way.

 

Menopause causes depression in every woman

Only 10 to 15 percent of menopausal women become depressed, which is a fraction of those assumed to be at risk of this. The hormonal changes can affect your mood swings, which can mean your reactions to things are little more extreme than they would be normally, but depression is a condition which isn’t automatically a result of this.

Categories: consequent depression, memory loss, menopausal women, Menopause, menopause leads, nbsp menopause, Symptoms, women's health

What’s The Difference Between Forgetfulness And Dementia?

As you get older, one of the biggest threats to your mental/emotional health is memory loss. It can be difficult, however, to work out whether what you are experiencing is the dementia associated with Alzheimer’s disease, or whether it is the normal decline in cognitive wellness and wellbeing leading to age-related memory loss.

 

Forgetfulness is a normal part of the ageing process, but severe memory loss is not something that should be ignored, as it can be linked to more serious conditions. To use an example, forgetting where you have put your watch is a normal thing that can happen to most of us, but if you find you have forgotten how to tell the time, this is a more serious thing altogether. If you are forgetting major events or chunks of memorised information or abilities, there is a good chance that you could be suffering from dementia, caused by Alzheimer’s disease.

 

For World Alzheimer’s Day this year, the theme is ‘faces’ and the ideas is to emphasise to people that there are normal people behind every dementia patient. This is to help people understand a bit more about the disease, and understand that it can affect anyone – their parents, aunties, cousins, friends, famous people and, of course, themselves.

 

Startling figures have shown that Alzheimer’s disease affects 35.6 million people worldwide. It is predicted that this figure will rise to 65.7 million people by the year 2030, and 115.4 million people by the time it gets to 2050. Another report shows that men are more prone to dementia than women.

 

People who suffer from Alzheimer’s often seem to live in a ‘world of their own’ and are not aware of what is going on around them. They can often not remember their own names, let alone where they live or even whether they have eaten that day.

Categories: alzheimer, alzheimers, Dementia, memory, memory loss, million people, people