Not long ago, our neighboring country Japan was hit by a very serious earthquake and tsunami, and then caused a nuclear leak at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, the term “nuclear radiation” caused a great deal of panic, especially the “radiation will destroy the thyroid gland” rumor. But in fact, many people do not know where the thyroid gland grows in the body, and do not understand the physiological role of the thyroid gland, not to mention the performance of thyroid disease, so let’s start with a real case. The first thing that I’ve seen is that I’ve been envied by other girls, and that’s how I can’t get fat. I see that she eats a lot at every meal, but she can’t get fat. The first thing you need to do is to laugh about it. The company is also laughing about it. As the work pressure became greater, Zhang began to feel that she often panic, irritable, and increasingly thin, her husband was distressed, and took her to the hospital for a checkup, not to know, a checkup shocked, FT3, FT4 (free thyroxine) is very high, and TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) is extremely low, but really “hyperthyroidism “(“hyperthyroidism” for short)! Based on her condition, I prescribed two kinds of medications: Propylthiouracil (PTU) to control hyperthyroidism and Beta-Lock to relieve palpitations, and instructed her to check her thyroid function and blood count regularly and adjust her medication. At the beginning of the treatment, Xiao Zhang reported to the hospital on time and felt much better with her palpitations and wasting. But after a while, Zhang felt that it was too much trouble to go to the hospital all the time, so she stopped having regular checkups. Sometimes she forgot to take her medication, so she took her medication twice together and didn’t feel anything wrong. In addition to hyperthyroidism, there is another annoying thing bothering her, that is, she has not been able to conceive after 2 years of marriage, 28 years of age, which is not young, but the investigation can not find the reason, recently she often insomnia, and always feel weak during the day. Two days ago, the unit cold pandemic, has always been quite good health Zhang also launched a high fever, a few days to eat cold medicine is not good, had to go to the hospital drip, a blood check only to find that the white blood cells significantly reduced, FT3, FT4 significantly lower than normal values, TSH abnormally high. It turns out that because of the irregularity of Zhang’s medication, drug overdose, not only caused drug-related hypothyroidism with secondary infertility, but also caused hematopoietic system dysfunction, which almost led to a serious infection! She regretted it, but after careful treatment, she gradually recovered and her thyroid function returned to normal, and she gave birth to a beautiful baby at the end of last year. The thyroid gland grows in the front of our neck, three fingers above the clavicle, and is divided into two lobes, like the wings of a butterfly, with an isthmus in front of the trachea and, in some cases, a small conical lobe. Thyroid cells absorb iodine (I) from food and synthesize thyroxine, which is then released into the bloodstream. FT3 and FT4 are checked in hospitals to detect free thyroxine levels in the blood. Thyroxine is closely related to our daily metabolism. For women of childbearing age, thyroxine deficiency can cause infertility, and for children, it is an essential hormone for growth and development. The synthesis of thyroxine is not only influenced by iodine in food, but is also strictly regulated by the brain. TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) levels reflect the brain’s regulation of thyroxine in the body; if there is not enough thyroxine, TSH rises, and vice versa. As we can see from Zhang’s case, hyperthyroidism accelerates the metabolism of a person, resulting in weight loss, palpitations, and emotional agitation, as well as thickening of the neck, protruding eyes, menstrual disorders, and gastrointestinal disorders; while hypothyroidism results in weakness, swelling, lack of energy, and slow movement. Both hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism can cause infertility in women of childbearing age. Of course, the cure rate of hyperthyroidism is very high through reasonable and standardized medication, only a small number of people need to receive surgery or nuclear (I131) treatment, but in the treatment should follow the doctor’s instructions, and regularly recheck the blood indicators, not arbitrarily change the dosage of drugs, or long-term non-review, otherwise you will be like Xiao Zhang. The treatment of hypothyroidism is also very simple, because the technology of synthetic thyroxine is now very mature, just like calcium tablets for people who are deficient in calcium, if the synthetic thyroxine is not enough, it can be supplemented by oral thyroxine, and it is best absorbed when taken on an empty stomach. When taking thyroxine tablets, you should also pay attention to regular review, and if you experience palpitations and other discomfort, you should promptly communicate with your doctor to adjust the dose of the medication or take it in divided doses. In addition to hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism, there are also nodular goiter, thyroid adenoma and thyroid cancer, which can be treated effectively and reasonably with the advancement of medical technology. The prognosis is very good even for the horrible “cancer”, as long as it is detected early and treated with surgery at the right time. To be concerned about thyroid disease is to be concerned about our health and also the health of our next generation!