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Swollen Thyroid - Cough Causes, Symptoms and Treatment
contents
- Thyroid
- Iodine deficiency
- The goiter
- Different forms of thyroid swelling
- The degree of swelling
- Cold and hot knots
- Treatment for swollen thyroid
- Thyroid
- radioactivity
- Symptoms of Thyroid Cancer
- When do you feel the carcinoma??
- prevention
Thyroid
The thyroid lies high up in the throat and is a hormone storage, more specifically, it stores iodine and iodine-containing hormones. Without it, the body can only work very badly. Therefore, an insufficiently functioning thyroid causes various diseases that affect different organs of the body.
The thyroid gland is a butterfly-shaped hormone gland. It is located at the neck, below the larynx. (Image: Kateryna_Kon / fotolia.com) Iodine deficiency
Very often there is an iodine deficiency, when our thyroid swells. In addition to an enlarged thyroid gland, nodules may also form in the butterfly-shaped organ and carcinomas. In children, iodine deficiency can lead to severe mental damage, especially to underdevelopment, "cretinism".
The thyroid needs iodine to produce the hormones. The thyroid hormones promote the formation of bones, the development of the brain and work into the energy metabolism.
We ingest iodine with food, through the stomach and intestines into the blood and into the thyroid gland. This takes up the trace element, with the help of which it produces the hormones and releases them into the blood.
A lack of thyroid hormones can lead to severe brain damage, especially in infants. Especially pregnant women, breastfeeding and small children therefore need sufficient iodine, whether in the form of tablets or iodine-rich fish such as kelp.
At first, iodine deficiency leads initially to a deficiency of the thyroid gland. The symptoms are not obvious; They start slowly and also affect many other complaints. These include increased fatigue, exhaustion despite long periods of sleep, disturbed concentration and cold and pale skin, which also acts dry. Other signs may be high sensitivity to cold, swollen eyes or eyelids and hoarseness.
The thyroid gland is adjusting to the chronic undersupply: it has to "work more" to produce the thyroid hormones, and that's why their cells enlarge. The gland is growing.
If there is an iodine deficiency, the thyroid needs to work more and grows larger. (Image: Kateryna_Kon / fotolia.com) The goiter
Obvious is an iodine deficiency, when a goiter forms. However, such a clear enlargement is no evidence of hyperthyroidism or hypofunction, but only for the iodine deficiency. The cause of the defect must be found out by the doctor.
Goiter is derived from the Indo-European word root "greup". This means "writhing" and refers to the veins that are curved when the thyroid gland swells. Another term for this swelling is "goiter", the Latin word for glandular swelling.
Such an enlargement of the thyroid gland can occur at any age, but the greatest risk is in puberty due to the large fluctuation in hormone levels at this stage.
A goiter is when the circumference of the thyroid gland is much larger than it would be normal for this sex and age. In women, an enlarged volume begins at more than 18 ml, in men at more than 25 ml. From a volume of about 40 ml, the magnification is visible - so you see the goiter from the outside, then the thyroid is already massively swollen.
A goiter is not a disease but a symptom. The thyroid thus tries to make up for the lack of iodine and thyroid hormones by augmenting the tissue that produces these hormones.
However, the goiter can permanently reshape the tissue of the thyroid gland. This sometimes creates areas that uncontrollably release hormones. From a swollen thyroid then forms a solid thyroid hyperfunction.
Different forms of thyroid swelling
The medicine distinguishes swelling of the thyroid gland according to its size and shape. Thus, the diffuse struma is evenly enlarged, while the nodular goiter forms nodules. In this case, a multinodular goiter contains several nodes, a goiter uninodosa a single.
In euthyroid goiter, metabolic rates are normal, hypothyroid goiter indicates hypothyroidism, hyperthyroid goiter hyperfunction. A malignant goiter is a swelling that contains a malignant tumor. A dull goiter, however, is benign, not inflamed, and the metabolism works normally.
The degree of swelling
Doctors differentiate between thyroid swelling of grade 0, grade I, grade II and grade III.
