One of the most common dysfunction in the health of any women is a Thyroid dysfunction. Changes in how well your thyroid gland works starts only during or after pregnancy in women who never had it before. This happens because pregnancy causes some vital changes in the levels of hormones produced by your body.
When you have your thyroid gland producing too much of thyroid hormones T3 and T4, it is known as the overactive thyroid or hyperthyroidism. This problem as well causes severely low levels of thyroid stimulating hormone or even known as TSH, which is the hormone that tells our thyroid gland to produce T3 and T4. An overactive thyroid steadily increases metabolism and often affects women ages 20 to 40, or in other words affects the childbearing years of women.
It is however true that Hyperthyroidism in Pregnancy, is definitely not a common condition. Yet it is not uncommon as well. It is also said that the symptoms of thyroid are usually overlooked during pregnancy, since they resemble with the mimic hormonal changes which a women has in normal pregnancy, for instance feeling too much fatigue, warm or even anxious. The major reason is that if left untreated then Hyperthyroidism can pose a severe risk to both mother and the baby. The risk of high blood pressure along with miscarriage and premature birth are all counted under this particular genre.
What Causes for Maternal Hyperthyroidism?
If we look out for the causes of Hyperthyroidism in women, then one of the most common cause is Grave’s Disease. This is one of the disease which befalls when the immune system of our body becomes overactive, thereby forming antibodies to attack the Thyroid Gland. This therefore makes the gland to expand and therefore producing too much of thyroid hormone. Most of the women usually discovers it before they get pregnant.
At times there are certain instances when women may develop temporary hyperthyroidism, with severe nausea and vomiting or those who are expecting twins. This is more commonly known as transient gestational thyrotoxicosis, which is usually caused owing to the high levels of pregnancy hormone called human chorionic gonadotropin or HCG. When considered it has been noticed that it individually resolves by week 14 to 18 of pregnancy, without women getting antithyroid drugs to treat the condition.
Hyperthyroidism in pregnancy sometimes, even starts during pregnancy when nodules or some small lumps develops in the thyroid. Too many nodules makes too much of thyroid.
The thyroid also becomes overactive after childbirth. In the first year itself almost 7% of women get postpartum thyroiditis, and therefore hyperthyroidism begins. Usually it gets cured without treatment within few weeks or months. But sometimes owing to inflammation it leads to hypothyroidism.
What are the Symptoms of Hyperthyroidism in Pregnancy?
The Symptoms of hyperthyroidism during pregnancy are almost same with some exceptions such as:
• Feeling too hot when the conditions are comfortable
• The rapid amount of heartbeat
• Severely trembling hands
• At times some excessive weight loss even eating enough amount of food
• Tiredness or even trouble sleeping
• The feeling continuous irritation and anxious
