The endocrine gland present in your neck is called the thyroid gland. Its function is to secrete hormones in your blood. These hormones are very important for the normal functioning of the cells in your body. These hormones are namely thyroxin and triiodothyronine. This gland is like a butterfly in shape.  The thyroid gland uses iodine from your diet I order to make the two important thyroid hormones. These hormones help us to regulate Various body functions like heartbeat and heart rate, breathing, change in your body weight, levels of cholesterol and so much more. It is also connected to the central and peripheral nervous system.   Today we will discuss 11 Thyroid Symptoms in Men (1).

What is Thyroid?

The thyroid is a disease which is usually caused due to the dysfunction of the thyroid gland. The thyroid gland produces hormones which are responsible for maintenance of your body metabolism. It’s a very common disease which is found mostly in adults. Any hyper or hypofunction of the gland produces abnormalities which lead to the thyroid disease. This disease can enlarge your thyroid gland which produces symptoms which directly relates with the size of this organ and can also cause discomfort in the front of your neck or it might create difficulty for you to swallow your food (2).

11 Thyroid Symptoms in Men

Thyroid has many symptoms which are mostly related. As the thyroid gland is connected to the nervous system of our body as well, one small dysfunction can create a lot of changes in your body which are very painful and troublesome. The symptoms are as follows:

1. Weight Gain

If you’re suffering from Thyroid disease, there’s a high probability for you to gain some extra weight. It is one of the most common symptoms. It is seen if you have low levels of the thyroid hormones. This condition of an explained increase in weight is called hypothyroidism in medical terms. Most of this weight gain is associated with the excessive amount of salt and water in your body. Anyway, a massive amount of weight gain is rarely observed. In general, only 5 to 10 pounds of your body weight is increased which again depends on how severe the case is.

2. Throat Swelling

Having a swollen throat is again a very common symptom observed in people with thyroid. This creates a discomfort in front of your neck and can also lead to troubles with the swallowing of your food. This is because of goiter which can be caused either due to the hyper or hypofunction of your thyroid gland. A goiter is nothing but an enlargement of your thyroid gland. In severe cases, it can also lead tumors or formation of nodules within the thyroid gland. If it gets worse, it can cause you various troubles and is very painful as well.

3. Constipation

Constipation is mainly suffered by people having hypothyroidism i.e. Low levels of the thyroid hormones. In this condition, your body systems get slowed down which creates a major impact on your digestion and egestion of your food. As a result, you might suffer from chronic constipation. The muscle lines of your digestive tract are slowed down including the small and the large intestine.  In order to avoid this, you should always get your thyroid hormones checked on a regular basis.

4. Dry Skin

The Thyroid disease can cause beauty related problems and can lead to dry skin. The skin gets swollen, waxy and dry. This is again caused due to low levels of the thyroid hormones or hypothyroidism. In this condition, your skin may receive low levels of blood supply. This can be one-fourth of the total blood supply or it can also be reduced to one-fifth of the blood supply. Due to the low levels of blood, your wounds might take a long time in order to recover and you might also have swollen lips and eyelids puffed.  The moisture content of your skin gets reduced rapidly as a result, your skin becomes flaky and rough. Reduction in the amount of sweating is also observed. There might be changes in the texture of your skin and your nails might become brittle and might break easily even with slightest of the effort. This is all due to the slow metabolism of your body caused due to the dysfunction of the thyroid hormones produced in your body.

Dry Skin

5. Joint Pain

Both hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism can cause joints and muscle related problems. These conditions are also called Myopathies in medical terms which means that they have a major effect on your skeletal muscles. This can increase the risk of you suffering from an autoimmune disease like arthritis. This is generally observed in the proximal muscles. The pain occurs when the fluids are surrounded in the joints of your body which cause massive pain throughout your body. If the pain doesn’t stop or decrease even after treatment, you should rush to your doctor in order to find out ways to stop it.

6. Mood Swings

You might expect to get severe mood swings in case of hyperthyroidism along with anxiety and irritation. In case of hypothyroidism, you can also face some unusual nervousness. Your mental processes might get slowed down to an extent and also cause severe depression. You might face memory-related problems such as forgetting about things very easily as well. 

7. Excess Hair Fall

Losing your hair is one of the most common symptoms of the thyroid disease. A person suffering from a prolonged thyroid disease might face hair related problems. You lose hair from the entire scalp. Hair fall can be caused due to some other reasons as well.Because of hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism, your scalp goes dry thereby losing lots and lots of hair which is not something you’d like. And nobody likes hair fall.

