10 Tell-Tale Signs That You Might Have Hypothyroidism

If you’re constantly sleepy and can’t lose weight, then it’s possible you have hypothyroidism, a condition that affects millions of people around the world. In the human body, the thyroid gland is a butterfly-shaped gland at the base of the neck that secretes two very important hormones – thyroxine and thyroid stimulating hormone. When hypothyroidism is present in an individual, levels of thyroxine are normal to low, whereas levels of thyroid stimulating hormone are elevated.

In turn, these hormone imbalances cause the pituitary gland to work harder than it normally should, as it tries to bring hormone levels back into balance. Thyroxine and thyroid-stimulating hormones are highly important because they regulate energy, body temperature, food digestion, and many major organs, such as the heart, brain liver, kidneys and skin.

 

In addition to sleepiness and the inability to lose weight, other symptoms of hypothyroidism include feeling foggy and sluggish. It is an incredibly prevalent condition, with about 10 million people in the USA alone being afflicted by it. 

 

Hypothyroidism can be caused by a number of things, such as genetic predisposition to an autoimmune disorder called Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. It can be diagnosed by a simple blood test, and can often be fixed with the right prescription. Here are 10 signs that you might have hypothyroidism:

1. Constant tiredness

 

While there are many causes for tiredness and fatigue, the symptoms are strongly linked to hypothyroidism. If hypothyroidism is the cause of these symptoms, they can be countered by exercising and increasing physical activity. 

 

2. Weight Gain 

If you’ve gained quite a bit of weight recently, but you’re at a loss as to why, then the cause might be hypothyroidism. The condition causes metabolic function to slow down. Even if you happen to be dieting and exercising regularly, you will not be able to lose any extra pounds, because your body accumulates water and salt when your thyroid is sluggish. 

 

3. Forgetfulness 

Cognitive function takes a hit when your thyroid isn’t working properly. Hormone imbalances as a result of this malfunctioning, can cause forgetfulness and poor memory. Seeing as this hormone deficiency or imbalance slows everything down, your neurological function could be affected after some time. 

 

4. High Cholesterol Levels

Although it isn’t typical for a doctor to look for thyroid problems during a check-up, they’re likely to measure cholesterol levels. If they are elevated, they could also point to a thyroid problem. This is because hypothyroidism can reduce clearance of cholesterol particles in the body. If you’re looking to lower these levels, a good food to try is overnight oats. 

 

 5. Little Interest in Love Making 

Having little to no interest in love making can also point to a thyroid disorder. This is because of the relationship between thyroid function and adrenal glands, which are the organs that control the responsible hormones, like testosterone. In a nutshell, low levels of thyroid hormones can also result in low levels of needed hormones. 

 

6. Feeling Gloomy or Depressed 

One of the more debilitating side-effects of hypothyroidism is feeling down in the dumps or depressed. While depression can, of course, be related to other things, it can be a sign of hypothyroidism, especially when it is experienced in conjunction with one or more of the other symptoms that are mentioned in this list. 

 

7. Dry Skin 

If you’ve desperately been trying to add moisture to your skin seemingly to no avail, it could also be a sign of a thyroid problem. Changes in texture and appearance could be as a result of low thyroid function. You should especially be concerned if your dry skin is compounded with brittle nails, poor wound healing and hair loss. Make it a priority to see a doctor if you’re experiencing these things in combination.

8. Constipation

Being unable to go can be caused by an under-active thyroid. Seeing as the thyroid gland regulates metabolism, under activity can slow down digestive tract action. This can also weaken the contraction of the muscles that line the digestive tract. This causes your stools to move through your intestine far too slowly. Eating fiber-rich foods can help with constipation, but if symptoms persist, then it’s time to head to your doctor. 

 

9. Sore Muscles 

If you exercise regularly, then it’s normal to experience muscle fatigue, however if the fatigue feels constant, it could be linked to a thyroid problem. The hormones that regulate metabolism can affect how your muscles feel if they are at low levels. To counter these symptoms, do low-impact exercises like elliptical stepping or swimming. Also, consider increasing the amount of fish in your diet. 

 

10. Feeling Cold 

Wearing many different layers in the middle of summer obviously isn’t normal, and if you’re doing so, you might be suffering from hypothyroidism. The thyroid gland regulates body temperature, and its function is affected if it is producing too little thyroid hormone. Body temperature tends to decrease as a result of this, because less energy is being burned by downstream cell targets. Less energy together with a slow metabolism means less heat.

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.   

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5 Possible Signs of ADHD in Adults

 Like a lot of people who use TikTok, Olivia Howell has noticed that her feed often offers up posts about attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Still, she never paid that much attention to them, until her sister DM’d her a video—which featured a woman’s chaotic inner monologue as she walked through her house—that struck a nerve. “I didn’t know other people lived like that in their head,” Howell tells SELF. After that, more ADHD-related videos that felt a little too familiar popped up on her feed (isn’t TikTok’s personalized algorithm scary-fun like that?), which prompted her to mention it to the psychiatrist treating her for anxiety. Unbeknownst to Howell, the two issues often occur together. She was diagnosed with ADHD shortly after.

