Oh, I doubt you’ve seen anything like it. A road sign I came across one bright sunny day this week above Mahaut. It simply read, ‘MEN working.’ Intrigued, I leaned out of my car window and loudly addressed the most senior–looking fellah.
“Well, SHE not working!” I declared, pointing to the lady wielding the shovel.
“She working man, she working,” He conceded with a sheepish smile. The entire road crew chuckled, instantly grasping the irony of it all.
Let’s just say, in an increasingly female-dominated economy, this sign is blast from the past – an anachronism of the highest order. Not so, the topic of today’s discussion. Unlike most other sicknesses that equally swing both ways, it prefers women 3 to 1.
(Switching gears now. Stay with me). Let’s start talking about the thyroid gland. It is a small bow tie shaped organ in front of your windpipe. It controls metabolism: how your body turns food into energy. When it is overactive, patients loses weight quickly, the heart races, they feel hot all the time, sweaty, tired, moody and nervous.
Polly put the kettle on. Sukey take it off again: We’ve all had fights over the AC. Each person has his or her own comfort zone as far as temperature is concerned. However, if someone starts complaining much more than before about it being too hot (or too cold), that raises a red flag about a disturbance in thyroid function.
And it’s the way it starts, you know. People may be minding their own business, living a healthy lifestyle – and BAM! All these strange things begin happening to their bodies. Hair starts falling out, bowel movement become more frequent; they start snapping at people. The natural reaction is “A, A… she funny eh! Typically, family and friends begin to wonder whether the person is getting weird on them or something.
Hyperthyroid patients cannot help themselves. Their eyes begin to bulge big, big, big (exophthalmos). Any medical person will quickly recognize the tell-tail symptoms by performing a careful medical history and physical exam. This is a classic case where families waste lots of time and resources trying to find out who spoiled their loved one and what to do about it. No kind of bush tea can help that either. Yes, it is cheaper and less time consuming for herbalists to tell you just drink that or ‘that is good for’ such and such. Mind you, I drink my little bush tea every now and then. But come one man, in the middle of the night when all hell breaks loose, who you gonna call?
Don’t get me started!
Maybe it’s just me. But frankly, I am stunned by the number of intelligent and prominent people in Dominica today who sincerely believe doctors and pharmacists in some filthy lucre together, forcing people to take chemicals with all kinds of side effects… then prescribing more medicine to treat the side effects. We ought to encourage our loved ones to seek proper medical attention early because, untreated it can cause lasting bone, heart and psychiatric problems. Most ominously, it can lead to full-fledged thyroid storm, a dramatic explosion of all the afore-mention symptoms.
Cell phones are NOT ‘natural’ yet we all use them. We believe the science. As a population, we are quite technically advanced in understanding sim-cards, network plans and features of the latest models. So why is it so hard hard to understand that a simple blood test for thyroid hormones is all that is required to establish a diagnosis. Once done, treatment is pretty straightforward.
The most common cause of hyperthyroidism is Graves Disease. The body’s immune system starts attacking the thyroid gland for no good reason, or so it seems. The gland fights back by making too much hormone. A related condition is Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. Also, small overactive growths in the gland called nodules can also cause excess production of thyroid hormone. ‘Cold’ nodules tend to be cancerous. The whole gland itself can swell, a condition known as goiter. We have all seen people walking the streets with large growths in front of their necks.
Treatment
Hyperthyroidism is easily treated with medicines like Propylthiouracil, which decreases production of thyroid hormone. Beta-blockers like Propanolol are prescribed to calm down the racing heart and other symptoms of agitation. ENT surgeons and general surgeons in Dominica routinely cure the condition by removing the part of the gland with nodules or excising the entire thyroid itself.
Another approach is radioactive iodine by mouth offered by major medical centers overseas. No, you won’t glow. The iodine concentrates in the thyroid gland without affecting the rest of body. Once there, it zaps the hormonally active part of the gland, destroying it forever and ever amen. Never again will it make thyroid hormone. Replacement thyroid medication is relatively cheap and readily available. Just try not to get abducted in the forest for weeks – or to be like that Mexican fisherman in the news for supposedly being adrift in ocean for 14 months. Apart from that, the overwhelming majority of patients do just fine. They recover fully, happy to be no longer living with the threat of thyroid storm dangling over their heads.
