A person who suspects he may have a thyroid disease or disorder should never attempt to self-diagnose because there are medical conditions that can have similar symptoms. While this is an important fact to consider, there are also things a person can do to help monitor his body for signs and symptoms that might point to a thyroid problem.
Patients can add any findings via these tests to their discussion with a qualified MD, who can make a definitive diagnosis through additional testing or rule-out thyroid issues as being the problem. The following subheadings list three areas of self-tests or observations that can aid in reports a patient relates to his doctor. Some may be more reliable than others but none of them are harmful or dangerous and may actually help to identify thyroid-related problems in some cases.
Iodine Spot Test
Some medical sources have stated that a drop of iodine placed on an area of soft skin on the body and then observed to see how quickly it is absorbed, can help indicate how well the thyroid is functioning. A product with high iodine content is suggested for this test, such as the “Lugol’s Solution” brand that leaves a goldish colored spot on the skin when a drop is placed on the inside of the upper arm.
If a drop of iodine placed on the skin absorbs (disappears) within an hour or two rather than remaining for approximately 18 hours, this may indicate that the thyroid is lacking enough healthy tissue within it to absorb an adequate amount of iodine from foods eaten. The body responds by immediately sending any iodine in the body to the gland, in attempt to increase thyroid function. The test may also help indicate when hypothyroidism is caused by iodine deficiency.
Observing Myxedema
This condition associated with both hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism, causes fluid to build in tissues of the body. The term was used to also describe the overall symptoms of hypothyroidism for many years, going back to the earliest days of diagnosing thyroid disorders. It is most commonly found in patients with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, the autoimmune cause of hypothyroidism. Rather than simply being water retention, the tissues will actually begin to expand due to increase of mucus in the membranes and damage to tissues and scarring of them can occur in some cases.
This reaction in the body, to thyroid hormone imbalance, causes a puffy appearance in the face and will also cause areas of the body to have a thicker texture to them which can sometimes be felt by lightly pinching soft areas of the epidermis (deep skin areas), such as the outside of the upper arms. It can sometimes also be detected by pressing these areas of the skin with a fingertip for a few seconds and seeing if it leaves a yellowish mark or an indentation on the skin. The most obvious way to detect myxedema however is by simply observing any signs of swelling in the body that will be most obvious in the face and in the extremities (legs and arms).
Monitoring Basal Body Temperature
This method for detecting low body temperature which can be somewhat subtle in mild to moderate hypothyroid conditions, requires checking it upon first waking in the morning using a basal body thermometer (BBT). This type is different from typical temperature types used to detect fever and have a different normal range and measurement intervals on them for detecting very mild body temperature changes. Abnormally low body temperature can be one indicator of a slowed metabolism caused by a lack of thyroid hormone in the body.
Basal thermometers are used to help determine times of earliest ovulation in women attempting pregnancy but who are experiencing fertility problems of their own or that of their spouses and the best time for impregnation is being determined. They can also help detect abnormal body temperatures in people experiencing thyroid hormone imbalances. Earliest wake-time readings are taken for several mornings and the temperatures are recorded to see if below-normal, borderline-low or low-normal readings occur, indicating possible hypothyroidism.
Diagnosis Comes Through Qualified Physicians
Before the advent of thyroid blood testing, the basal body temperature method and observing patients for signs of myxedema were used often in helping determine metabolic problems in the body caused by thyroid dysfunction. One medical researcher who became well-known for these methods was Professor Broda O. Barnes MD, whose research is being continued to this day at a research institute named after him. None of these methods addressed above should replace diagnosis by a qualified doctor and should simply be viewed as preliminary methods, with blood testing and other diagnostic tests being those that obtain definitive diagnoses.
See the related article on the subject of Goiter and Thyroid Nodule Self-Examination.
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