Thyroid Disease

The thyroid can be either hyper or hypo functioning in the elderly. 

If there is more Hypothyroidism Watch for…

1. mental symptoms include depression and fatigue

2. coldness (out of the ordinary)

3. may show obesity/swelling

4. Vision/auditory reduction *test for this every 2-3 years

Basic Pattern In Traditional Chinese Medicine - Spleen Kidney Yang deficiency

Western Medicine (prescription) for thyroid in the elderly is easy to effect physical Heart  

Chinese Medicine Treatment:

treat deficiency, tonify Spleen Kidney Yang Qi

Formulas and acupuncture work quite well

Diet - tough to treat through diet, try seaweeds

Thyroid patients are prone to developing depression

Depressive patients are easy to get thyroid problems - then they get overweight, this causes depression and the thyroid condition to get worse

Note: anything that works in a cycle is related to Liver in Chinese Medicine diagnosis.