Let yourself go and deal with Hashimoto's thyroiditis easily

Working 996 hours a day and overtime has become the norm. Staying up late at night to catch up on work and staying up late in the morning. In life, many friends have become accustomed to such a "high-pressure" state. But there is a disease that especially likes to target these busy and anxious people, and that is Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT for short).

In 1912, Japanese surgeon Hashimoto Saku first described and analyzed this disease in his book "Report on the Classification of Thyroid Lymphoma". Later, the medical community believed that this was a new thyroid disease and named it Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Hashimoto's thyroiditis, also known as chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis, is an autoimmune disease.

Since it is an autoimmune disease, what does it have to do with immunity? Shouldn't the word immunity mean "good"? Why is it associated with disease?

In theory, our immune system should protect us, identify and eliminate foreign pathogenic microorganisms, and keep us free from diseases. But for friends with Hashimoto's thyroiditis, the immune system is mistakenly activated due to some special reasons. The body regards our thyroid as an invading "bad guy" and sends a large number of lymphocytes to invade and occupy the thyroid tissue. Patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis often see two antibody indicators elevated when checking thyroid function, namely thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPOAb) and thyroglobulin antibodies (TgAb). This is because after lymphocytes infiltrate the thyroid gland, a large number of antibodies are produced, which destroy the normal cells of the thyroid gland and eventually cause the thyroid gland to gradually lose its normal function. As a factory dedicated to the production of thyroid hormones, the thyroid gland has gradually decreased its production capacity since it has been repeatedly destroyed, and the production of thyroid hormones has become less and less. Over time, hypothyroidism has occurred. Moreover, repeated destruction, repair, destruction, and repair will gradually cause fibrosis of thyroid tissue, becoming harder and harder, and some people will feel a pulling sensation when swallowing. Therefore, some patients came to the otolaryngology department for examination because of discomfort in the neck and pharynx.

Most of the patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis encountered clinically are women, and most of them are young and middle-aged, and many of them have stress or emotional problems. In 2019, Greek doctor Zoe S Markomanolaki conducted an 8-week stress management intervention on 60 women with Hashimoto's thyroiditis in a randomized controlled study conducted at the Athens Naval Hospital in Greece. The results showed that compared with the control group, the women in the intervention group had significant improvements in stress, depression and anxiety levels and lifestyle scores. At the same time, the level of thyroglobulin antibodies (TgAb) also decreased, and thyroiditis was significantly relieved. Based on this, he believes that some acute stress in life will gradually be transmitted through the nervous system and endocrine system, thereby affecting the immune system. It can be seen that in many cases, learning to let go and having a peaceful mind can make it easy to move forward. Such mental adjustment is also a good treatment method. In addition, in addition to stress causing Hashimoto's thyroiditis, there are many other factors that cause the disease, such as genetic factors, environmental factors, dietary factors, and infectious factors. It is also common for many mothers and daughters or sisters to be sick at the same time in clinical practice.

If you have Hashimoto's thyroiditis, the first thing you should do is relax! Although there is still no specific treatment plan, the progression of this disease is based on years, and there may not be much progress for many years, so why worry? In the long run, regular blood tests to check thyroid function, regular B-ultrasound checks for thyroid space-occupying lesions, and in the later stages, if hypothyroidism occurs, appropriate oral thyroid hormone replacement therapy is sufficient as long as the symptoms of hypothyroidism do not appear. Correctly understanding the course of the disease can also avoid unnecessary panic.

It can be seen that a healthy lifestyle, regular physical examinations and follow-up are the key to preventing and treating Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Let yourself go, take it easy, and live in peace with Hashimoto's.