The patient may feel perpetually cold and tired. Other common symptoms are a dry, brittleness to the hair as well as itchiness and dryness of the skin. The patient my also suffer from gastrointestinal problems such as constipation or diarrhea as well as muscle cramps. Women may also have increased or irregular menstrual flow. There are cases where secondary hypothyroidism is diagnosed.
Secondary hypothyroidism is when the pituitary gland fails, most commonly because of a tumor.
When the pituitary gland is involved, it stops stimulating the thyroid gland properly. If the thyroxine level is low or in the normal range but the TSH is high, the diagnosis is thyroid failure. Once testing is done and the diagnosis of hypothyroidism is made, treatment is fairly simple. Routine therapy is a prescribed synthetic form of thyroxine. For many years dried and powdered animal thyroid was the most common form of thyroid therapy.