Treatment
Hypothyroidism caused by Hashimoto's Thyroiditis is treated with thyroid hormone replacement agents such as levothyroxine or desiccated thyroid extract. A tablet taken once a day generally keeps the thyroid hormone levels normal. In most cases, the treatment needs to be taken for the rest of the patient's life. In the event that hypothyroidism is caused by Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, it is recommended that the TSH levels be kept under 3.0. As long as the patient's thyroid is active, the body will continue to attack it, and this can wreak havoc on the patient's TSH levels and symptoms.
Preliminary studies have suggested a correlation between Hashimoto's Thyroiditis and Celiac sprue. While it has not been rigorously explored, there is anecdotal evidence that a gluten-free diet may reduce the autoimmune response responsible for thyroid degeneration. A study published in January 2012 compared a group of confirmed Celiac's patients to a control group of healthy individuals, starting a gluten-free diet and continuing for one year. While there was a higher occurrence of thyroiditis found amongst the Celiac group, there was no reduction in their level of anti-TPO antibody, improvement in thyroid function, or change in thyroid volume reduction after one year without gluten. The study mentions that its results disagree with other reports.
Read more about this topic: Hashimoto's Thyroiditis
Famous quotes containing the word treatment:
“Our treatment of both older people and children reflects the value we place on independence and autonomy. We do our best to make our children independent from birth. We leave them all alone in rooms with the lights out and tell them, “Go to sleep by yourselves.” And the old people we respect most are the ones who will fight for their independence, who would sooner starve to death than ask for help.”
—Margaret Mead (1901–1978)
“I feel that any form of so called psychotherapy is strongly contraindicated for addicts.... The question “Why did you start using narcotics in the first place?” should never be asked. It is quite as irrelevant to treatment as it would be to ask a malarial patient why he went to a malarial area.”
—William Burroughs (b. 1914)
“A regular council was held with the Indians, who had come in on their ponies, and speeches were made on both sides through an interpreter, quite in the described mode,—the Indians, as usual, having the advantage in point of truth and earnestness, and therefore of eloquence. The most prominent chief was named Little Crow. They were quite dissatisfied with the white man’s treatment of them, and probably have reason to be so.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)