A thyroid gland that produces too much thyroid hormone causes hyperthyroidism, usually determined to be Grave's Disease. A Feb. 28 Colorado-based study reported as many as 13 million Americans suffer from undiagnosed thyroid problems, double previous estimates, Shomon said. And, estimates reveal that 1 in 20 women, mostly in their 30s and beyond, have some kind of thyroid disorder, according to Florida endocrinologist Jack Baskin, M.D., past president of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, in a March 1999 issue of Prevention magazine. Men also can be affected with thyroid difficulties, but it is less common, Amarillo endocrinologist Dr. Ken Brantley said. The symptoms are pretty nonspecific - fatigue, people who just feel bad.
Hypothyroidism is probably more common.
Brantley said she sees more patients with overactive thyroids than underactive, probably because an underactive thyroid generally is easily treated with a daily hormone supplement, a treatment many physicians handle themselves, rather than referring such patients to specialists. Patients who have hypothyroidism most often complain of fatigue, intolerance for cold and weight gain. But weight gain can be an unreliable symptom for thyroid disorder diagnosis because it can occur in many other instances, Brantley said. Other symptoms can include constipation, a thinning of the eyebrows, changes in menstruation, a low sex drive and more. Dr. William Biggs, a colleague of Brantley, suggests patients keep a record of their complaints to take with them to a doctor's appointment.