SHOULD YOU BLAME YOUR THYROID?

When something goes wrong with this small butterfly-shaped gland in your neck, you can gain (or lose) weight, feel like lying around all day staring at your phone, or want to chomp someone's head off. Then again, there are lots of other reasons you may be feeling the way you do. Here's how to know if you should get checked.

- JESSICA MIGALA

Ugh-something is going on with you. Could it be stress? U Maybe it's that you've been running on too little sleep. Or perhaps fast food has been your go-to these past few weeks and you actually had to Google the word "exercise, it's been so long. 

Or it might be your thyroid. In roid fact, in part because signs of a thycondition can easily be attributed to less-than-healthy lifestyle habits, the American Thyroid Association reports that up to 60% of people with thyroid disease are unaware of it. An estimated 20 million Americans have thyroid disease, and women are five to eight times as likely as men to suffer from it. Knowing whether it's your thyroid or something else is important, so you can treat whatever it may be; plus, untreated thyroid issues can put you at risk for other conditions such as osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease.

WHAT IS IT? 

YOUR THYROID is a gland just under the Adam's apple that secretes hormones that travel to every part of your body, with big effects. When it is underactive (called hypothyroidism) or overactive (hyperthyroidism) you feel it-constipation, weight gain, and a crappy mood if the gland doesn't make enough thyroid hormone; weight loss, nervousness, and irregular heartbeat or palpitations if it makes too much. The problem is, "these symptoms are easy to chalk up to the season of life you're in, or your menstrual cycle," says Minisha Sood, M.D., an endocrinologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

Fortunately, though that tiny gland can throw your body for a big loop, ID'ing a thyroid condition with a blood test is actually pretty simple, and treatment is often straightforward too. "In many patients, thyroid problems can be easily treated with medication," says Brian Kim, M.D., chief of the division of endocrinology and metabolism at Rush University in Chicago. Ready to play thyroid detective? Here we go.