Thyroid Disease - Symptoms of an underactive thyroid and overactive thyroid

It is commonly agreed by experts that thyroid problems affect 10 - 15% of women. However, some believe that as many as one in two women may actually have thyroid impairment.

Thyroid problems are often misunderstood and branded unimportant, but the truth is, thyroid dysfunction can affect almost every aspect of health, so it is really necessary to understand more about your thyroid and what the symptoms are when something goes wrong.

It's a very small butterfly-shaped gland and it's located in your neck below the Adam's apple area and it's wrapped around your windpipe. It produces several hormones, the most important of which help oxygen to get into the cells of your body. Therefore your thyroid is the most important gland for metabolism.

Check the table below for most of the symptoms of an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism).

Tiredness is the most common. You feel like you never have enough sleep, or you need to sleep during the day.	Weight gain is also another good indicator if you find it difficult to lose weight despite proper diet and exercise.
Sensitivity to cold. You feel chilly in rooms which are at relatively normal temperatures. Others do not feel cold.	Difficulty in losing weight despite rigid adherence to a low grain diet - especially common in women.
You don't perspire (if you're a lady) or you don't sweat (if you're a man)!! It's decreased or non-existent in hot weather or during heavy exercise.	You feel depressed, down or sad.
You are losing hair, especially from the outer part of your eyebrows.	You are suffering from impaired memory.
You are suffering from constipation.	Your skin could be cold, rough, dry and scaly.
Your nails are breaking, splitting or are brittle.	Your hair is getting dry and/or tangled.

There are many side effects of a sluggish thyroid gland and the resulting slower metabolism. First of all, it affects your energy level greatly, and with a slower metabolism and subsequent reduction in activity (and energy) there is often unwanted weight gain. Unfortunately, a person's health is affected as well. Research shows that coconut oil can help with a lot of these problems.

There are no documented studies to show that coconut oil can help those with hyperthyroidism but it is thought that it may have a balancing effect. That is for those with hypothyroidism, it supports increased thyroid activity, and for those with hyperthyroidism it decreases activity. It has been observed that skinny people tend to gain weight with coconut oil, whilst overweight people are inclined to lose weight.

Symptoms Associated with Thyroid Dysfunction