Thyroid Disease

This healthcast describes the special characteristics of thyroid disease in the elderly.

You will learn:

• How the signs and symptoms are so different from those in younger patients.
• The different ways we manage thyroid disease in the elderly.
• Why radioactive iodine may be better than anti-thyroid drugs in the elderly.

Length: 11 minutes (see below for listening options)

Please note:
The advice in these Healthcasts is no subsititue for the advice of your own physician. You should make no changes in your medical care based on this advice before checking with your physician.

There are several ways to listen:

1. Stream this podcast
2. Download this podcast (6 megabyte mp3)
3. Use your podcatching software to subscribe to the Dr. Rubin's Healthcast RSS feed. This is the best option as new Healthcasts will automatically be downloaded to your computer as they are published.
4. Use the controls on the gray bar below to play the podcast directly from this page. Play will begin a few seconds after you click the play icon. You can control the volume by clicking the vertical bars on the right side of the gray bar.

Special thanks to Monika Herzig for graciously allowing Dr. Rubin to use her music in his podcast.

Dr. Rubin's Healthcast is a production of PodcastConsulting.Net.

This Healthcast is all about large thyroid glands, whatever the cause. You will discover:

• The causes of a large gland or a bump on the thyroid called a nodule
• How to tell if your gland is large and whether it should concern you
• What you and your doctor should do about it

Length: 10 minutes

Please note:
The advice in these Healthcasts is no subsititue for the advice of your own physician. You should make no changes in your medical care based on this advice before checking with your physician.

There are several ways to listen:

1. Stream this podcast
2. Download this podcast (6.5 megabyte mp3)
3. Use your podcatching software to subscribe to the Dr. Rubin's Healthcast RSS feed. This is the best option as new Healthcasts will automatically be downloaded to your computer as they are published.
4. Use the controls on the gray bar below to play the podcast directly from this page. Play will begin a few seconds after you click the play icon. You can control the volume by clicking the vertical bars on the right side of the gray bar.

Special thanks to Monika Herzig for graciously allowing Dr. Rubin to use her music in his podcast.

Dr. Rubin's Healthcast is a production of PodcastConsulting.Net.

This Healthcast will tell you what you need to know to deal with hyperthyroidism, the condition in which the thyroid gland makes too much thyroid hormone. You will learn:

• The causes, signs and symptoms of hyperthyroidism and Graves' disease
• How you and your doctor diagnoses this illness
• The best current way to manage hyperthyroidism

Length: 16 minutes

Please note:
The advice in these Healthcasts is no subsititue for the advice of your own physician. You should make no changes in your medical care based on this advice before checking with your physician.

There are several ways to listen:

1. Stream this podcast
2. Download this podcast (15 megabyte mp3)
3. Use your podcatching software to subscribe to the Dr. Rubin's Healthcast RSS feed. This is the best option as new Healthcasts will automatically be downloaded to your computer as they are published.
4. Use the controls on the gray bar below to play the podcast directly from this page. Play will begin a few seconds after you click the play icon. You can control the volume by clicking the vertical bars on the right side of the gray bar.

Special thanks to Monika Herzig for graciously allowing Dr. Rubin to use her music in his podcast.

Dr. Rubin's Healthcast is a production of PodcastConsulting.Net.

This Healthcast is about hypothyroidism, the condition of low production of thyroid hormone, a condition that affects more than 20 million Americans and hundreds of millions of others outside the USA. It will tell you:

• The signs and symptoms of hypothyroidism
• The major causes
• The current treatment

Length: 16 minutes

Please note:
The advice in these Healthcasts is no subsititue for the advice of your own physician. You should make no changes in your medical care based on this advice before checking with your physician.

There are several ways to listen:

1. Stream this podcast
2. Download this podcast (11 megabyte mp3)
3. Use your podcatching software to subscribe to the Dr. Rubin's Healthcast RSS feed. This is the best option as new Healthcasts will automatically be downloaded to your computer as they are published.
4. Use the controls on the gray bar below to play the podcast directly from this page. Play will begin a few seconds after you click the play icon. You can control the volume by clicking the vertical bars on the right side of the gray bar.

Special thanks to Monika Herzig for graciously allowing Dr. Rubin to use her music in his podcast.

Dr. Rubin's Healthcast is a production of PodcastConsulting.Net.

"Introduction to the Thyroid" will tell you what you need to know about this important but rarely appreciated gland:

• How to locate it, what it looks like and how large it is
• How your body controls its function
• What it does generally and in every organ of your body

Length: 11 minutes

Please note:
The advice in these Healthcasts is no subsititue for the advice of your own physician. You should make no changes in your medical care based on this advice before checking with your physician.

There are several ways to listen:

1. Stream this podcast
2. Download this podcast (9 megabyte mp3)
3. Use your podcatching software to subscribe to the Dr. Rubin's Healthcast RSS feed. This is the best option as new Healthcasts will automatically be downloaded to your computer as they are published.
4. Use the controls on the gray bar below to play the podcast directly from this page. Play will begin a few seconds after you click the play icon. You can control the volume by clicking the vertical bars on the right side of the gray bar.

Special thanks to Monika Herzig for graciously allowing Dr. Rubin to use her music in his podcast.

Dr. Rubin's Healthcast is a production of PodcastConsulting.Net.

Hypothyroidism means your thyroid gland is not making enough thyroid hormone for your body's needs. Most of the hormone coming out of the thyroid is thyroxine (T4) and a much smaller amount of tri-iodothyronine (T3). The vast majority of patients will do fine given just T4 since the body can convert T4 into T3 to make up for missing T3. You take enough T4 to reduce the thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) level to normal. Changes in the level of T4 you take are checked with blood tests no more often than every 4 weeks.

The available preparations of T4 are:

• Levoxyl, a brand name for thyroxine.
  

The idea in treating hyperthyroidism is to reduce the amount of thyroid hormone in the blood to normal. There are three main ways of doing this:

• Antithyroid drugs include tapazole and propylthiouricil. These block the production of thyroid hormone and reduce the autoimmune reaction that is taking place. You usually have to stay on the drug for at least a year. They can cause a reduction in white blood cells, making you more prone to infections.
• Radioactive iodine (RAI) will concentrate in the thyroid gland and gradually destroy thyroid cells. Unfortunately it is not possible to know exactly how much RAI to give to just destroy enough cells to reduce thyroid hormone production to normal so most people end up with low thyroid function and have to take a pill for the rest of their lives.