My girlfriend just had her thyroid removed. Now she has to take these pills every day for the rest of her life.
In: Biology
All the thyroid does (not to downplay its importance) is creates hormones.
If you get a pill that gives you the same hormones you don’t need the thyroid anymore. That said it never *fully* replaces the thyroid. A working one is really good at producing the hormones you need in the amount you need. Pills tend to be pretty bad at that.
That pill a day is a synthetic bio-identical version of thyroxine (T4), the main hormone the thyroid produces. T4 is responsible for your body’s energy production. This is why low T4 levels (hypothyroid) are a problem; not enough energy is being produced by your body. The synthetic T4 substitutes for the missing T4, causing your energy levels to go back to normal.
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