NECK, ENLARGED: DESCRIPTION AND POSSIBLE MEDICAL PROBLEMS
Have you ever seen a serious weight lifter with neck muscles that seem to bulge in all directions? It almost looks as though he has no neck, when in fact he’s built up his neck muscles to the point where they’ve reached their peak size.
The neck muscles are extremely difficult to develop, so if you notice that your neck seems a bit enlarged, it’s not because you’ve been pumping a few weights at the health club. Your enlarged neck is probably due to a goiter, which is a swelling in the thyroid gland, or to a growth that appears on the gland. The goiter usually appears on the side of your neck, halfway between your collarbone and the tip of your earlobe.
The thyroid gland is responsible for how our bodies metabolize food. In midlife adults, production of the thyroid hormone thyroxine frequently changes because of menopause or simple aging: the gland produces either too much (hyperthyroidism) or too little (hypothyroidism). However, a goiter can also appear when the thyroxine level is just right because of a lack of iodine. This is a condition known as euthyroidism, where there is a goiter but normal or euthyroid function of the gland which can be determined by a blood test.
A century ago, goiter was a relatively common health problem that was usually caused by a lack of iodine in the diet. As a result, iodized salt was introduced, and today goiter is most often caused by an iodine deficiency. Whatever the cause, goiter is painless most of the time.
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