Goiter
Throughout all of nursing school, we haven’t really talked about the endocrine system until now. I couldn’t even tell you what goiter is before I started writing this paper if that says anything. The endocrine system is very important in the human body and serious complications can occur if any part of the system is impaired. This paper will include the pathophysiology, etiology, causes, risk factors, complications, nursing care, interventions and current treatments associated with goiter.
Pathophysiology
According to our textbook, Understanding Medical Surgical Nursing, “Enlargement of the thyroid gland may happen because of increased TSH levels, or in response to the autoimmune process that occurs in Graves’ disease” (2015, Linda, S Williams, et al). According to the Mayo Clinic “Your thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland located at the base of your neck just below your Adam's apple” (2014). If you can imagine how skinny your neck is, you can imagine how noticeable an enlargement would be. The thyroid gland is primarily controlled by a hormone called TSH or the thyroid-stimulating hormone.
Etiology1
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According to the Mayo Clinic “Iodine, which is essential for the production of thyroid hormones, is found primarily in seawater and in the soil in coastal areas. In the developing world, people who live inland or at high elevations are often iodine deficient and can develop goiter when the thyroid enlarges in an effort to obtain more iodine” (2014). In the US, it is a different story because of the fact that most of our normal table salt is iodized and because you don’t need an incredible amount of iodine, the average American diet has enough iodine to