Why take hormones after thyroid cancer treatment?

The thyroid is the body’s largest endocrine gland, butterfly-shaped, located behind the trachea. This organ secretes the thyroid hormones Thyroxine (T4) and Triiodothyronine (T3).

Thyroid hormones affect almost every organ system in the body, including the central nervous system, bones, blood sugar levels, and metabolism. They regulate the rate at which the body uses calories, influence weight, heart rate, temperature, brain development, and control the rate at which new cells are created to replace dead cells.

People with thyroid hormone deficiency often experience fatigue, headaches, forgetfulness, mood swings, dry skin and hair, and menstrual disorders. Over time, this can develop into diseases such as goiter, cardiovascular disease, mental illness, peripheral neuropathy, myxedema, infertility, and birth defects.

People with excess thyroid hormone often lose weight quickly, have diarrhea or go to the toilet more often, have sudden paralysis in the legs, insomnia, and sensitivity to light. They are at high risk of developing thyroiditis, goiter, and thyroid cancer.

After total thyroidectomy, the patient is prescribed lifelong thyroid hormone replacement therapy to replace the hormones produced by the thyroid gland, avoiding the risk of hypothyroidism.

This medicine helps the patient’s body maintain normal metabolism, reducing the risk of goiter recurrence. The dosage is calculated by the doctor based on the weight, needs, age, response level and test results of each patient. You should take the medicine as prescribed by your doctor, absolutely do not take the prescription of another patient, do not increase or decrease the dose yourself.

Thyroid hormone drugs do not affect other organs in the body, such as the kidneys, liver… However, taking too little or too much can easily lead to hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism, causing symptoms such as weight loss, anxiety, palpitations, sweating, tremors, headaches, and insomnia.

When noticing abnormalities in the body, the patient needs to notify the doctor, have a follow-up examination and perform a periodic test to check the thyroid hormone concentration in the blood so that the doctor can adjust the appropriate dose of medication for each stage.