Information from Your Family Doctor

Hashimoto's Disease: What It Is and How It's Treated

Am Fam Physician. 2000 Feb 15;61(4):1054.

See related article on thyroiditis.

What is Hashimoto's disease?

Hashimoto's disease is a problem of the thyroid gland. The thyroid gland in your neck controls the way your body uses energy. When you have Hashimoto's disease, your thyroid gland doesn't work right.

What are the symptoms of Hashimoto's disease?

Many people with this problem have no symptoms. An ordinary blood test may just show a thyroid hormone imbalance. Because the thyroid gland may grow, you may have a feeling of fullness or tightness in your throat. You may have trouble swallowing food or liquids. You might have a swelling (a bump) in the front of your neck. Some people with Hashimoto's disease have symptoms such as tiredness, forgetfulness, depression, coarse dry skin, slow heartbeat, weight gain, constipation and intolerance to cold. A blood test can tell if your thyroid gland is underactive. Other blood tests can be done to look for Hashimoto's disease.

Who gets Hashimoto's disease?

Although Hashimoto's disease can affect people of all ages, it's most common in women in their 30s and 40s. If someone in your family has had thyroid disease, you may have an increased risk for Hashimoto's disease. No one is sure why people get Hashimoto's disease.

How is Hashimoto's disease treated?

Hashimoto's disease has no cure. However, your doctor can treat low thyroid function so you probably won't have any long-term effects.

Thyroid medicine can replace the hormone your thyroid gland usually makes. The amount of time you will need to take this medicine depends on the results of your blood tests. Thyroid hormone medicine causes no problems in most people.

Taking your thyroid medicine and having regular blood tests to see how your thyroid gland is working can help prevent symptoms like tiredness, weight gain and constipation.

Where can I get more information?

You can find out more about Hashimoto's disease from these organizations:

Thyroid Foundation of America, Inc.

350 Ruth Sleeper Hall, RSL 350

40 Parkman Street

Boston, MA 02114-2698

Telephone: 1-800-832-8321 or 1-617-726-8500

Web site: www.tsh.org

National Organization for Rare Disorders, Inc.

(NORD)

P.O. Box 8923

New Fairfield, CT 06812-8923

Telephone: 1-800-999-6673 (voicemail only)

or 1-203-746-6518

Web site: www.rarediseases.org

This handout is provided to you by your family doctor and the American Academy of Family Physicians. Other health-related information is available from the AAFP online at http://familydoctor.org.

This information provides a general overview and may not apply to everyone. Talk to your family doctor to find out if this information applies to you and to get more information on this subject.

Copyright © 2000 by the American Academy of Family Physicians.
This content is owned by the AAFP. A person viewing it online may make one printout of the material and may use that printout only for his or her personal, non-commercial reference. This material may not otherwise be downloaded, copied, printed, stored, transmitted or reproduced in any medium, whether now known or later invented, except as authorized in writing by the AAFP. Contact afpserv@aafp.org for copyright questions and/or permission requests.