Chapter 2: What Is Thyroid Disease?

A disease may be considered a condition in which some part of the body-in this case, the thyroid gland-does not work properly. Thyroid dysfunction can affect every organ in the body and can cause many symptoms of varying severity. In addition, nonthyroidal illnesses are often confused with thyroid disease.This chapter will explain what is, and is not, thyroid disease.

Before turning to that explanation, a word must be said about the nature of suffering, as opposed to the nature of disease. Suffering is an individual's perception of personal experience with a disease and its treatment. For example, some patients may suffer after successful treat­ment of their thyroid disorder because they continue to have symptoms, which they are convinced are caused by thyroid disease. These patients may suffer not only because they continue to have symptoms but because they also feel misunderstood. Therefore, compassionate physicians will continue working with their patients to identify and explain the true causes of these ongoing symptoms. If patients are open to the possibility that their symptoms are not caused by thyroid disease, then they can begin to find relief of their suffering.

Thyroid disease is common; in fact, it affects more than twenty million Americans. Unfortunately, more than thirteen million Americans have a thyroid condition and are unaware of it. Women are much more likely than men are to have thyroid disease. For reasons that are unclear, approximately 80% of all thyroid disease occurs in women. The ancients thought the thyroid gland was larger in women than in men to make their necks more beautiful. Regardless of the reasons, women in particular should be aware of the signs and symptoms of thyroid disease as well as the impact it can have on their well being.

Accurately diagnosing thyroid disease may be complicated since abnormal thyroid function test results are common and many diseases with similar symptoms masquerade as thyroid disease. It is easy to confuse other diseases and abnormal thyroid function test results with actual thyroid disease.

Overall, thyroid diseases may be viewed as disorders of structure and disorders of function. Since disorders of function and structure frequently overlap, and since patients may have more than one thyroid problem, this distinction is somewhat artificial; it will simplify understanding what is, and is not, thyroid disease.