Though Howell’s For You page helped clue her in to the potential signs of ADHD in adults, it’s something she (and most others diagnosed with the disorder later in life) have probably had since childhood, Lawrence A. Vitulano, PhD, ABPP, a clinical psychologist and professor of psychology at Yale University, tells SELF. How does that happen? The symptoms may not have been obvious to those around you—say, you got decent grades in school and were more likely to stare out the window than jump around a classroom—or it wasn’t until you had to plan your own schedule as an adult that it was clear how tough it is for you to stay on track.

If you do receive a diagnosis, it’s crucial to remember that ADHD is super treatable, Dr. Vitulano points out, which makes catching its symptoms, even in adulthood, sometimes life-changing. “This disorder, when it’s not managed, can be debilitating,” he says. “If you have diabetes, we treat it. If you have an infection, we treat it—and we want people to feel that way about ADHD.” Here are five (sometimes subtle) signs to be aware of.

1. You find yourself getting distracted by every. little. thing.

Although scientists aren’t entirely sure what causes ADHD, research suggests genetics plays a pretty big role. “It’s highly inheritable,” Dr. Vitulano explains. The disorder can show up in three major ways, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH):

• Inattention (difficulty staying focused)
• Hyperactivity (feeling restless or overly energetic)
• Impulsivity (acting without thinking much first)

To be diagnosed with ADHD as an adult, you need to have at least five symptoms that could fit into one or more of these categories (more deets on those in a bit). If you’ve had certain symptoms for at least six months (and some that started before age 12, even if you were never diagnosed) and you find that they interfere with your life, ADHD might be a potential cause to explore. The signs tend to show a little differently in adults, however, which makes detection later in life a little challenging. “I like to think of ADHD as a disorder of motivation,” Dr. Vitulano explains. “It’s really hard to be focused on what you want to get done.” This might look like swiveling your head each time the door opens at a coffee shop, but Dr. Vitulano says that diversion can be subtle. In adults, hyperactivity can also look like extreme restlessness, or you might wear other people out with a go-go-go mentality.

You could also feel scattered or forgetful. “Someone might send their significant other [with ADHD] to the grocery store and ask them to get five things, and they either come home with completely different things than what was asked for or just two of them,” Sid Khurana, MD, a psychiatrist with Nevada Mental Health, tells SELF.

2. Or you can’t seem to control where you steer your attention.

While people tend to think that ADHD is largely about lack of focus, sometimes your tendency to laser on to something can also be too intense, so much so that you can’t seem to control or direct it to other areas of your life. “Maybe you find yourself searching the internet for something for long periods and can’t get off or perhaps you play video games until the wee hours of the morning,” Dr. Khurana notes. Alternatively, you might put off large, long-term goals (say, scheduling health appointments or applying for jobs) in favor of smaller, less critical ones (reorganizing your desk or continuously refreshing your inbox). Basically, per Dr. Vitulano, you might have a hard time making and adhering to a schedule.

Most people can do a task for an allotted period and then move to another one (though, he acknowledges that modern life—with demanding work schedules and constant access to distracting smartphones—can make this difficult for everyone at times). But when you have ADHD, “it would be hard for you to keep a schedule and stay organized—you might get lost in what you’re doing and nothing else matters.”

3. You can’t stay on top of work deadlines—or a recent promotion has left you spiraling.

When Dr. Khurana diagnoses kids with ADHD, behavior in the classroom—where you have to stick to a schedule, follow rules, and navigate social norms—tends to really spotlight symptoms. When he diagnoses adults, the grown-up equivalent—work—tends to be where problems surface: In fact, people with ADHD are 60% more likely to be fired from a job and 30% more likely to have chronic employment problems than their peers without it, some research suggests.

“You’ll see a lot of people who do not finish projects on time or run late for meetings,” Dr. Khurana explains. “In meetings, they might seem very scattered, or they’re shuffling through papers, not organized, or missing deadlines.”

Still, Dr. Khurana says, you might be bright and high-achieving—he has ADHD patients who are physicians and engineers. But when your role changes or requires you to wear a lot of hats (say, you just got a promotion and now manage a big team with a lot of extra tasks beyond your day-to-day work, whether you run things in an office or a restaurant), that’s when the cracks might start to show, Dr. Vitulano notes: “When you’re faced with managing all these executive functions, that’s when ADHD really attacks.”

He says that this is also a big reason why some people go undiagnosed until adulthood. “They may have managed it pretty well because they had a good school system; a really strong, supportive family; and good friends—the symptoms kind of get covered up,” he explains.

