Thyroid Disease And Diabetes Mellitus

Introduction

Two of the most common endocrine disorders within the human body are the thyroid disease and diabetes mellitus II. Research suggest that there these two illnesses have a mutual influence as well as an association (Hage, Zantout and Azar, 2011). Definitively, thyroid disease can adversely influence the glycemic levels in diabetics as well as has an effect on the overall health of an individual(Witting et al., 2014). Hage et al. (2011)suggest that the thyroid disease is shown more prevalence in older aged individuals who exhibit diabetes mellitus type II with an underlying condition in diabetes type I.

Arguably, the insulin and thyroid hormones take part in the cellular metabolism and consequently if there is an increase of decrease of either hormone, functionality of the two hormones will interfere. Research indicate that (Samuel, Petersen and Shulman, 2010), a thyroid hormone, and insulin influence carbohydrates metabolism. As such, an increase in iodothyromes is antagonistic with insulin. These iodothyromes are diabetogenic, in that when there are low levels of the hormone, diabetes is triggered.  Furthermore, it is a proven fact that excessive secretion of thyroid hormones increases absorption in the gut as well as increases the insulin resistance and its degradation(Witting et al., 2014).

In patients with hypothyroidism, patients will experience decreased glycogen secretion in the liver that triggers increased the body to have an increased level of glycogen(Distiller, Polakow and Joffe, 2014). Additionally, glucose absorption rate will be slow leading to slow use of glucose in some organs. On the other hand, hyperthyroidic patients will develop an impairment in controlling glycemic levels given that they are diabetic(Distiller, Polakow and Joffe, 2014). Therefore, it is evident that hypothyroidism suspects development of hypoglycemia that alters diabetes mellitus type II management.

References

Distiller, L. a, Polakow, E. S. and Joffe, B. I. (2014) ‘Type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypothyroidism: the possible influence of metformin therapy.’, Diabetic medicine?: a journal of the British Diabetic Association, 31(2), pp. 172–5. doi: 10.1111/dme.12342.

Hage, M., Zantout, M. S. and Azar, S. T. (2011) ‘Thyroid disorders and diabetes mellitus.’, Journal of thyroid research, 2011, p. 439463. doi: 10.4061/2011/439463.

Samuel, V. T., Petersen, K. F. and Shulman, G. I. (2010) ‘Lipid-induced insulin resistance: unravelling the mechanism’, The Lancet, pp. 2267–2277. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60408-4.

Witting, V., Bergis, D., Sadet, D. and Badenhoop, K. (2014) ‘Thyroid disease in insulin-treated patients with type 2 diabetes: a retrospective study’, Thyroid Res, 7(1), p. 2. doi: 10.1186/1756-6614-7-2.