The Ever Rise in Thyroid Problems

Before I came to college, I never heard of a thyroid.

Sadly, three years later, I got a crash course.

My freshman year, my best friend at the time was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. Three months later, it was found that both my mother and her sister have hypothyroidism as well. A year after that, a friend back home was diagnosed with the same thing.

I just came back from the doctor this morning, and he suspects that I may have the problem as well.

I find this strange. Not only do people in my immediate circle have issues concerning their thyroids, from what I have seen during my nursing clinicals, a lot of others are taking Synthroid for their thyroids as well.

This caused me to think, "Is there a rise in hypothyroidism?"

It turns out that I am not the only person to speculate: http://thyroid.about.com/od/symptomsrisks/a/Why-Are-So-Many-People-Getting-Thyroid-Disease.htm

"There is a huge discrepancy among experts as to how many thyroid patients there are in the United States. Some organizations still cite 13 million as the total number of thyroid sufferers. More recently, some groups estimate that 27 million Americans have thyroid disease, and about 13 million of them are undiagnosed." -> http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15543918

However, there have been very few studies to analyze the matter, so the question becomes is it rising or are more people beginning to look into the problem.

The first article listed above continues the discussion and states that although it is unsure that thyroid issues are on the rise, thyroid problems is an underlying issue related to autoimmune diseases. Autoimmune diseases are indeed increasing. http://www.alternet.org/story/80129/the_autoimmune_epidemic%3A_bodies_gone_haywire_in_a_world_out_of_balance
"Even as autoimmune diseases remain under-recognized and under-addressed  the number of patients afflicted with these illnesses has been steadily growing."
For example:

      -The incidence of lupus has nearly tripled in the United States over the past four decades.

      -Multiple sclerosis rates have tripled in Finland over 50 years.

      -In Scotland, England, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden, MS has been rising at nearly 3 percent a year. And other countries in Europe show the same trends, with some increasing at a higher rate. 

       -Data over shows that type 1 diabetes has increased fivefold worldwide.

Is there a way to halt the increase? What is causing it to rise?