Painless Thyroiditis: What Patients Need to Know

Learning More about Silent Thyroiditis / Subacute Lymphocytic Thyroiditis

The term thyroiditis refers generally to any disorder that involves inflammation of the thyroid. Thyroiditis is typically divided into two broad categories -- painless and painful -- that involve the level of pain they cause to patients.

Painless thyroiditis is also frequently referred to as silent thyroiditis or subacute lymphocytic thyroiditis. It's thought that painless thyroiditis may be responsible for as much as 10 percent of hyperthyroidism, because the typical course of painless thyroiditis is a temporary period of hyperthyroidism, which is then sometimes followed by a period of hypothyroidism, and then a return to normal thyroid function.

In painless thyroiditis, your thyroid usually does not become enlarged.

What Causes Painless Thyroiditis?

To find out more about the causes of painless thyroiditis, I consulted an overview of thyroiditis on UpToDate -- an electronic reference used by many physicians and patients that presents in-depth medical information.

It is considered a variant form of chronic autoimmune thyroiditis (Hashimoto's thyroiditis), suggesting that it is part of the spectrum of thyroid autoimmune disease. It can also be caused by administration of interferon-alfa, interleukin-2, amiodarone, or lithium administration, although the pathogenesis of these disorders may be different.

If you have painless thyroiditis then, you are considered to have a form of autoimmune thyroid disease, like Hashimoto's, except that it usually resolves itself and the thyroid function returns to normal.

If you are taking the following medications, it's important to be aware that they can trigger painless thyroiditis:

• Interferon-alfa -- a medication used to treat some viral infections and cancers
• Interleukin-2 -- a medication used as a cancer treatment
• Amiodarone -- a medication used to treat an irregular heartbeat
• Lithium -- a mood stabilizing drug used to treat bipolar disorder

Because painless thyroiditis is a short-term, transient condition, and typically doesn't cause severe thyroid dysfunction, you will most likely not need treatment.

Want to learn more? See UpToDate's topic, "Overview of thyroiditis," for additional in-depth, medical information

_Source:

_{Burman, Kenneth. Ross, Douglas. Martin, Kathryn. "Overview of thyroiditis." UpToDate. Accessed: August 22, 2008.}