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You can try your hand at Past Puzzlers, too!
Last Week's Question: The Scenario:
Two college roomates, Tracy and Sarah, were best friends. They had known each other since childhood, knew each other's personalities intimately, and both had been in excellent health. Gradually, however, Sarah began to notice that something wasn't quite right about her friend. It was hard to put a finger on at first, but when she looked back at a photograph of the two of them at high school graduation she could see that Tracy had put on some weight. She seemed to always complain of being cold, and it was getting harder and harder to get her to go out and do the things they liked to do together. Tracy just always complained of being too tired.
As time went on, Sarah became more concerned. Her friend seemed to be getting depressed. She also developed some weird symptoms including dry skin, and a hoarse voice; and for some reason her periods were much heavier than normal. Even her hair seemed coarse and dry now. Finally, her grades began to suffer, and Sarah decided to get some help.
She brought her friend to their school's counseling service. She was seen a couple of times by the counselor, who then put her on Prozac (an anti-depressant).
Questions:
Last Week's Answer: Last week's puzzler was a hard one. Yet, it is amazing how often people come into the office to ask whether they've got the right answer. The diagnosis is hypothyroidism, or in other words, an underactive thyroid gland.
The thyroid gland, located at the base of your throat (above your breast bone) can be thought of very much like the throttle of an engine. It regulates the body's metabolic rate. If it is overactive everything speeds up. If it is underactive, everything slows down. In this case, the underactive thyroid caused fatigue, weakness, weight gain, depression, dry skin, coarsening of the hair, intolerance of the cold, etc. In severe cases, a persons thinking can be impaired. If she were hyperactive instead, then you might expect to see weight loss, shakiness (like too much caffeine), diarrhea, intolerance of the heat, oily skin and hair, heart palpitations, etc.
Fatigue is one of the most common complaints heard. Many people ask whether it could be caused by an underactive thyroid. However, in the vast majority of instances, it is due to something else, such as stress, or a very busy lifestyle.
Because our woman's depression was caused by hypothyroidism, she would not be expected to improve by taking anti-depressant medications such as Prozac. Instead, the problem is easy to treat by taking daily thyroid hormone supplements.
Bonus Question: Often, hypothyroidism is accompanied by an enlargement of the thyroid gland. What do you call this enlargement?
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