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Learn about thyroid gland

Hyperthyroidism Symptoms

When you have hyperthyroidism, your body is producing excessive amounts of the thyroid hormones T3 and T4. Since these hormones regulate your metabolism (how your body processes and uses energy), having too high a level will cause symptoms related to a high metabolism. In essence, hyperthyroidism speeds up some of your body's processes.

Hyperthyroidism Complications

Untreated hyperthyroidism can lead to serious complications, mainly related to the heart. When you have hyperthyroidism, your body is, in a way, running on overdrive all the time, and that can greatly affect your heart. Some possible heart-related complications of uncontrolled hyperthyroidism are:

Hyperthyroidism: Overactivity of the Thyroid Gland

There are several causes of hyperthyroidism. Most often, the entire gland is overproducing thyroid hormone. This is called Graves' disease. Less commonly, a single nodule is responsible for the excess hormone secretion.

Hyperthyroidism: Overactivity of the Thyroid Gland

Hyperthyroidism is a large topic, so we have split it into four manageable sized portions. This page introduces hyperthyroidism. Subsequent pages are listed at the bottom which address more specific details of making the diagnosis of hyperthyroidism, the causes of hyperthyroidism, and different treatment options available for hyperthyroidism.

Hypothyroidism: Too Little Thyroid Hormone

Hypothyroidism is a condition in which the body lacks sufficient thyroid hormone. Since the main purpose of thyroid hormone is to "run the body's metabolism," it is understandable that people with this condition will have symptoms associated with a slow metabolism.

Hyperthyroidism: Overactivity of the Thyroid Gland

There are readily available and effective treatments for all common types of hyperthyroidism. Some of the symptoms of hyperthyroidism (such as tremor and palpitations, which are caused by excess thyroid hormone acting on the cardiac and nervous system) can be improved within a number of hours by medications called beta-blockers (eg, propranolol; Inderal).
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