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Are Dry Skin, Fatigue And Thinning Hair Suggestive Of Thyroid Disease?
Question: I am wondering If I might have a thyroid problem. I am 52 and abused pain meds for 5 or 6 years. Been drug free for the last 2 yrs. My hair has thinned out a lot. My brain if foggy quite often. My weight has gone up quite a bit. Skin is dry. And I am always fatigued. Always tired. My mother has had thyroid disease all of her life and takes medication for it. I was looking at my TH and FreeT4 ( or however they say it), numbers on my blood work from Nov of last year and those number are on the low end of the standard range. I have also had a hysterectomy in 2011 and they left my ovaries for the hormones but said I should be good with that until my early 50s. So I am in my early 50s and wondering what I should do when I see my doctor again.
Brief Answer:
Diagnosis of hypothyroidism
Detailed Answer:
Thank you for contacting HCM with your health care concerns
I am sorry to hear that you feel tired and think you may have hypothyroidism. To diagnose low thyroid you will need to repeat your blood work. The TSH will actually need to be high and the Free T4 will be low. That is because the TSH is actually a hormone made by the pituitary gland in the brain. It will secrete TSH when the body needs more thyroid hormone. So when your thyroid hormones are low the pituitary secretes high amount of TSH to help stimulate the thyroid to make more hormones. The Free T4 is the actually measurement of hormone is not as reliable as it can change day to day. The TSH is a better indication of thyroid disease. High TSH means hypothyroidism and low TSH means graves disease or hyperthyroidism
The female hormones could also cause your symptoms and you maybe going through menopause. Your medical provider can order hormone testing to see if you are starting to go through the change.
I hope I answered your question. Please contact us again if you have any additional questions
Diagnosis of hypothyroidism
Detailed Answer:
Thank you for contacting HCM with your health care concerns
I am sorry to hear that you feel tired and think you may have hypothyroidism. To diagnose low thyroid you will need to repeat your blood work. The TSH will actually need to be high and the Free T4 will be low. That is because the TSH is actually a hormone made by the pituitary gland in the brain. It will secrete TSH when the body needs more thyroid hormone. So when your thyroid hormones are low the pituitary secretes high amount of TSH to help stimulate the thyroid to make more hormones. The Free T4 is the actually measurement of hormone is not as reliable as it can change day to day. The TSH is a better indication of thyroid disease. High TSH means hypothyroidism and low TSH means graves disease or hyperthyroidism
The female hormones could also cause your symptoms and you maybe going through menopause. Your medical provider can order hormone testing to see if you are starting to go through the change.
I hope I answered your question. Please contact us again if you have any additional questions
Note: For further follow up on related General & Family Physician Click here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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