Thyroid: What Does It do?

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Brunilda Nazario, MD
The thyroid is located at the base of the neck. It's a very small gland. Probably the size of a small butterfly. Right about your Adam's apple. So the thyroid produces thyroid hormone and sometimes things that can wrong. So occasionally you can produce excess amounts of thyroid hormone and have a condition called hyperthyroidism. You can also have a condition where you produce too little thyroid hormone and have an underactive thyroid, or hypothyroidism.

So the thyroid doesn't do anything real specific for you. It's not like insulin or other hormones that do specific actions. But your thyroid really regulates your metabolism. So it really helps your body work like it's supposed to work.

Brunilda Nazario, MD
I like to say it's like gasoline to a car. Gasoline doesn't do anything real specific. So it's not like antifreeze that cools down the car and it's not like oil that lubricates the parts. But gasoline makes your car run. So too much gasoline if you press on that gas pedal too much, you put that car in overdrive. Same thing with humans. Too much thyroid hormone, you get hyperthyroidism.

And you kind of run the body down. You're in overdrive. Too little thyroid hormone, you're sluggish. Almost like not putting enough gasoline in car. And you slow down, so that's hypothyroidism.