Thyroid Care
Frequently Asked Questions About Your Thyroid
The thyroid gland is in the vertebrate anatomy. It is one of the largest endocrine glands. The thyroid gland is found in the neck, below the thyroid cartilage which forms the "Adam's Apple". The thyroid gland controls how quickly the body uses energy, makes proteins, and controls how sensitive the body is to other hormones. It participates in these processes by producing thyroid hormones.
The scientific answer is weather your TSH test is high or low. Symptoms are different as well. Generally, Hypo slows things down and Hyper speeds things up.
- Fatigue
- Increase in weight gain even with low-calorie diet
- Low sex drive
- Hair falls out easily
- Morning headaches that wear off as the day progresses
- Depression
- Constipation
- Hypersensitivity to cold weather
- Cold hands and feet
- Poor circulation and numbness in hands and feet
- Muscle cramps while at rest
- Catches colds and other viral/bacterial problems easily and has difficulty recovering
- Wounds heal slowly
- Excessive amount of sleep required to function properly
- Chronic digestive problems (hypochlorhydria)
- Itchy and or dry skin
- Dry or brittle hair
- Low axillary temperature (this may also be caused by any endocrine imbalance)
- Edema, especially facial (myxedema)
- Loss of outside portion of eyebrows
If your metabolism is a revved engine, thyroid hormone is the gas. But when you have hypothyroidism, your thyroid gland doesn't make enough of the hormone, and your metabolism slows down. A slower metabolism can make it hard to lose weight, but it has other effects, too, such as fatigue and weakness
You should look for alternative help when:
You feel like there are problems, But your MD says your tests are "Normal"
You can't lose weight with regular exercise and dietary changes
You have 3 or more of the Thyroid Symptoms with no help from your Doctor
Yes, it is absolutely possible to feel good again, just look at some of our patient testimonials. The problem is medication only, helps only about 15% of those suffering. Also, the standard medical test of TSH does not show the whole picture. There are over 8 test we run specific to the thyroid to check its function. So there are many who are miss diagnosed. If we can get proper testing done, and lifestyle changes implemented correctly, you can definitely get your life and health back!!
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Functional Thyroid Disorders
Functional thyroid disorders are very common and generally overlooked in today's healthcare model. Most patients that have functional thyroid imbalances do not have primary thyroid imbalances. Thyroid metabolism is very sensitive to slight alterations in metabolism. Thyroid hormone synthesis is altered by luteal phase function, progesterone, and autoimmunity, etc. Thyroid hormone binding is influenced by essential fatty acid metabolism, testosterone, estrogen, etc. Thyroid hormone peripheral conversion is dependent on proper diodinase activity and can be altered by cortisol, estrogen, hepatic dysfunction, dysbiosis, etc. Thyroid hormone receptor binding and response may be altered by inflammation, vitamin A status, and essential fatty acid levels, etc. In this section of the notes we will briefly review thyroid hormone physiology, laboratory markers for thyroid evaluation, nutrients to support the thyroid, exogenous thyroid hormone replacement, and drugs that alter thyroid metabolism.
Thyroid Review
Once the thyroid is stimulated by Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) from the pituitary, it produces thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3) by transporting iodine into the thyroid and by stimulating Thyroid Peroxidase Activity (TPO). TPO is involved in the formation of T4 and T3 as it catalyzes the oxidation of iodine using hydrogen peroxide. The thyroid will produce 94% of the available T4 and 7% of the available T3. As we know, T4 is inactive and T3 is an active thyroid hormone. Therefore, the majority of hormone production at the thyroid is inactive T4. Once the thyroid has produced T4, it is metabolized peripherally from the thyroid into combination T3 hormones in the liver and the gut. Under normal circumstances, about 40% of the available T4 is converted into T3, 20% is converted into reverse T3 (rT3), which is irreversibly inactive, and 20% is converted into T3 sulfate (T3S) and triiodothyroacetic acid (T3AC). T3S and T3AC are inactive thyroid hormones until they circulate into the gastrointestinal tract and are acted upon by intestinal sulfatase into active T3. Gastrointestinal sulfatase activity is dependent upon a healthy gut microflora.
When mainstream medical professionals do thyroid testing, they generally test only the TSH. This is a major flaw in their system. Our office tests up to 9 thyroid markers.
This enables us to find out what the problem is and where it is starting from. Testing only the TSH tells us that the pituitary gland is not working properly. It does not test where the unstable hormone is occurring down the pathway. There is a major difference with thyroid hormone problems other than just TSH.
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