Autoimmune Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis: Why Do We Talk About It When We Refer to Vitiligo?
Hashimoto’s disease is one of the autoimmune diseases that can be associated with skin disease.
But let’s go into detail now.
What is Hashimoto’s Autoimmune Thyroid
Hashimoto autoimmune disease is a syndrome in which the immune system creates antibodies that attack thyroid cells.
Antibodies think thyroid cells are bacteria, viruses, or some other foreign body and thus destroy it.
What causes the immune system to attack thyroid cells is unclear. The onset of the disease can be related to:
- genetic factors
- environmental elements such as infections, stress or radiation exposure
- interactions of environmental and genetic factors
Autoimmune Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis and Vitiligo
Hashimoto’s thyroiditis is typically an autoimmune disease that can often be associated with vitiligo. Which is another type of autoimmune disease.
Statistically, it is estimated that about a quarter of vitiligo patients also have Hashimoto’s thyroid in association.
However, there are no studies that have ever been able to demonstrate that there may be causative factors that interfere in the onset of these two diseases. That is, there is no data showing that vitiligo can cause Hashimoto’s disease or that Hashimoto’s syndrome can cause vitiligo.
Therefore, only this data remains of the presence of the association of these two diseases.
Probably because they both arise from a dysregulation of the immune system. This, at some point, produces antibodies against its own components and this happens essentially on a genetic basis. That is, there is a genetic predisposition to get sick with autoimmune diseases and there is the possibility that these may be associated. The most frequent association is between vitiligo and Hashimoto’s thyroidism.
Further comorbidities
Other autoimmune diseases that can be associated with vitiligo are pernicious anemia and Addison’s disease in statistically decreasing order.
Hashimoto’s thyroiditis symptoms
Hashimoto’s disease obviously manifests itself with symptoms that may initially involve altered thyroid hormones.
Hashimoto’s thyroid symptoms change depending on what type of thyroid disease you suffer from.
Autoimmune Thyroiditis Symptoms
In general, sufferers of this syndrome experience the following symptoms:
- fatigue and sluggishness
- increased sensitivity to cold
- increased sleepiness
- dry skin
- constipation
- muscle weakness
- muscle aches
- joint pain and stiffness
- irregular or excessive menstrual bleeding
- depression
- memory or concentration problem
- swelling of the thyroid gland
- puffy face
- brittle nails
- hair loss
- swelling of the tongue
Hashimoto’s hyperthyroidism symptoms
In the case of Hashimoto hyperthyroidism, the thyroid works in a hyperfunctional way, i.e. in excessive quantities. Symptoms manifest themselves with exophthalmos (therefore rather protruding eyeballs), tachycardia, sensation of heat, increased appetite and insomnia.
Autoimmune hypothyroidism symptoms
Conversely, when thyroid hormones drop, we are talking about Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism. Here we are in the advanced stage of the disease, the symptoms become opposite. So we have a decrease in appetite, a tendency to drowsiness, an increase in body weight, a state of fatigue and a state of lethargy.
Diagnosis
Thioid autoimmune disease can be diagnosed based on:
- medical history and physical examination. In addition to evaluating the medical history, the doctor also performs a physical exam
- blood tests. The doctor may order one or more blood tests to check for the presence of the disease and its causes
Hashimoto’s thyroiditis cure
The thyroid is a gland that controls all of our metabolism. We could not live, therefore, without the hormones produced by this gland.
The advanced stage of the disease (autoimmune thyroiditis hypothyroidism) is the one that obviously involves taking replacement therapy. That is, the thyroid hormones are taken by the patient. This could actually have a positive impact on Vitiligo by putting thyroid function back in place.
