A low thyroid function affects every cell in the body, causing your entire body to slow down and resulting in a multitude of undesirable symptoms.
Sadly, low thyroid function affects millions of people around the world who are never properly diagnosed. It is 8 times more common in females than in males, and a much higher percentage of women over 60 are affected.
You’ve probably never even heard of Thyroxine or Triiodothyronine, but they are important hormones that control your metabolic processes and influence physical development.
The production of Thyroxine and Triiodothyronine is a multi-stage process that requires several parts of your body to interact correctly. If any one of these steps goes wrong, the resulting condition is likely to be Hypothyroidism, otherwise known as Low Thyroid Function or an Underactive Thyroid.
In people with normal Thyroid function, this 3-stage process is followed:
Each of the above three steps can go wrong in some way and cause Hypothyroidism. Hence there are 3 different versions of the condition, as follows:
Primary
Primary Hypothyroidism occurs when a problem with the thyroid itself results in reduced Thyroxine and Triiodothyronine production.
Secondary
Secondary Hypothyroidism occurs when the pituitary gland releases insufficient Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH).
The thyroid then receives the wrong instructions and produces reduced levels of Thyroxine and Triiodothyronine.
This is normally caused by a damaged pituitary gland.
Tertiary
Tertiary Hypothyroidism occurs in the first stage of the thyroid hormone-producing process. The hypothalamus releases too little
Thyrotropin Releasing Hormone (TRH), which then prevents the pituitary gland and thyroid from performing their jobs properly too.
