Patient's question:
A friend's father recently fell ill and casually mentioned it to me, but I didn't remember exactly what the illness was. When I visited him at the hospital, I learned it was Hashimoto's disease. What is this disease? I couldn't quite understand it, and it seemed the symptoms were somewhat similar to those of hypothyroidism. What is the fundamental difference between Hashimoto's disease and hypothyroidism?Doctor's answer:
Hashimoto's disease is just a name for a disease; it is caused by an autoimmune disease. At the beginning, it may lead to thyroid function hyperactivity, but as the disease progresses, patients will experience damage to thyroid function cells, which in turn leads to an increase in hormones produced by the thyroid. The final manifestation of this disease is hypothyroidism. Therefore, hypothyroidism is a functional indicator and represents a stage of Hashimoto's disease.