What Is Primary Hypothyroidism?

What is primary hypothyroidism? In this video, Robert Constant, M.D., F.A.C.E., a board-certified clinical endocrinologist specializing in internal medicine and metabolism at the Diabetes and Endocrine Center of Orlando, discusses what primary hypothyroidism is and what symptoms typically accompany it.

”I'm a clinical endocrinologist at the Diabetes and Endocrine Center of Orlando,” says Dr. Constant. “As an endocrinologist, I'm a hormone specialist, and one of my areas of great interest is in thyroid disease. Patients have often asked me, and I also lecture commonly on the different types of thyroid disease that there are.”

“One of the most common thyroid diseases is primary hypothyroidism or an underactive thyroid. Interestingly, an underactive thyroid is a type of disease where if a patient is being followed appropriately, the physician may be aware the patient has hypothyroidism before they do. The testing that we do is extremely sensitive, and it can very often identify the disease even before the patient begins to have symptoms. It is not uncommon, however, for patients to come to their doctor with a constellation of symptoms for which we then diagnose thyroid disease.”

“The common symptoms that we look for are typically a patient with cold intolerance, a patient who feels like they're colder than their peers all the time. Everybody else is comfortable in the room, but they feel cold. That is particularly important if they notice that this is different than their personal norm. All of us have a certain set point for how we feel about different temperatures, and if that changes dramatically, that could signal an underactive thyroid.”

“These patients will also note problems with fatigue. Fatigue is a common problem that we see in primary hypothyroidism. It's a very non-specific symptom. There are many different kinds of problems that can cause fatigue, but the thyroid is certainly one of the foremost among them. We'll also note that patients can have a slower heart rate and maybe slightly lower blood pressure. They could have problems with constipation. They could notice dry skin or dry hair. These are the symptoms that we commonly see in patients who have primary hypothyroidism, particularly when these symptoms are seen together or as a collection of symptoms; they really point us to look at thyroid as a possible etiology.”