What is thyroiditis? Three major clinical manifestations of thyroiditis

Nowadays, thyroid disease has become a common disease that endangers human health, and thyroiditis is one of the types with the highest incidence. So, what is thyroiditis and what are the symptoms of thyroiditis?

What is thyroiditis?

Thyroiditis is a common thyroid disease with various clinical manifestations. The same type of thyroiditis can manifest not only as hyperthyroidism, but also as hypothyroidism, diffuse thyroid disease, and thyroid nodules at different stages of the disease. Sometimes different types of thyroiditis can transform into each other. Therefore, thyroiditis involves all aspects of thyroid diseases and needs to be differentiated from many thyroid diseases. It is of great significance to understand the various types and clinical characteristics of thyroiditis.

Clinical manifestations of thyroiditis:

1. Hashimoto's thyroiditis

The onset is slow, and the thyroid gland is often enlarged, hard, and has clear boundaries. Some patients may have compression symptoms. There is often no special feeling in the early stage, and the thyroid function may be normal. A small number of patients may have transient hyperthyroidism in the early stage, and most cases have hypothyroidism when they are discovered. Patients often show symptoms such as fear of cold, edema, fatigue, dry skin, abdominal distension, constipation, irregular menstruation, and decreased libido.

2. Subacute thyroiditis

The typical symptom is severe thyroid pain, which usually starts on one side of the thyroid gland and quickly radiates to other parts of the gland, the base of the ear, and the jaw. It is often accompanied by general discomfort, fatigue, muscle pain, and fever. The symptoms peak within 3 to 4 days after the onset of the disease and subside within 1 week. There are also many patients who have a slow onset, more than 1 to 2 weeks, and the condition fluctuates for 3 to 6 weeks. After improvement, there may be multiple relapses within a few months. The thyroid gland may increase in size by 2 to 3 times or even larger than normal, and there is obvious tenderness when touched. Within one week after the onset of the disease, about half of the patients will have symptoms of hyperthyroidism, such as excitement, heat intolerance, palpitations, tremors and sweating; these symptoms are caused by excessive release of thyroid hormone from the thyroid gland during acute inflammation. During the course of disease regression, a small number of patients may experience swelling, constipation, fear of cold, drowsiness and other symptoms of hypothyroidism, but these symptoms do not last long and eventually the thyroid function returns to normal.

3. Antithyroid

The thyroid gland is enlarged to varying degrees and is painless. There is a self-limited period of hyperthyroidism of several weeks, followed by a temporary hypothyroidism due to depletion of thyroid hormone stores, and finally, usually, euthyroidism. The hyperthyroid period may be brief or missed. The condition is not diagnosed until women develop hypothyroidism, which is occasionally permanent.