And on that note
I’ll end by switching back to the non-medical topic we touched on earlier. Call it a pet peeve – whatever. I recall how excited I was while studying abroad to hear news of this outstanding achievement in my native land: Dominica was one of the first countries in the whole wide world to have a totally digital telephone network. Remember that? Wow! Well, I was just thinking: How about we painlessly attain yet another major milestone? We could become one of the first non-sexist countries to have all road signs that make sense! Just saying…
Men working? Give me a break!
Dr. Sam Christian is surgeon and health activist. He runs the Urgent Care on 137 Bath Road, which offers prompt medical treatment, surgery and acupuncture. He is radio host of the Medical Minute, Medical Adviser to the Dominica Cancer Society and author of the faith and fitness nutrition book, ‘Mannafast Miracle.’ Dr. Christian can be reached at 440-9133 or by writing to [email protected].
Yah, they need to change that ‘men at work’ sign.
I totally agree with you Determined. If I continue reading Doc Christian ‘s articles , I ll become an expert. He explains things so well. And a friend of mine went to his medical office and she said she was so please with the medical visit. She added that the doctor was very friendly, proficient and explained her case to her.keep up the good work doc.
Very Great ARTICLE worth reading by all, especially woman. I recently had surgery, thanks to my GOOD doctor, Doctor PASCAL, and is doing great and feeling fine.
Very informative, trust me!! If I continue reading these articles I might as well put MD at the end of my name because I’d become an expert.
So overrated!! People at Work 
OOHH and Men at Work??!!
#TeamUrgentCare
great article doc, however, I was hoping you would address the other part of thyroid issues-hypothyroidism. I’m not hearing a lot of local doctors addressing it but it is an issue as common as the hyper.Maybe you could give us a little insight on the down part of it pleaseeee.
Since the doctor has not written anything in regards to hypothyroidism (hypothyroid) yet, I will limit this information, but since you are interested in knowing, I thought I would brief you, I hope you will not insult me for briefing you.
Note: hypothyroidism is simply deficiency of thyroid gland activity, with under-production of thyroxine, or the condition resulting from it.
In its severe form it is called myxedema, and is characterized by physical, and mental sluggishness, obesity, loss of hair, enlargement of the tongue, and thickening of the epidermis (skin). In children the condition is known as cretinism.
Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
Francisco Telemaque February 9, 2014 “Sam, one of the reasons I follow your column religiously”
Religiously? What do you mean!
For I perceive Doctor Christian’s messages to be theme of the “health and welfare” of the human body–along with a little bit more about Life.
Even if he quotes the Bible once in a while, he would still not be writing about religion, in that the message of the Bible is parallel to his message–since that message is the message of Life, grounded in Love–the Life that is of the Spirit by man’s sincere faith.
So unless the religious message is in your comment–honestly I don’t read more the first three lines, since that is what you do to our writings–even that of Doctor Christian.
Otherwise, why does it seem that you are saying the same things which Doctor Christian has already written–as you put it your own words?
I have the knowledge that Holy Spirit speaks the message of Life to me, and then He causes me to see that same message in the Bible–the Word of God–that is the way I cam convicted of the Truth of God’s word.
But I see no point to reading what Doctor Christian has already written in your post–I would prefer to read some kind of “testimony” or “sharing” to confirm Doctor Christians message; that would be more enjoyable than your long repetition–we do not need it.
And by the way; don’t say that I gave you thumbs down. As I am sending this now, you are (1-1) I have nothing to do with it.
Liz and Fransisco…All you do married yet???!!!
@Square Pants February 10, 2014: Liz and Francisco All you doh married yet???!!
Yes! For your information, we have been married from the day we began to share our view for and against each other on DNO.
The exception is that this kind of marriage is the one that comes from our God–it is the only kind of marriage which I believe in. For I understand that what bonds us together is God’s nature known as “Love” –the Life of the Spirit–there ain’t no cord that can break this bondage of marriage apart and we cannot say to each other “I don’t love you anymore” Take this lesson from me.
However in the flesh we cannot see eye to eye–and that is a fact since we live in our special corners of the world–even if there is now technology that will cause us to see each other through conversation.
We drive each other to madness–you cannot imagine how–here he is blaming me for ruining his forum, because I showed his colleagues how they were influencing him to glorify his nature of self conceit–as he continues to exist in that twilight zone of his. Hehehehehehehehehehehe!
Elizabeth Liz Xavier; little twelve year old teacher rude lips: be informed when I used the term “religiously” in reference to reading Dr. Christian, that term in reality has nothing to do with deity (God) or any religious order.
In other words, it has nothing to do with relating to, or manifesting faithful devotion to an acknowledge ultimate reality or deity okay! Sam is just an very interesting medical professional, with a personality we do not find in many so called Dominica doctors, so Iike him, and l always look forward to reading him.
