Xiaomei just had her own baby six months ago. Who would think that after becoming a mother, Xiaomei’s temperament has changed greatly. She has always been gentle and lovely. She has become anxious and irritable. She is always furious and often afraid of heat and palpitation.
At first, Xiaomei felt that she might be too tired to take care of the children. After more than a month, she changed from short-tempered to depressed and did not think about tea or food.
Xiaomei thought she had depression and hurried to the hospital.
As soon as the doctor examined, he found that Xiaomei had [postpartum thyroiditis]. All kinds of abnormalities after Xiaomei gave birth to the child were related to this disease. How should these emotional instability and physical discomfort be treated?
Postpartum, thyroid gland can also be injured.
[Postpartum thyroiditis] is not caused by what infection in thyroid gland, but by postpartum immune system disorder.
During pregnancy, due to the presence of the fetus in the belly, the mother’s own immune system often makes compromises to prevent the immune system from hurting the fetus. After delivery, the immune response will gradually return to normal.
In this process, antibodies related to thyroid gland will also increase and attack thyroid gland.
After the thyroid gland is attacked, a series of clinical manifestations appear in the human body:
Destruction period: Thyroid gland is like a factory. After being attacked, thyroid hormone stored in the warehouse will be released in large quantities, and thyroid hormone in blood will exceed the standard, resulting in hyperthyroidism symptoms, such as palpitation, fear of heat, impatience, etc.
Decline: The stored thyroid hormone is gradually released, the thyroid function has not recovered, and not enough thyroid hormone is synthesized.
The stock ran out, but the production line did not keep up, so the concentration of thyroxine in the blood began to drop.
The patient changed from hyperthyroidism to hypothyroidism, with symptoms such as fear of cold, fatigue, constipation and depression.
Repair period: As the immune system returns to normal, the thyroid gland gradually repairs itself, the thyroxine level in the blood also returns to normal, and the symptoms of the patient gradually disappear.
However, there are also very few patients who will not enter the [repair period] and may suffer from permanent hypothyroidism.
The manifestations of a considerable number of patients are not so typical. 35% of clinical patients quickly entered the [repair period] from the [destruction period], with only hyperthyroidism. Another 40% of the patients [destruction period] is extremely short, hyperthyroidism is mild, and hypothyroidism is the main symptom.
Postpartum mothers pay more attention to their babies, often ignoring their own discomfort, coupled with atypical symptoms, unexpected thyroid problems, often mistaken for taking care of the children is too tired, may delay medical treatment.
Self-recovery does not mean no need for medical treatment.
Many people think that since postpartum thyroiditis can recover by itself, there is no need to go to the hospital.
This view is wrong. Intervention by medical means can improve the quality of life of new mothers and enable them to better adapt to postpartum life, which is beneficial to both new mothers and babies.
In the [destruction period], excessive thyroxine in the blood causes metabolic increase, heart rate acceleration, etc., which is unfavorable to the cardiovascular system. At this time, in addition to giving low iodine diet according to the dietary standard of hyperthyroidism, drugs can also be used to improve symptoms such as palpitation, hand shaking, fear of heat, etc.
During the recession period, the metabolism of various organs and systems will also be affected. If oral thyroid hormone supplement is given, depression, fatigue, constipation and other conditions can be effectively improved.
Oral thyroid hormone will not affect breast feeding. After thyroid function is normal, the drug can be gradually stopped without affecting the health and quality of life in the future.
It is worth noting that there are still a very small number of postpartum thyroiditis patients who will suffer from permanent hypothyroidism and need to take thyroxine for life.
If these patients do not seek medical treatment in time, they may have a great impact on their health.
Does postpartum thyroiditis have signs of what?
Within one year after delivery, if there are symptoms such as palpitation, fear of heat, weight loss, hand shaking, neck thickening, or obvious symptoms such as fear of cold, fatigue, constipation, depression, etc., we should be on guard against postpartum thyroiditis.
In addition, the antibody that is most harmful to thyroid gland is thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPO-Ab).
Thyroid function and TPO-Ab have been taken as routine items in prenatal examination in many places.
If there are persistent positive TPO-Ab during prenatal examination, the risk of postpartum thyroiditis is relatively high, and permanent hypothyroidism is easy to occur. Therefore, parturients with persistent positive TPO-Ab for many times during prenatal examination can check thyroid function in 2, 4, 6 and 12 months after delivery to find abnormalities in time.
Editor: Zhang Jingyuan
Author: Xu Naijia
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