Clear guidelines to diagnose thyroid conditions

[Nanaedake]

If you can forgive minor grammatical transgressions then these are good descriptions of the various forms of thyroid disease and how they should be diagnosed. They seem to be clear and simple instead of all the many pages of technical terms in other guidelines. Additionally, Hashimotos is clearly defined. That's not surprising since Japan is the country where Physician Hashimoto, who first described the disease, was born and died.

japanthyroid.jp/en/guidelin...

[greygoose]

I think Hashimoto discovered the disease in Germany...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakar...

[Nanaedake in reply to greygoose]

Ah, hah, you could be right, he did work with a German guy...well, interestingly, the Japanese guidelines mention it.

[crabapple]

A couple of points:

Firstly those are from 2010 - we are way behind!

Quote

Guidelines for the Diagnosis of Hypothyroidism

【Primary hypothyroidism】

Findings

a）Clinical findings

Any one of the symptoms and/or signs indicating hypothyroidism, which include loss of ambition, fatigue, periorbital puffiness, cold intolerance, weight gain, slow movements, drowsiness, memory impairment, constipation, and hoarseness.

b）Laboratory findings

Decrease in serum free thyroxine (FT4) and increase in serum thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH)

Criteria

1）A patient shall be said to have primary hypothyroidism if he/she has satisfied the criteria a) and b)

Secondly "Clinical findings Any one of the symptoms..." ANY ONE. Don't mean to shout but can you imagine trying to get that accepted by one of our that-could-be-caused-by-anything trained GPs.

[Nanaedake in reply to crabapple]

I like the reference to loss of ambition which would never be considered a symptom of a physical illness in the UK but is considered out of the ordinary and worth investigating further for a physical cause in Japan

I think in the UK, the doctor would pack you off with anti-d's and probably laugh you out the door if you said you'd lost all ambition and thought it might have a physical cause.

[crabapple in reply to Nanaedake]

I think a missing get-up-and-go counts as "loss of ambition". And how many times do we hear about that?

[helvella Administrator]

Nanaedake,

"minor grammatical transgressions" are ever so much easier to forgive than major knowledge, understanding and compassion deficits.