And by the way I have been reading Sam long prior to him writing on DNO, not along the line of his profession, but he too was a recipient of our messages before you and that man, that so called quack (pseudo) doctor in Arizona messed our forum, and people stop contributing information.
You and your friend are totally responsible for the damage
Sam operates as a simple man who knows his profession very well; as such he is prepared to share bits and pieces of medical information with his reading audience; some people will understand what he presents; some people of a low intelligence, (IQ) who are unable to understand what he is talking about will try to make fun of it: i. e., someone commented on his eyes; ” your eyes used to be big, big, big.
I see nothing to smile, or laugh about such foolish comments, You also commenced talking about the Bible just because I used the term religiously; If I go to a particular store three or four times per week, or I walk down the same street at a particular time of day each and every day, one may notice my habits, and say he does that religiously.
And by the way religion has nothing totally to do with Church, anything which has a large following can be considered a religion, example, if every Saturday night a dance hall is field with people they are doing it religiously, hence that is a religion, which has nothing to do with God.
Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
And by the way religion has nothing totally to do with Church–Francisco Telemaque, February 10th.
Well that one above is very true. And when I asked you what do you mean by religious–I wasn’t expecting any answer about the Church–from whatever you would say.
Also that was why I said: Even if Doctor Christian use a a quote from the Bible, he is still speaking the message of Life–except that this Life id of the Spirit–it is not about religion.
It should be quite clear that religion belongs to the world–right from the beginning, definitely, long, long, before Jesus was here; but I do not agree with you, if you are saying that man’s lifestyle–outside of the Church is always demonstrating a kind of religion–that is not true about Doctor Christisn’s messages here–in fact he is speaking about His work in Love–just as he was called to do so.
But the Church–God’s chosen people, who are His disciples, not just people who call themselves Christians, but do not show it through their attitude and conducts–that Church belong to God.
For in the Son–who is God’s Person of Love–Jesus Christ, the Church is the Body and He is the Head; Jesus is preparing His Church to present to Himself as a bride is presented to her groom. Ephesians 5: 25
All of it has to be about the Life in Love, which of God, the Lord, but by sincere faith. Holy Spirit will confirm this truth to our mind from conscience, where He indwells us.
I truly believe that the majority of people who claim to be Christians do not know and understand that “Truth of Life” For the people remain conformed to the world–under the system of its god; existing by the sole control of their human senses, through the process and product of their mind in its carnal condition. The products of that mind condition is fed back to their flesh; and so, the attitude and conduct of the flesh is futility. Jesus said: “The flesh profits nothing! at John 5: 30
And so many of those so-called Christians are people who are not on the path of transformation to know the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.
Nonetheless this has to be the hope of every Christian–it the assurance of becoming rooted and grounded in the Life of Love to know the fullness of God. That is indeed the evidence of “Eternal Life” in us
And stop calling me “12 year old teacher” I am not 12 years old–neither do I have rude lips.
Religiously means without fail,more than frequently, the term has nothing to do with religion Liz Xavier! it’s just a figure of speech
But Dr. Sam, your eyes used to be big, big, big.
Wha’ happen? You must be taking dat thyroid medicine, man!
Respect, my brother. I doh know how, but you always suck me right in, the way you start your article – all the way through. And you always make the ending sweet!
Anyway, word is you planning to quit writing for DNO. Just want you to know you have at least one reader out there always looking forward to what you coming out with next.
Forward ever!
Thanks Doc. Great information. Men working and women working….Everyone working. Keep working.
Sam, one of the reasons I follow your column religiously is because there is always something to learn from it; and it also brings back to my memory lessons I learnt a long time ago before I dropped out from a certain place, which ( doh )saying where. In any event you give me the opportunity to keep some of what I learnt fresh in my mind; I know I will never get to use such knowledge professionally unless!
So, I am limited to simply making my comments here. I will not contradict anything you have conveyed, though I may contras, and expand on it more in detail. Hence, hyperthyroidism, is excess functional activity of the thyroid gland (hyperthyroid). It is predominantly a disease of adult women, which peak incidence between 30 and 50 years of age. The clinical state of hyperthyroidism is also called thyrotoxicosis. It most commonly occurs as part of a syndrome which may include goiter, and exophthalmos, and as you said Graves’ disease, to which I will add Basedow’s disease.
