What are the major symptoms of an underactive thyroid gland?
The principle symptom of hypothyroidism is fatigue, or lethargy, and a slowing down of one’s mental processes. It affects people’s mental alertness and their general strength and stamina. It also generally causes rougher, dry and thickened skin and dry hair. People with an underactive thyroid, oftentimes, will have high cholesterol levels. It can also cause depression and weight gain. How are these conditions diagnosed? Before you can diagnose these conditions, you have to suspect them. These symptoms are rather nonspecific, so it is a very good idea for the physician to test the thyroid, and that is very easily done by a simple blood test called the TSH test. TSH stands for thyroid-stimulating hormone, and it is a hormone produced by the pituitary gland. It is the hormone that regulates the amount of thyroid activity, so when your thyroid blood levels go down, the TSH goes up. And when the TSH goes up, it stimulates the thyroid gland to make more thyroid hormone. It’s kind of like you
