As winter approaches and the days become shorter, it’s not uncommon for people to suffer from a condition known as Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD. The sun plays an important part in helping you produce vitamin D, which can affect your mood.
However, your feelings of sadness can originate from somewhere else entirely, and so it’s important to keep a close eye on any other symptoms that might have appeared to get a proper diagnosis. After all, what you originally assumed was from a lack of sun exposure might be because of a hormonal imbalance in your thyroid.
What is the Thyroid, and What Does It Do?
The thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland nestled on your neck, right in front of your windpipe, and its role is to produce hormones that handle regulating various functions in your body, such as heart rate, body temperature, and mood.
This is important to know because malfunction in your thyroid can lead to certain diagnoses. For example, an overproduction of hormones might manifest as hyperthyroidism, which can raise your body’s metabolism too much.
Meanwhile, hormonal production can slow or stop, and this can manifest into hypothyroidism.
What is Hypothyroidism?
Hypothyroidism is when your thyroid becomes underactive and produces fewer hormones. There are several ways you can get hypothyroidism, and a few include:
Thyroiditis: this occurs with the inflammation of the thyroid gland, which can affect hormone production.
Hashimoto’s disease: Hashimoto’s disease is an autoimmune disease that can also cause inflammation and potentially affect hormone production.
Surgery: removing a part of or the entire thyroid gland can slow or stop hormone production entirely.
Radiation: localized radiation therapy targeted at the head and neck can also affect the thyroid gland.
Diet: a lack of iodine, which is found in seafood and iodized salt and needed to make thyroid hormones, can cause decreased hormonal production.
Symptoms of Hypothyroidism:
There are several physical symptoms that manifest with hypothyroidism, and some include:
Weight gain: a decrease in hormones might lead to a decrease in your metabolism.
Slowed heart rate: because thyroid hormones control several autonomic functions in your body, fewer hormones might lead to less work from your heart.
Intolerance of cold: because your body isn’t metabolizing and creating because of fewer hormones, your overall body temperature can lower.
Menstrual changes: your thyroid produces hormones that help regulate your menstrual cycle.
How Hypothyroidism can Mimic SAD
There are certain symptoms of hypothyroidism that also manifest in SAD, and they include:
Fatigue: because your body isn’t metabolizing as much, this means it produces less energy. Less energy can make you tired or even unusually exhausted.
Depression: there are fewer hormones used to regulate certain functions like your menstrual cycle, which help regulate your mood. Combined with fatigue, this can worsen your feelings of sadness.
How to Diagnose Hypothyroidism and Treat It
Your healthcare provider has a few ways to help you diagnose your symptoms, which include:
Physical examination: this includes feeling your neck for any noticeable bumps. Only a healthcare professional should perform this, however, because massaging may lead to an emergency phenomenon called a ‘thyroid storm’. A thyroid storm happens when an excess of thyroid hormones enters the bloodstream and potentially damage several body systems.
Blood tests: this is the test your healthcare provider will most likely used, and it involves examining levels of TSH, T3, and T4 in your body. Both T3 and T4 help your body determine the rate it uses fats and carbohydrates, and so fewer of both means less energy produced.
Imaging tests: your healthcare provider can order an ultrasound to assess the physical state of your thyroid.
Radioactive iodine scan: this is a test that measures how much radioactive iodine your thyroid absorbs after you ingest a predetermined amount.
The primary treatment for hypothyroidism is medication that replaces the hormones your own thyroid can’t make. If you’ve had your thyroid surgically removed, then you’ll likely be on medication for the rest of your life.
If your hypothyroidism came from a lack of iodine, then you’ll need to perform dietary changes. However, if your hypothyroidism came from Hashimoto’s disease, then you’ll need to be careful about how much iodine you take.
Conclusion
Both SAD and hypothyroidism are diagnoses that can manifest in various mood changes, but it’s important to listen to your body for any other symptoms you might be presenting.
Not only can it be potentially dangerous if you don’t have the proper treatment, knowing exactly what your diagnosis is means that the treatment plans your healthcare provider provides can be more effective overall.
After all, it isn’t improbable for you to have both, and so you should know the range of treatments you have available.
Sources
WebMD. Sunlight and Your Health. https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/ss/slideshow-sunlight-health-effects
WebMD. Depression, the Thyroid, and Hormones. https://www.webmd.com/depression/depression-the-thyroid-and-hormones
Medline Plus. Hypothyroidism. https://medlineplus.gov/hypothyroidism.html
Mayo Clinic. Hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hypothyroidism/symptoms-causes/syc-20350284 Assessed and Endorsed by the MedReport Medical Review Board