Abstract

AN ANALYTICAL STUDY OF THYROID HORMONES IN DIFFERENT TEMPERAMENTS (MIZAJ)

Nazim Saifi* and Yusuf Jamal

ABSTRACT

Thyroid disorders are the most common endocrine disorders in the world and their early and cost-effective diagnosis and treatment is becoming a challenge not only in Unani medicine but also in modern medicine. Thyroid disorders includes thyroid nodules-benign and cancerous. Deficiency and abnormal hyper-secretion of thyroid hormones are termed as hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism, respectively, which requires thyroid hormone suppression or supplementation as treatment. Thyroid gland and its disorders are not much described in Unani ancient medical literature; however there is a description of predominance of some Akhlat (humors), whose sign and symptoms are very similar to hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism. Mizaj (temperament) and Akhlat e Arba (four humors) are physiological factors for the maintenance of health in the body. Normal quantity, quality or abnormal excess of any Khilt (humor) is reflected in terms of normal or imbalanced Mizaj of a person or a patient. Therefore Mizaj of an individual is assessed for the identification of Galba e Khilt (humor predominance). Mizaj is a core concept of Unani medicine upon which diagnosis is based and it also provides a basis for pharmacological treatment of a particular disease. Scientific correlation of thyroid hormones with basic and old aged concepts of Unani medicine i.e. Mizaj, will be a positive step in the direction of pharmacological treatment of thyroid disorders. In this study an attempt has been made to correlate thyroid hormones within its normal range with different Mizaj, for which healthy individuals were enrolled in the study and their Mizaj assessment along with serum FT3, serum FT4 were done.

Keywords: Thyroid Hormone, Mizaj, Akhlat, hyperthyroidism, Unani medicine.