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Recent decades have seen an increase in the incidence of Hashimoto’s disease. Does it have to do with the reactor failure at a nuclear power plant beyond our eastern border?
Hashimoto’s disease usually affects people in their 50s and 60s. age. I mean, she attacked. At this age, women enter the menopause, so it is a period of intense hormonal changes for them: the balance of the whole organism changes and rebuilds itself. It is during this period that the most common types of autoimmune diseases develop – and these are Hashimoto’s. After the menopause, as many as a quarter of women develop this disease.
However, recent decades have brought some change: Hashimoto’s begins to develop in much younger women – already 15 percent. women between the ages of 20 and 30 suffer from it. It is true that the disease is favored by the period of pregnancy or the first menstruation (as large and important hormonal storms), but doctors also contribute to modernity in shifting the age of onset: haste, overwork, and stress match our thyroid glands. Especially the latter can have a negative impact on the immune system – and therefore on diseases related to its dysregulation.
A little thicker, a little more sleepy
Today, Hashimoto’s disease (i.e. chronic autoimmune thyroiditis) are diagnosed really often. This is good news, because it is better to have a diagnosed and treated Hashimoto’s disease than an undiagnosed one that affects the body. Hashimoto’s can develop asymptomatically for years, and the consequences are often very serious: they include difficulties in getting pregnant, the development of insulin resistance leading directly to the development of type 2 diabetes or atherosclerosis.
Hahsimoto diagnostics should start with a panel of laboratory tests, such as the package:
A person suffering from Hashimoto’s simply “slows down”: they become tired and apathetic, have trouble concentrating, have cold and dry skin, constipation, tolerate low temperatures worse, sleep more. Although it eats as much, it gets fatter. His research shows that he has lower cholesterol and triglyceride values. When diagnosed for thyroid function, he has abnormal TSH values and normal or low levels of the so-called peripheral hormones: thyroxine and triiodothyronine. At the same time, there are anti-TPO and anti -TG antibodies, i.e. antibodies produced by the body against the thyroid gland.
Also read: It does not hurt, but the whole body suffers. Unusual symptoms that should worry you
Chernobyl disease
Scientists have recently drawn attention to several facts. First: most cases of Hashimoto’s disease in Poland are located in the eastern territories, i.e. bordering with Ukraine and Belarus. Second: the number of sick people is growing rapidly. In the first half of 2014, an increase in the incidence of as much as 250% was recorded. compared to the first half of 2013. Research from 2017 indicates that about 700 suffer from Hashimoto’s. Poles. And third: the increase in the number of cases concerns especially women at the age of 40. There are also more and more cases of Hashimoto’s in young women in their twenties. The question was: could the increase in Hashimoto’s disease be related to the Chernobyl accident? It was then that the eastern territories of Poland were first exposed to the radioactive cloud. In the course of nuclear accidents, radioactive iodine isotopes are released into the environment. J131 is of the greatest importance. Its half-life (after this time it becomes “safe”) is about 8 days. If the thyroid gland, which traps iodine from the air, absorbs this radioactive iodine, it can be damaged. Meanwhile, the news of the Chernobyl accident was kept secret for some time. Therefore, the areas over which the radioactive cloud swelled the fastest, had the longest (the entire 8 days) contact with the radioactive isotope.
Also read: Thyroid – the devil in the human body
The area of Central and Eastern Europe is characterized by too little iodine for our health, so there is often the phenomenon of iodine deficiency. Hence, the thyroid glands of the inhabitants of this area have an increased index of the so-called iodine uptake – that is, the active capture of iodine from the environment and its storage in the thyroid gland (more iodine is stored than excreted). This means that after the Chernobyl explosion, large doses of the radioactive element were delivered to our thyroid glands, concentrating in them. And harming the thyroid glands for the entire 8 days, until it neutralizes J131. Perhaps this process was the reason why the thyroid gland developed Hashimoto’s disease after many years. Just as the Fukushima accident is suspected of causing many cases of thyroid cancer, especially papillary cancer.
Moreover, the XNUMX-year-olds, now falling almost en masse on Hashimoto, were then teenagers – so they had intensively developing, young organisms. But Hashimoto’s current twenty-year-old victims are simply their daughters – it is possible that the dangerous influence of the radioactive cloud has wreaked greater havoc on two successive generations.
Brown liquid from the glass
Another suspected of having a destructive effect on the thyroid gland is lugola liquid. It is an aqueous solution of pure iodine and potassium iodide. It was administered to everyone in the period just after the Chernobyl disaster – it was supposed to “fill” the thyroid with safe iodine so that it would no longer absorb radioactive iodine from the air. Its administration after a few days causes almost complete disappearance of iodine by the thyroid gland (the next day the amount of iodine absorbed decreased by 45%). Of course, he was only able to “fill” it if it was not “filled” with radioiodine yet – that is, if it was administered promptly. It is estimated that action “Lugol”, which was taken on the fourth day after the disaster, took 90 percent. children under 16 and every fourth adult Pole. The Chernobyl reactor released iodine for at least a week. Iodine was not only in the air, but also in food products: for some time after the accident, radioactive isotopes were found mainly in dairy products. It was later withdrawn from the market, allowing only powdered milk.
This meant that the risk of contact with the isotope lasted quite a long time. Children who are habitually given the largest amounts of milk were exposed to the greatest amounts of iodine. Hence, the dose absorbed by them was several times higher than in adults. So it’s no wonder that Hashimoto’s are getting thirty-year-olds today.
On the one hand, Lugol’s fluid saved the thyroid from J131 concentration. But on the other hand, scientists are wondering if Poles were simply administered too much of it. Lugol’s solution, depending on the dose, may inhibit or stimulate the activity of the thyroid gland. Meanwhile, many people, to protect themselves against radioactive iodine, took larger than necessary doses of this fluid. Some even took several doses. The excess of iodine could influence the development of autoimmune processes. Specialists from the Central Laboratory for Radiological Protection in Warsaw – the same ones who recommended the administration of Lugol to Poles in 1986 – stated years later that if they had the present knowledge about the scale of the contamination, they would not have carried out such an action.
Also read: Thyroid cancer – what do you need to know?
Daily tablet
After diagnosis of the disease, treatment begins. It is uncomplicated and consists in supplementing what our thyroid does not produce: a daily tablet containing the appropriate dose of the synthetic thyroid hormone, levothyroxine. The tablet should be taken on an empty stomach, half an hour before a meal – in this case absorption of the drug is most effective. Calcium iron preparations and popular drugs for heartburn (proton pump inhibitors) interfere with the absorption of levothyroxine and should be taken separately. You also need to have your blood tested for TSH every now and then to increase or decrease the dose of the hormone if necessary.
To support the functioning of the thyroid gland, it is worth supplementing selenium. At Medonet Market you can buy Selen SOLHERBS, which has a natural composition and is easily absorbed by the human body. We also recommend Hashima Forte for thyroid and immunity – a supplement containing vitamin B1, zinc, selenium, and vitamin D3.
Consultation: lek. med. Marek Braszkiewicz – specialist endocrinologist and diabetologist from CM ENEL-MED.
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