Dementia Due to Hypothyroidism

Hypothyroidism is a medical condition that occurs when your thyroid gland does not produce enough of certain chemicals or hormones required for proper functioning. Dementia is a commonly overlooked symptom of the condition that often becomes misdiagnosed.

Causes

• There are a number of possible causes of hypothyroidism, including an attack of your immune system upon the gland, a genetic predisposition to the disease, medications like lithium and damage to the gland from an injury, surgery or radiation treatment for cancer.

Symptoms

• Symptoms of dementia due to hypothyroidism include changes in mood or personality, aggression, confusion, visual or auditory hallucinations and cognitive impairment.

Features

• Often, the symptoms of dementia due to hypothyroidism develop slowly over a period of months or even years, making it easy to mistake for age-related dementia in elderly patients. Sometimes other symptoms due to hypothyroidism accompany the dementia, such as unexplained weight gain or extreme fatigue, but this is not always the case.

Diagnosis

• Doctors rely on a blood test that measures levels of thyroid hormones in your body to diagnose hypothyroidism.

Prognosis

• Dementia due to hypothyroidism is usually reversible with treatment of the glandular condition. Doctors commonly treat the condition with a prescription medication that is a synthetic version of thyroid hormones.