What are the symptoms of hypothyroidism?

Symptoms of hypothyroidism can include feeling fatigue and weak, dry, pale skin, constipation, and becoming bald. Watch this video to learn more from Dr. Randy P. Martin about the symptoms of hypothyroidism.

Transcript

00:00

So what are the symptoms of hypothyroidism? The first two, we all have. And that's really fatigue and feeling weak.

00:06

That's a generalized symptom. [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:16

We're commonly asked, what are the symptoms of hypothyroidism? Your thyroid is the gland that really controls your metabolism.

00:23

It sits in your neck just below your voice box. And hypothyroidism is easy to understand. It means that you have low levels of the thyroid hormone.

00:32

Now, what causes that? The most common cause is where your body's own immune system attacks the thyroid. It's called autoimmune hypothyroidism,

00:40

or Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Other common causes are if you're treated with medicines. Certain medicines for other conditions

00:48

can actually depress the action of your thyroid. Common things are a antiarrhythmic drug called amiodarone.

00:55

Lithium can do it. If you ever have to have surgical treatment on your neck or having portions of the thyroid removed,

01:01

then you could be hypothyroid. So what are the symptoms of hypothyroidism? The first two, we all have.

01:08

And that's really fatigue and feeling weak. That's a generalized symptom. But if you have other things such as dry, coarse, really

01:16

pale or puffy-looking skin, if you have dry, coarse hair and you're actually going bald, that can be signs of hypothyroidism.

01:24

Other things like constipation, muscle cramps or muscle aches-- and the interesting symptom is where your thinking really

01:31

feels slowed down. And in women who become hypothyroid, they can have abnormalities of menstruation

01:37

and actually have a fall off in libido. All of these can be symptoms of an inactive thyroid. The good news is it's very simple to check for that.

01:46

Get a simple blood test called a TSH, and that will tell you whether you really are hypothyroid

01:52

or not. [AUDIO LOGO]