When it comes to your health and wellness, your liver and thyroid gland both play vital roles. While you might think the two organs are completely unrelated, they can have an impact on each other — particularly if you have fatty liver disease or hypothyroidism, chronic diseases that share a surprising connection.
Understanding this connection is important to ensure you receive optimal treatment to help prevent complications.
In this post, our team at Digestive Disease Specialists in Moline, Illinois, and Bettendorf, Iowa, explains how these common medical problems are related and why prompt treatment is essential for preventing more serious issues.
Hypothyroidism happens when the butterfly-shaped thyroid gland in your neck doesn't produce enough thyroid hormones. Fatty liver disease occurs when fat cells build up in your liver. So, how are these two conditions related? Through your metabolism.
When your thyroid hormone levels are too low, your metabolism slows, meaning your body doesn't burn calories as efficiently as it should. That sluggishness means fat cells are starting to build up. Some of those cells collect in your liver, increasing your risk of fatty liver disease.
At the same time, your liver health affects your thyroid function. That’s because your liver is responsible for converting thyroid hormones into a form that’s used in burning calories.
If liver function is impaired due to fatty liver disease, that conversion process can slow down, leading to symptoms of low thyroid, even if your thyroid gland itself is working normally. This makes it much more challenging to accurately evaluate your thyroid function.
This two-way relationship means people with hypothyroidism may be more likely to develop fatty liver disease, while those with fatty liver may be more prone to thyroid hormone imbalances.
Fortunately, liver function and thyroid activity can be monitored with simple blood tests, and treatment for both conditions can be very effective, especially when diagnosed early.
Fatty liver disease and hypothyroidism can both be managed with medication and lifestyle changes to help you maintain a healthy weight and balance your thyroid hormones. You’ll need to follow a healthy diet, get plenty of exercise, and skip alcohol, which has an especially harsh effect on your liver.
During treatment, our team recommends regular blood tests to check your thyroid hormone levels. In some instances, we may order imaging tests and liver function testing to look for evidence of scarring or other issues that can affect liver health and function over time.
Sometimes, we perform a liver biopsy to obtain and evaluate a tiny section of liver tissue, looking for signs of fat deposition, inflammation, or other types of liver damage.
Many people with fatty liver disease or thyroid disease have other underlying issues, like high cholesterol, insulin resistance, diabetes, or obesity. We manage those conditions too.
Managing fatty liver disease or hypothyroidism can be challenging. When the two occur together, it’s essential to have a treatment plan attuned to your unique health needs and lifestyle issues.
To learn how our team can help, book an appointment online or over the phone with Digestive Disease Specialists today.