Here is an informative video from Dr Nicolas on Thyroid Symptoms in Men

8. Hormonal Imbalance

The thyroid gland is responsible for the metabolic functions of your body. If there’s any dysfunction of this gland, the whole body goes through various changes which cause different hormonal changes. As it is directly associated with your mind, you might feel weird and depressed and your body will act differently and you’ll have other symptoms which are related to thyroid throughout the body. You might get heart palpitations and feel fluttery. Skipping your beats or beating too fast can also be observed.

9. Poor Concentration or Memory

There might be a chance for you to forget about things very easily and you might find yourself confused if you’re suffering from Thyroid. Hypothyroidism can lead to overthinking and anxiety as well. Forgetfulness along with poor concentration is also observed in some of the cases. Both hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism can also show some symptoms of mild dementia as well. If it gets worse, you might get tumors or infections and other brain diseases as well. The effects are generally pretty bad.

10. Interrupted Sleep

You might get sleep deprived or have a series of interrupted sleep during the conditions of the thyroid. Hyperthyroidism causes sleep-related problems. This condition overstimulates your nervous system which makes it really hard for you to fall asleep. You might get nighttime arousals and there’s a high chance of you sweating during the night while sleeping. This makes you feel tired for all day long and might lead to insomnia as well. You’ll feel sick for all day long and become sleep deprived.

11. High Tri-Glycerides

Hypothyroidism can increase the risk for the rise in unhealthy cholesterol in your body which might lead to heart-related diseases. Triglycerides are basically fats found in your blood. This symptom is experienced due to the combination of high blood pressure and due to high amounts of sugar present in the blood. Hypothyroidism causes a malfunctioning of your metabolism which leads to this kind of abnormalities in the blood which can also cause a heart attack as well. The number of LDL increases and HDL decreases. Hypothyroidism is mainly responsible for this extensively high amount of high glycerides in your blood.

12. Reduced Appetite  

Loss of appetite is also observed in people suffering from Thyroid. Due to the dysfunctional metabolism, your will to eat decreases and you feel weak and suffer from body pain. Hyperthyroidism is the main cause behind it and is often called Graves ’ disease as well. This loss of appetite due to thyroid malfunction may lead to a sudden drop in body weight and cause weakness. The medication for this can itself lead to loss of appetite and you might be asked to stop the medication for some time as well. Other digestion related problems might also arise leading to nausea.

13. High Blood Pressure

Hypothyroidism increases the risk of increasing your blood pressure by two to three times. This may also increase your risk of having hypertension due to the sudden increase in the blood pressure. This lowers the rate of your heartbeat and affects the strength of pumping of blood. This condition decreases the flexibility of the walls of your blood vessels. Due to this, there’s a rise in blood pressure in your body which leads to hypertension and also increases your chances of having a heart attack. In order to be on the safe side, you should get your blood pressure checked at regular intervals to avoid the risks of having a heart attack.

14. Fatigue

Sudden changes in your mood and energy are observed and have a major impact on your body. Hypothyroidism plays a major role in making you feel sluggish or depressed or tired or all the three at the same time. This feeling of weakness less to fatigue which makes you full and doesn’t let your body work properly. It might also lead to anxiety related problems and problems with sleep, restlessness, and irritability. Fatigue is one of the most common symptoms found in almost all the people suffering from hypothyroidism.

15. Uninterested Sex Life

Amongst all these symptoms, there’s a high chance of you suffering from low libido. In men, almost half of the total percentage of the men were found to be diagnosed with premature ejaculation and most of them suffering from a low sexual desire. Hyperthyroidism is the condition, which leads to this kind of sexual problems. Due to low libido, you might lose interest in your partner. The hyperproduction of the thyroid hormones causes low testosterone levels in your body and you might lose the urge to have sexual intercourse. This hyperthyroidism causes many hormonal changes in the body and has a major role in the production of low testosterone levels in men. In order to ignore this, you need to maintain a normal thyroid level in your body so that you don’t suffer from all these symptoms.

                        Thus, the thyroid gland is a major gland which has a vital role in all your body. A small dysfunction in this can create a series of problems to your body which might lead to a number of risky diseases. In order to stay away from all these problems, you need to make sure your thyroid levels are completely alright. You should run for your levels of hormones as well as the level of blood pressure in your body to avoid thyroid related problems. If you’re not yet sure about your thyroid disease, go through the above symptoms and make sure about your thyroid levels. If you find any of these symptoms matching with yours, rush to your doctor and have a proper diagnosis of all your symptoms. It’s also important for you to choose your medicines properly and if you are having problems with the prescribed medicines, consult your doctor for new and proper medicine to cure all your thyroid related diseases.