Heartburn, sweating, diarrhea, irritability, insomnia, weight loss, when these symptoms appear, many people are used to treat according to heart disease, enteritis, neurosis, but do not know that sometimes the root cause of these symptoms is in the thyroid gland. Recently, a survey showed that the rate of misdiagnosis of this disease as other diseases in the early stage was as high as 60%. Therefore, endocrinologists remind patients that hyperthyroidism should be distinguished from other diseases. Two years ago, Ms. Lin’s body became thinner and thinner, and her temper became more and more irritable, so her family and she thought it was menopause, so she didn’t pay much attention to it. A month ago, Ms. Lin suddenly developed weakness in her limbs, which then developed into flaccid paralysis. When she went to the neurology department of the hospital, the doctor treated her for familial hypokalemia-type periodic paralysis, but the results were not satisfactory. Her limb weakness was a common complication of hyperthyroidism – hypokalemic periodic paralysis – and her previous wasting and irritability were also related to this condition. After identifying the cause, the doctor promptly treated her symptomatically and provided intravenous potassium supplements, and now Ms. Lin’s limb weakness and other symptoms have subsided. When encountering hyperthyroidism, it is important to pay attention to screening before seeking medical attention. Hyperthyroidism is a systemic immune disease, but at the same time organ-specific, caused by the body’s production of thyroid-stimulating antibodies, which promote the synthesis and secretion of thyroid hormones. Patients with the disease tend to have symptoms such as panic attacks, increased heart rate, increased stool frequency, irritability, insomnia, weight loss, protruding eyes, and an enlarged thyroid gland. “Because the early symptoms of thyroid disease are not specific and can involve all systems, and thyroid disease is a relatively new disease, people do not know enough about the disease, so it is not uncommon for people like Ms. Lin to be misdiagnosed.” Sun Liangge said. There are several misdiagnoses: patients with increased stools and diarrhea are often misdiagnosed as enteritis, patients with panic attacks and increased heart rate are misdiagnosed as coronary heart disease, irritability and insomnia are misdiagnosed as neurological or psychiatric disorders or even schizophrenia, some patients with mucinous edema are misdiagnosed as filariasis, and some are misdiagnosed as diabetes or tuberculosis due to wasting. Since hyperthyroidism is easy to be misdiagnosed, patients with symptoms such as persistent diarrhea, insomnia or panic and rapid heart rate, and who are not well treated with symptomatic medications, may want to go to the endocrinology department for thyroid function tests. The diagnosis is usually confirmed by T3 and T4 tests, free T3 and free T4 tests, thyroid iodine uptake rate or thyroid antibody tests. According to Sun Liangge, there are three main methods of treatment for hyperthyroidism: oral medication, thyroid nucleotide therapy and surgery. For young patients or pregnant women, oral thiourea or imidazole drugs are generally used; patients who do not want to take medication and are older can consume iodine 131 isotope therapy to lower thyroid function; for a larger thyroid gland, surgery should be considered. Each of the three treatment methods has its own advantages and disadvantages: drug treatment is longer and sometimes there will be a decrease in white blood cells or abnormal liver function; thyroid nuclear therapy is more effective, but may cause irreversible hypothyroidism; and surgery to remove too much or too little tissue may lead to hypothyroidism or recurrence of the disease, damage to other tissues will also occur in the larynx nerve damage, resulting in dysphonia. Therefore, treatment should be chosen reasonably according to the condition under the guidance of a doctor. Pay attention to diet and regular review “For hyperthyroidism patients, it is important to pay attention to a diet low in iodine or forbidden to iodine, such as kelp, nori and other high iodine foods should be prohibited to avoid aggravating or triggering the disease.” Dr. Wang Huijun, chief physician of the Department of Endocrinology at Zhengzhou Fifth People’s Hospital, reminded. For patients taking oral medication, white blood cells should be monitored regularly and thyroid function should be checked every one and a half to two months, and the amount of medication should be adjusted according to the results. Because the medication can affect the fetus, women who are on treatment should not become pregnant. Pregnant women, nursing mothers, infants and children, and those with impaired liver and kidney function should not be treated with iodine isotopes. Patients with hyperthyroidism are generally irritable and easily get angry and lash out. Therefore, attention should also be paid to controlling emotions and keeping a happy mood in daily life to avoid triggering or aggravating the disease.