Thyroid

The thyroid gland is a small gland that does a big job. The thyroid gland is about two inches wide and fits next to the skin underneath the Adams apple. The thyroid gland secretes hormones that control the speed or metabolism of the body's function The thyroid gland does this by causing all the body’s cells and tissues to produce proteins and by giving cells more oxygen. As the cells speed up so do body organs speed up. Iodine is an element in food and water that is necessary for the thyroid to produce hormones. The thyroid gland must work closely with the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland. The hypothalamus is located just above the pituitary in the brain and the hypothalamus stimulates the thyroid with thyroid stimulating hormones. The pituitary gland regulates the amount of hormones by slowing down when the hormones reach a certain level in the circulatory system. In effect, the thyroid gland, with help from the pituitary gland and the hypothalamus, is the engine that drives the body and regulates its speed.

The doctor must use laboratory tests to determine how well the thyroid is working. One of the first and most important tests is to measure the thyroid stimulating hormones in the blood. The thyroid is under active if this measurement is high because this indicates that the thyroid needs to produce more hormones. There are other tests to determine when the thyroid is not functioning to see if it is a pituitary gland problem or a hypothalamus problem.

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