Symptoms

• Goiter which is an enlargement of the thyroid gland develops in 75% of patients .  Follow this link for a photo image of a goiter caused by Hashimoto's thyroiditis.  A goiter may shrink with treatment by synthetic thyroid hormones.
• Pressure symptoms or difficulty swallowing from greatly enlarged goiters
• Atrophic thyroid gland, that is, it has shrunk and can't be felt, occurs in 25% of patients.
• Headache is characteristically associated with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis.

Another group of the symptoms of this disease are associated with the hypothyroidism, or low thyroid hormone levels that often result. These symptoms include:

• Cold intolerance
• Hoarseness
• Deafness
• Puffy face
• Flushed cheeks
• Thickened lips
• Yellow-tinged skin
• Dry, cold, rough and hairless skin
• Hives
• Wire-like hair and/or loss of hair
• Brittle fingernails with lines and groves
• Numbness and tingling in the hands and feet
• Puffiness of the backs of the hands and tops of the feet
• Pain in the wrist, and weakness and soreness of the thumb muscle
• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Generalized aches and pains; muscle aches and cramps
• Weight gain, despite a normal appetite and diet
• Constipation, bloating and heartburn
• Heavy menses, or periods, that may cause anemia
• Ovaries may not produce an egg every month
• Milky discharge from breasts
• High blood cholesterol, leading to hardening of the arteries and angina
• High or low blood pressure
• Slow pulse
• Fatigue and sleepiness
• Lack of coordination
• Slow reflexes
• Depression, apathy, slowness of thought and reactions
• Poor memory and concentration
• Psychosis in severe cases
• If subjected to stress or central nervous system depressants, may go into coma.
• Stunted growth in children

• Intolerance to heat
• Agitation, irritability, nervousness
• Restlessness, sleeplessness
• Exhaustion
• Anxiety, depression, sadness
• Excessive perspiration
• Palpitations (rapid heart beats)
• Diarrhea or loose stools
• Weight loss despite an increased appetite and food intake
• Weakness and fatigue
• Loss of muscle mass and strength
• Irregular or absent menstrual periods
• Impotence or gynecomastia (breast enlargement) in the male
• Infertility
• Warm hands that tend to shake when outstretched
• Shortness of breath
• Smooth, velvety skin
• Easy bruising
• Clubbing of the fingers and toes (achropachy)
• Swollen shins
• Sore, watery and bulging eyes
• Failure of the lids of the eyes to follow the eye downwards when looking down
• Rapid nail growth, soft nails
• Separation of the nails from the underlying tissue (onycholysis)
• Finer hair that is less curly and tends to fall out

• Bennett, J. Claude, ed. Cecil Textbook of Medicine, 20th ed. Philadelphia: E.B. Saunders, 1996.
• Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, 14 ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 1998.
• Morgan, Brian L.G. and Roberta Morgan.  Hormones: how they affect behavior, metabolism, growth, development and relationships.  Los Angeles: Body Press, 1989.
• Rosenthal, M. Sara. The Thyroid Sourcebook: everything you need to know about..., 2nd ed.  Los Angeles: Lowell House, 1996.