Until recently, the cause of hyperthyroidism is unknown; however, there is much evidence to indicate a strong hereditary factor in the development of Graves’ disease; some theorists consider it to be an autoimmune disease. Symptoms: The manifestation of hyperthyroidism may vary from mild symptoms of weakness, insomnia, weight loss, and tremulousness to extreme tachycardia, palpitations, exertional dyspnea, and ankle edema. The patient with Graves’ disease also exhibits an enlarged thyroid (goiter), and abnormal protrusion of the eyes (exophthalmia).
The hyperthyroid patient’s metabolic rate is certainly greatly accelerated, producing a speeding up of all the bodily processes, and an emotional up-heaval in response to the increased physical activity. The patient often experiences episodes of emotional extremes with episodes of crying, and depression followed by intense physical activity, and mental euphoria and hysteria. (I know you touched on treatment); nonetheless, I would like to comment a bit on that.
General measures of support for the patient suffering from hyperthyroidism include physical, and emotional rest, and a high caloric, nutritional diet supplemented with vitamins, and calcium. A sedative such as phenobarbital may be prescribed to promote rest. Adrenergic blocking agents are prescribed to control the symptoms of tremor, restlessness, and tachycardia. The choice of additional drugs and surgical intervention depends on the age of the patient, the size of the goiter, and the patient’s response to selected therapies.
Radioactive Iodine. The drug of choice for middle age persons, and non-pregnant women is usually radioactive iodine (131I): Note: 131I should be written in subscript in that 131 should be at the left hand top of the ‘I” people who have had chemistry, and is into medicine should have no problem understanding the formula; in any event, it’s main disadvantage is the possibility of the development of hypothyroidism resulting from over effective treatment. This may occur immediately after treatment has begun, or long after treatment is completed.
The dosage depends on the size of the gland, and the thyroid’s sensitivity to radiation; the radioactive iodine is administered orally, usually in one small dose, and the patient is allowed to return home.
Let me conclude by saying test and prescribed treatments should be provided to the patient, and family. Caloric intake is increased to a daily intake of 3000 calories, and may require supplemental feeding to maintain desired body weight, consultation with a dietitian can help improve the patient’s understanding of, and compliance with the prescribed diet.
Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
Very informative…..knowledge is power..thanks
Thanks for the info doc.
At Christmas of 2012 I met the sister of my Church sister, we were having Christmas dinner with another Church sister.
When the food was served with goat meat, oxtail, and chicken, I heard my friend saying about her sister, that she cannot eat meat because of her “thyroid glands”–which was bad.
And Dr. Christian, thank you for explaining the function of our “thyroid gland” the truth is that I wasn’t quite sure what was its definite function–but I never made it a duty to check it out–that is carelessness on my part.
Back to my friends sister. Our host had fried fish, so the one with the bad thyroid ate the fish and we eat the goat meat, oxtail, and chicken–that meant we had an extra serving–Hehehehehehe!
Anyway my friend’s sister did not look sick or anything–no one would think that she had only six month to exist in the body–I most certainly did not think of that.
Yes indeed, she passed away in early June of 2013–that was 6 months after I met her, the news of her death was unbeliever to me.
Her thyroids had simply attack her without any warning, to put her on her way out of her body–she died at the hospital, doctors said that surgery was too late–she would die on the surgery bed.
Her sister was in Vancouver with her son who was to have surgery for “Testicular” cancer–she had to return to Toronto sooner than she had planned to do so, because of the unexpected death of her sister.
Thank you for this message. I am glad to know that my doctor asked for blood work to show the condition of my thyroid glands–that was last year as well–the test was normal, so I think that I am okay for now, and will continue to be free of thyroid illness.
Men working? Give me a break!–Dr. Sam Christian
Well some men have called me a feminist, because I am a woman who is a lot like my mother–she also passed away in July 2013, but she was sick and at 80 years old she had lived a good Life.
I have a son, but I have always been an independent, single woman–so to speak–I do not know how to wait for a man to do things for me–for God has given the strength to pull and push, to lift, hammer, and saw–I have every tool in my apartment unit that is needed to do whatever the work is–and I will do it right.
My mom was the same; although she had her husband–our father– to do the man’s work–so to speak, if she asked him once and he did not do it she would do that work by herself–that includes using the axe to cut woods for the fireplace, regardless of if she was 9 months pregnant
Today I tell people that Jesus is my husband–there is nothing that is the work of the natural man, which He hasn’t help me to do, by myself–I am not letting go of a husband like Him for a natural husband nah!
Men at work? Say what!!!!!!!!
great article doc! Would love to be tutored by u in the future
Brilliant piece of writing. I believe I will be contacting you soon.