Low Thyroid Hormone? What's The Link?

Your thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland at the lower front of your neck. It acts like the body's thermostat and impacts almost every system in your body. When this gland begins producing lower amounts of the thyroid hormone Thyroxine it is called Hypothyroidism. Both men and women can develop this, however, women are about 5 times more likely to suffer from it. It can occur at any age and once it develops it almost always becomes a lifelong condition.

Once diagnosed, you will likely be prescribed some version of the drug Levothyroxine Sodium, or Synthroid.  Dosage varies, depending on individual levels of the hormone as a result of your blood tests.

I have discovered an excellent resource on this subject and wanted to share it with you.  Please check out Dana Trentini's blog called Hypothyroid Mom.  Dana talks about everything you ever wanted to know about this condition, its symptoms and effects on your body, and how to live better with the condition!

So what is the link to breast cancer?  In the early 1970's studies began to show that women with thyroid disease had an increased risk of developing breast cancer over those women who did not have thyroid problems. Studies today continue to confirm this link. Treatments for breast cancer patients, such as slowing down the production of the estrogen hormone - which disrupts the delicate balance of all hormones in the body - can also cause thyroid disease, which was true in my case.

Perhaps I already suffered from hypothyroidism and it went undiagnosed until my breast cancer diagnosis, but it did not show up in my blood tests until after I was taking the anti-hormone Tamoxifen.  This threw my body into early, medically-induced menopause and upset that delicate balance.  Now I take Levothyroxine Sodium everyday for probably the rest of my life.

As you will learn by reading Dana's blog mentioned above, there are a multitude of symptoms that you might suffer from, which would indicate hypothyroidism, but it is in your best interest to get a simple blood test now!  There are also some pretty scary effects it can have on your body so please please, ask your doctor to test you as soon as possible!


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