What is a Thyroid Gland?
Thyroid gland is a butterfly-shaped gland in the neck that produces hormones that affect many parts of the body. It produces hormones that control various functions of the body like metabolism, heart rate, breathing, weight, digestion, and mood. These hormones are Triiodothyronine (T3), Tetraiodothyronine (T4), and Calcitonin. Thyroid gland majorly needs balanced iodine intake by a person for proper functioning and hormone secretion.
What Does it Mean by Thyroid Healthcare Team?
Diseases related to the thyroid gland can be difficult to treat, handle and diagnose. It is because the symptoms of diseases caused by dysfunction in the thyroid gland can overlap.
Issues in thyroid gland occur when there is not enough iodine reaching it and then later on the thyroid gland dysfunctions and produce more than needed or low hormones than needed by the body. Health conditions related to thyroid glands are:-
- Goiter
- Hyperthyroidism
- Hypothyroidism
- Thyroid nodules
- Thyroiditis
It is because of such varying symptoms and different diseases could occur at the same period of time when it comes to dysfunction in thyroid gland that one doctor could not properly treat and provide medical help to the patient. That is why, there is a thyroid healthcare team that has professionals, doctors and practitioners, having specific knowledge of the diseases and treatment needed for the thyroid gland and the health issues related to it.
Who are the Part of a Thyroid Healthcare Team: All About the Doctors and Practitioners-
A thyroid healthcare team includes various thyroid specialists who are:-
A GP (General Practitioner) / PCP (Primary Care Practitioner)
A general practitioner or primary care practitioner is not someone who has specialisation in any particular field and has general knowledge for every health related issue. A person usually goes to a GP for regular health checkups or minor health problems like a seasonal cold, etc.
A GP mostly treats hyperthyroidism and can give thyroid medication prescriptions, dosage adjustments and any on-going issues that need regular checkups.
An Endocrinologist
An endocrinologist is someone who has speciality in the disease and health issues related to the endocrine system. The endocrine system includes all the hormone producing glands like pituitary gland, adrenal gland, thyroid gland, etc. It even includes pancreas.
An endocrinologist could provide treatment that is disease specific and can be specialist for a particular issue unlike GP who provide general checkups. However, the treatment by an endocrinologist is not something aligned with every other person because of it only being medicine specific and not the overall condition of the body of the patient.
A Functional Medicine Doctor / Functional Medicine Practitioner
Functional medicine doctor approach to treatment is more than just medicine and disease oriented, instead they focus more on other aspects of the patient too including his lifestyle, diet, surroundings, mental health, etc. They basically look for the root cause of the disease and try to eliminate or reduce every aspect of the patient’s life that is stopping him from getting better.
A Naturopathic Doctor / Naturopathic Practitioner
A naturopathic doctor or practitioner is not someone who independently starts a treatment on a person but aligns or matches his/ her approach of betterment of the health of a patient with that of the treatment already provided by an endocrinologist or functional doctor. Their main way of treatment is to include nature and the natural world with the patient’s already going treatment.
A Dietician / Nutritionist
Any issues in the hormone secretory glands can cause hormonal disbalance in the body. One thing that directly affects and influences the hormonal balance in the body after the hormonal glands is diet. As an example, if a person has enough iodine intake in his diet, the risk of him suffering from thyroid gland issues drops to a lot lower. So, a dietician or a nutritionist could help a lot with planning a diet and regular meals schedule that can help with creating more harmony and hormonal balance in the body.
An ENT Specialist (Ears, Nose and Throat)
An ENT specialist is a doctor that treats any health problem related to ears, nose and throat. Now, the location of the thyroid gland being in the throat makes a big reason why an ENT doctor could help with the treatment for the diseases related to thyroid gland.
A Mental Health Therapist
A disease or health problem is not something that just physically harms or is difficult on the patient on physical grounds only. Sometimes, a disease could be mentally challenging and difficult to handle and can stress out a person or give anxiety and to worse depression. At that point, a mental health therapist could be the source of providing a strong mental calmness and will power to go through strongly and fight and to win against the disease.
Concluding the whole discussion, we can say that yes, thyroid issues can be challenging and different for every other person and so does the need of the doctor which can help the most with the issues. What a person needs is to go to the right doctor or practitioner to get the best treatment the way his/ her body and mind feel the best.
