Hyperthyroid Disorders
Introduction
Welcome
Welcome to Suite University and the Hyperthyroid Disorders Course. My name is Elaine Moore, and I’m a Medical Technologist MT (ASCP) with more than 30 years experience in laboratory medicine.
I’m also a medical writer and the author of Graves’ Disease, A Practical Guide and Thyroid Eye Disease: Understanding Graves’ Ophthalmopathy.
In this course participants will learn about hyperthyroidism, its causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and the conditions, such as thyroid eye disease and acropachy, that can occur as a result of hyperthyroidism or as an associated autoimmune condition.
Hyperthyroidism is a medical disorder that occurs when the thyroid gland produces excess thyroid hormone. While most hyperthyroid disorders are caused by the autoimmune condition, Graves’ disease, hyperthyroidism has several other distinct causes including nodules, thyroiditis, tumors and genetic mutations.
Depending on the cause, as well as genetic and environmental influences, hyperthyroidism can be transient, spontaneously resolving within a few weeks, or it may run a variable manageable course lasting several years.
Hyperthyroidism runs a unique disease course in its patients in that no two patients are completely alike as far as symptoms and their severity goes. It's common for patients to experience alternating periods of remission and symptoms.
Hyperthyroidism may present as a subclinical or mild disorder with few if any symptoms, which can resolve as easily as it can worsen. In most instances, the onset of hyperthyroidism is marked by a mild to moderate condition characterized by periods in which several major symptoms predominate, alternating with periods in which symptoms are absent.
In its extreme form, hyperthyroidism can cause a condition of thyroid storm, which is potentially fatal. In thyroid storm, thyroid hormone levels are not exceptionally high, but other contributing factors such as a co-existing infection make the effects of thyroid hormone more potent.
The symptoms of hyperthyroidism can also be triggered or worsened by a number of different environmental triggers and lifestyle choices that are discussed in this course.
Course Overview In this course, students are introduced to the thyroid gland, which is the largest of the endocrine glands. Course participants will learn how the thyroid gland normally functions. And they’ll learn of the many bodily changes that occur when the thyroid gland produces excess thyroid hormone.
In addition, course participants will learn how the pituitary gland, hypothalamus and thyroid gland work together to ensure that we have adequate thyroid hormone for our body’s needs. Specifically, students will learn how the pituitary hormone thyrotropin, which is also known as thyroid stimulating hormone or TSH, regulates thyroid hormone levels and how the TSH test can be used as a diagnostic tool.
Students will also learn how the endocrine glands, including the thyroid gland, work in concert with the immune system and nervous system, each of the systems influencing one another. In autoimmune thyroid disease, the immune system errs and produces autoantibodies, antibodies directed at the body’s own cells and organs.
In autoimmune thyroid disorders, which are the primary cause of both hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism, the immune system produces several different thyroid autoantibodies. Each of these antibodies is directed against a different thyroid cell protein and each of these thyroid antibodies has its own function. When the immune system produces thyroid stimulating immunoglobulin or TSI, the result is autoimmune hyperthyroidism or Graves’ disease. TSI order thyroid cells to produce excess thyroid hormone.
Graves' disease causes seventy percent of all hyperthyroidism. Graves' disease and the other causes of hyperthyroidism, including thyroid nodules, adenomas, thyroiditis, and genetic mutations are described in the course. Students will also learn the difference between hyperthyroidism, which is a hyperfunctioning thyroid gland, and thyrotoxicosis, which is a condition caused by the effects of excess thyroid hormone, and they'll learn how thyrotoxicosis can occur in the absence of hyperthyroidism.
Hyperthyroidism causes a wide range of symptoms although usually patients are bothered by several predominant symptoms. These symptoms vary in severity over time, which is known as waxing and waning. Predominant symptoms of hyperthyroidism can also change over time.
This variability in symptoms and their severity can make diagnosis confusing. Students will learn the difference between signs and symptoms of hyperthyroidism and how they’re used along with laboratory and imaging tests to diagnosis hyperthyroidism.
Because symptoms often occur before thyroid hormone levels become abnormal, diagnosis can be difficult. In this course, students will learn which laboratory and imaging tests are most important for diagnosing hyperthyroidism and isolating its cause. Students will also learn about normal or reference ranges, what tests still in use are considered obsolete and how laboratory results can be misleading.
In this course, participants will learn about the conventional and alternative therapies available for treating hyperthyroidism and they’ll learn about treatment goals and expected outcomes.
In addition, they’ll learn about the typical disease course seen in the various hyperthyroid disorders as well as the concept of remission or freedom from disease. Of major importance, they’ll learn how environmental factors including hormonal changes associated with pregnancy contribute to hyperthyroid disease and how lifestyle factors influence treatment outcome.
Students will also learn about the conditions that can accompany hyperthyroidism, such as pretibial myxedema, acropachy and thyroid eye disease. And they’ll learn about some of the potential consequences of hyperthyroidism such as muscle weakness, arrhythmias, depression, psychosis and periodic paralysis.
The major goal of this course is to empower patients who have hyperthyroidism as well as their family members and friends. Through education and knowledge patients will learn to recognize when treatment is indicated and they’ll learn to choose the treatment most suited for their needs. They’ll also learn what outcome they can expect from treatment and what they can do to avoid future relapses.
Lessons
Click here to see course syllabus
