The condition that results from the elevated levels of thyroid in the blood is known as hyperthyroidism. It is fairly common, and has certain physical manifestations which make us realize with nearly 100% accuracy that our thyroid glands are producing excessive amounts of the hormone. Hyperthyroidism is different from thyrotoxicosis which is also a condition resulting from the over production of thyroid hormones by the thyroid gland or even the unchecked intake of thyroid hormones by the patient. Some of the common elevated thyroid levels symptoms or hyperthyroidism is as follows.

Common Symptoms

The chief thing to remember is that only aggravated levels of thyroid in the body will have a result in terms of physical symptoms. For people with mild disorders, there are usually no symptoms.

Some of the common effects of elevated thyroid levels include sweating excessively, constant feeling of thirst, increased bowel movements, difficulty to withstand heat and even mild changes in temperature, palpitation, nervousness, constant feeling of agitation, difficulty in relaxing even after meditation, rapid loss of weight, increase in the rate of heart beat and so on.

These are common symptoms for a lot of other disorders as well, and therefore, care should be taken to get them checked whenever they appear in an individual. Hyperthyroidism is quite common and can be kept in check through medication, and it is hypothyroidism, which is a decrease in the production of thyroid hormone, that is the more dangerous of the two.

Women and Elderly Patients

For women, there are other kinds of problem as well. Irregularities in the menstrual flow of women, scant periods, and discharge of clots are some of the common symptoms of thyroid imbalance. However this is hard to diagnose with absolute accuracy since for most people, irregularities in the menstrual cycles are related to other kinds of gynecological problems as well.

In elderly people the symptoms are of course much more intense and difficult to mitigate. Really high levels of thyroid in the bloodstream can cause a condition in older patients which is known as thyroid storm. Here, cardiac arrest is caused by excessively high blood pressure and it is usually fatal.

Mental changes which cause delirium and disturbances in the sodium-potassium levels of the body which result in dizziness, confusion, lack of clarity in thought process are also important symptoms of hyperthyroidism. Thus one has to be aware of these symptoms in order to be able to deal with elevated levels of thyroid.