
It's sometimes called a hidden epidemic: One in ten Americans--more than twenty million people, most of them women--has a thyroid disorder. At any given time, millions of people have an undiagnosed thyroid disorder and experience a chronic mental anguish that almost certainly arises from the very same source. Yet many primary-care doctors still don't recognize the importance of the thyroid in mind-body health--and its especially crucial role in women's well-being.