May 25-31: the International Thyroid Awareness Week is back – an important opportunity to raise awareness about thyroid disorders and the daily challenges faced by those living with these conditions.
Therapeutic Areas
International Thyroid Awareness Week 2025 – The Feel Thyroid campaign: prevention, awareness and listening
The thyroid: a small yet vital gland
Often overlooked, the thyroid is a crucial endocrine gland that regulates metabolism, body temperature, heart rate, breathing, and nervous system development. It produces thyroid hormones and calcitonin, which plays a key role in regulating calcium metabolism in the blood.
Hypothyroidism – the most common thyroid disorder – occurs when the thyroid does not produce sufficient levels of hormones. Various studies conducted on Western populations with adequate dietary iodine intake detected overt hypothyroidism in 0.3-0.4% of individuals.*
Hypothyroidism can develop silently, with non-specific symptoms but, if left untreated, it can significantly impact both physical and mental health. Early diagnosis is essential for effective management. However, symptoms such as fatigue, mood swings, weight gain or difficulty concentrating are often underestimated or misdiagnosed as other conditions.
The Feel Thyroid campaign
To mark International Thyroid Awareness Week, IBSA is relaunching the Feel Thyroid campaign, reaffirming its commitment to supporting people with hypothyroidism. First launched in 2023, the campaign is fully accessible on the platform www.feelthyroid.com.
Over time, the website has been enriched with educational and informative materials, designed to facilitate an informed dialogue with healthcare professionals, provide tools to recognise bodily signals, and raise awareness of the daily impact of thyroid disorders. Already available in English, French and Spanish, the platform will soon be translated into additional languages and launched in other European countries, including Switzerland, Germany and Hungary.
The Feel Thyroid campaign aims to:
- help people clearly identify and recognise the early symptoms (the platform offers several information pages, a short self-assessment test and a patient guide);
- highlighting the importance of monitoring persistent symptoms, even after starting treatment (a specially developed calendar is available for download on the website);
- provide useful tools to support the management of the condition and improve communication with doctors (via a dedicated FAQ section and an appointment planner).
Listening to people’s real needs, with the aim of improving their quality of life, is at the heart of the Feel Thyroid campaign.
The message is clear: hypothyroidism should not stand in the way of a full and active life.
* Garber, Cobin, RH; Gharib, H; Hennessey, JV; Klein, I; Mechanick, JI; Pessah-Pollack, R; Singer, PA; Woeber, KA for the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and the American Thyroid Association Taskforce on Hypothyroidism in Adults, Clinical Practice Guidelines for Hypothyroidism in Adults (PDF), in Thyroid, vol. 22, no. 12, December 2012, pp. 1200-1235, DOI:10.1089/thy.2012.0205