It’s also important to note that, there’s a major gender discrepancy in ADHD diagnoses: Girls with the disorder, on average, tend to be more forgetful and disorganized, as opposed to hyperactive and impulsive, so when observing children, doctors don’t always detect it right away and are less likely to diagnose them. “The people around them will say ‘Yeah, she’s a B and C kid, that’s fine,’” Dr. Khurana says. “Those kids aren’t creating a ruckus in the class. The inattentive piece often goes more underdiagnosed, and the hyperactive and the impulsive [pieces] get more attention.”

4. You’re generally having a frustrating time in life (and you don’t know why).

According to Dr. Vitulano, when a person with undiagnosed, untreated ADHD needs help, they don’t usually list off classic symptoms (a.k.a. inattentiveness or hyperactivity). They might just feel like they’re not doing super well in life, or they’re easily discouraged during their day-to-day. “[Patients] will tell me, ‘I’ve worked so hard on this and I’ve got nothing done, why is this happening?” he says. “Or they might struggle with relationships and dating. It’s sometimes a response to disorganization and impulsivity.”

 For example, though Howell has always had career and academic success, “everyday tasks,” like paying bills, putting away clothes, or assembling things, used to bring her a lot of grief—and she had no idea why. “When everyone my age was learning to drive, I struggled with processing directions on a map, and it was frustrating,” she says.

Dr. Khurana adds that people with the condition might also seem “hotheaded” or have a “short fuse.” As you might imagine, living with an undiagnosed neurodevelopmental issue long after childhood can be really challenging and have a major impact on someone’s relationships and overall self-esteem, research shows.

Dr. Vitulano says it’s dangerous if you assume these setbacks are simply due to your own inadequacies, or if they make you overly self-critical or make you doubt your strengths and capabilities. “This can increase the risk of [misusing substances] and employment problems,” he says. “It can really lead to a more difficult life.”

5. You have another mental health condition.

Although lots of social media posts suggest that ADHD is easy to identify, the opposite is actually true. “Just by looking at someone, it’s very hard,” Dr. Vitulano notes. There’s also no single test that a doctor can use to make the call. One thing to consider, however, is whether you’re already dealing with another mental health condition in addition to some of the symptoms above. “About half of people with ADHD have another diagnosis,” Dr. Vitulano explains. This can include anxiety (as Howell has), but the disorder is closely linked to depression and bipolar disorder too.

Regardless, if you’re feeling off, it’s important to speak up, per Dr. Vitulano: “If [the treatments] you’ve tried haven’t worked, then it’s time to consult someone. There’s absolutely no shame in it.”

Since being treated for her ADHD—a mixture of therapy and medication, which is common for people with the condition—Howell has seen major improvements in her day-to-day. “It’s been incredibly validating knowing that not only is there nothing wrong with me, that there are other people like me in this world,” she says. “Going on medication has helped the anxious chatter in my brain a lot, which has allowed me to slow down and pursue hobbies, create art, and be a better friend and listener.”

 

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.   

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Feeling extra forgetful lately? These might be the reason

These might be the reasons

Forgetting where you kept the house keys last night or the name of the person you met yesterday, does not indicate that you are losing your memory lately. It is obvious to forget some small things while dealing with other prominent issues.

But if you often spend hours recalling things that took place around you, then it is a warning sign that something is not right. Some extent of memory loss is common with ageing, but not when you are in your 30s and 40s. The decline in memory is not always linked with chronic mental health issues like Alzheimer's and dementia. Often it is a result of our negligence or lifestyle habits. If you are being too forgetful these days, here are some reasons behind it. 

Excessive alcohol intake

Alcohol does not only harm your liver but can affect your brain. Drinking too much alcohol on a single occasion interferes with the brain's communication pathways, which affect the way brain works. Excessive alcohol intake at a night often makes us forgetful. Studies also suggest that chronic alcoholism can seriously impair your mental abilities.

Low Vitamin B12

This might come as a surprise to many, but your diet also has a connection with your memory. Low vitamin B12, which is an essential nutrient required by the body, can also mess up with your memory. Vitamin B12 is required to maintain healthy nerve cells and red blood cells in the body. To avoid the problem of forgetfulness increase your vitamin B12 level.

​Depression

Forgetfulness can be a sign or the consequence of depression. When you are in grief and get disinterested in your surroundings, it becomes impossible to recall things taking place around you. Depression actually reshapes some portion of your brain, affecting their functioning, thinking speed, attention span and problem-solving ability.

Medications

If you are worried about your habit of forgetting things, first of all, review the medicines you are taking. Some medications can significantly affect your ability to remember and think clearly. Even if you are taking the right dose as prescribed by the doctor, impact on your memory is unavoidable. Drugs like acetylcholine, Cyclobenzaprine and several other depression drugs can mess up with your memory.

​Underactive thyroid

An underactive thyroid gland can also result in memory loss and mental fog. If you are witnessing any decline in your memory lately, get your thyroid level tested. Get yourself diagnosed if you experience other symptoms of thyroid. Treating your underactive thyroid can enhance your memory and concentration.

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     

https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  
https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement