YOUR THYROID: A Home Reference Guide

Specialized, extremely detailed information--from three members of Massachusetts General's Thyroid Unit--for those with known thyroid problems. Since the thyroid hormones affect almost every body function (heart rate, metabolism, mental state, among others), symptoms of disease can be frightening and life-threatening. Disorders run from goiter (thryoid enlargement) and over- or under-active thyroid to inflammation and cancer; all can be accompanied by such problems as allergy, anemia, arthritis, diabetes, and various breast, eye, hair, liver, muscle, and skin manifestations; and all can be effectively treated. Wood, Cooper, and Ridgway include brief notes on the effects of drugs, food, and radiation. Either too much or too little iodine causes more thyroid problems than any other food substance; but lithium (increasingly used to treat mental illness) also looms now as hazardous. On ""Is Your Thyroid Making You Fat?,"" the authors conclude that ""if you take thyroid hormone [to] deal with a weight problem you are probably wrong,"" and need to reassess your medical care. Meticulous and all-encompassing.