Can thyroid dysfunction explicate severe menopausal symptoms?

Summary

Many of the menopausal manifestations look like those accredited to thyroid hyperfunction or hypofunction. Can thyroid dysfunction explicate severe menopausal symptoms? The study comprised 350 women with different menopausal symptoms. All women had serum TSH, T3 and free T4 estimated. Women with thyroid dysfunction were appropriately treated and other women were treated with ERT. The study showed that 21 women (6%) had hypothyroidism and 18 (5.1%) had hyperthyroidism. Marked improvement in the menopausal-like symptoms occurred after treatment of the thyroid dysfunction. Elderly women with severe or resistant menopausal symptoms can be offered TSH, T3 and T4 assays to rule out the thyroid disturbances before attempting hormone replacement therapy.

Keywords:

• Hypothyroidism
• hyperthyroidism
• menopause