At 0, the magnification is neither visible nor palpable, but can only be detected in ultrasound. Grade I is a palpable swelling that is barely visible when those affected bow their heads back. A degree II magnification can be detected as well as felt. At grade III there is a strong enlargement of the thyroid, the goiter is also visible from a distance.
Thyroid swelling with grade III is very pronounced and clearly recognizable. (Image: chatuphot / fotolia.com) Cold and hot knots
If nodes form, they do not necessarily have to be dangerous. Doctors distinguish between cold, warm and hot knots. Cold knots barely produce thyroid hormones; warm knots make about as many hormones as the rest of the thyroid tissue; hot knots spill out the hormones in excess, without receiving signals from the body about the need.
The hormone surplus manifests itself through inner restlessness, weight loss, increased pulse, constant thirst and rapid drop in performance. The affected persons can not or only irregularly sleep.
Nodules in the thyroid gland often occur, with at least every fifth person between 20 and 60, at over 70 years even every second person. As a rule, there is already a genetic predisposition, and that occurs when iodine is lacking.
Treatment for swollen thyroid
An overactive thyroid gland can be suppressed with radioactive iodine therapy, with antithyroid drugs or with advanced surgery. An operation is essential if there is a suspicion of malignant growths, and also if the goiter is so large that it affects the functions of other organs. For example, a goiter may cause breathing problems because it blocks the trachea or circulatory problems because the blood does not flow back to the heart.
Once the surgery is done, medications ensure that the hormones do not overshoot again. If the formation of thyrocytes is disturbed, a tumor can develop in the thyroid gland.
Thyroid
The cells of the thyroid can develop pathologically and form a carcinoma. When the peptide hormone overshadows calcitonin in the thyroid C-cells, it promotes thyroid cancer. At the same time, calcitonin is not harmful but vital. It regulates the calcium and phosphate balance.
Science identifies four forms of thyroid cancer: follicular carcinoma, papillary carcinoma, anaplastic carcinoma, and medullary carcinoma. These four forms have different causes, depending on which hormone is produced to the wrong extent. Another form of cancer is caused by changes in the connective tissue. This is called sarcoma.
People who have been exposed to higher levels of radioactive radiation have an increased risk of developing thyroid cancer. (Image: Bobo / fotolia.com) radioactivity
One cause of thyroid tumors is ionizing radiation. For example, thyroid cancer was a typical disease of people who survived the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as those who were exposed to nuclear radiation during the Chernobyl disaster.
For the nuclear emergency, potassium iodine tablets are therefore available in Germany, triggering an iodine blockade of the thyroid gland in the event of a nuclear disintegration.
Symptoms of Thyroid Cancer
Thyroid cancer is manifested by dysphagia. The more the tumor grows, the less space remains for the esophagus. The affected persons feel as if they had a foreign body in the esophagus or a lump in their throats.
Shortness of breath, shortness of breath and respiratory failure may also indicate a tumor in the thyroid gland. Here the carcinoma presses on the trachea; If the cancer presses on the vocal cords, then hoarseness is the result. Here you should be suspicious if antibiotics or cervical tablets do not stop the hoarseness and additionally there is no infection.
On the nerve tracts, the tumor sometimes shows through narrowed pupils, sunken eye sockets and hanging upper eyelids.
Lymph node swelling near the thyroid gland is also a symptom of carcinoma.
When do you feel the carcinoma??
As with other cancers, the symptoms do not appear until the disease is well advanced. With a size of 1.5 cm, you can already feel a tumor in the thyroid gland - but then it usually does not affect the nerves, feeder or trachea.
prevention
To prevent swelling of the thyroid, iodine helps especially. You can do this with iodized salt or with special iodine tablets. But talk to your doctor: too much iodine is as unhealthy as too little. (Dr. Utz Anhalt)
references
https://www.healthline.com/health/common-thyroid-disorders#overview1
http://www.jod.de/jod-mangel/jodmangel-verursacht-viele-krankheiten
https://www.medicinenet.com/thyroid_disorders/article.htm
https://www.webmd.com/women/guide/understanding-thyroid-problems-basics#1