Have you been told your labs are “normal” but you still feel exhausted, tired, can’t lose weight and suspect something may be wrong with your thyroid?
It certainly could be when you consider approximately 200 million people worldwide are affected by thyroid disease. Unfortunately, it goes undiagnosed or misdiagnosed which can cause a multitude of symptoms! As with any medical condition you have to be your own advocate and we are here to support you.
It May Be Your Thyroid If You Are Experiencing
❑ Weight Gain
❑ Thinning Hair
❑ Hair loss or Brittle Hair
❑ Brittle Nails
❑ Low Sex Drive
❑ Shortness of Breath
❑ Dry, scaly skin
❑ Muscle or Joint Aches
❑ Extreme fatigue
❑ Constipation
❑ Inability to conceive
❑ Foggy brain
❑ Lack of Sleep
❑ PMS
❑ Stress
❑ Anxiety
❑ Panic Attacks
❑ Dizziness
❑ Depression
❑ Chronic Yeast Infections
❑ Feeling Cold Most of the time…
What Can You Do?
Get the correct thyroid levels tested. When you talk to your healthcare provider here is a list of tests to request:
❑ TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) is the most common test but it is NOT enough! In fact, TSH actually measures how well the pituitary is talking to the thyroid gland rather than measuring actual thyroid hormones or the level of thyroid activity in the body.
❑ The tests that provide a better measure of thyroid activity are: Free T3, Free T4, Reverse T3, SHBG (sex hormone binding globulin) Thyroid Antibodies, Leptin and Basal Metabolic Rate. Most likely you will have to ask for these tests.
Lab Results
When you get your results always request a copy so you can see for yourself what your numbers are. Just being told they are normal isn’t good enough.
One of the major issues with thyroid results is the range used for diagnosis. To this day I haven’t seen lab results with the correct ranges for TSH! The CORRECT range for TSH is 0.0-2.5. This is very important and one of the reasons so many people are dragging around wondering what is wrong with them. And on top of that TSH is NOT the best test for diagnosis anyway!
It is More Than Numbers
Numbers can be important but you can’t ignore symptoms. Many people are considered to have subclinical thyroid disease which means they are in the range but are still symptomatic. Even though you may be within the range you still may have thyroid imbalance. And remember your results are most likely based on incorrect numbers anyway!
Common Treatments
Many doctors use only Synthroid, Levoxyl or Levothyroxine which is the inactive thyroid hormone T4 with the hope that your body will convert it to T3, the active thyroid hormone. Here is the problem-the conversion of T4, the storage hormone, to T3 can be reduced in anyone with significant stress, depression, insulin resistance, obesity, diabetes, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, autoimmune disease, chronic inflammation and many more conditions. So T3 containing medications like Armour Thyroid, NatureThroid and customized bioidentical thyroid hormone combinations of T4/T3 may be much more effective for the majority of people.
The right thyroid hormone levels are not only important for your energy and metabolism. Many conditions including diabetes, insulin resistance, autoimmune disease, chronic stress and chronic pain are associated with low thyroid levels.
There is Hope!
You can feel better. There are doctors that use the correct testing and integrative treatment solutions that include nutritional supplements that can help regulate thyroid balance, support a healthy metabolism and improve your weight loss, energy and mood.
Ready to Get Started?
Join us on Wednesday, January 11 @ 6:30 to hear Dr. Ariane Cometa’s talk: What Your Doctor Doesn’t Tell You About The Thyroid.
You can regain the bounce in your step and feel like yourself again.
As always we are here to help you find solutions for all of your health and wellness needs!
It’s time for you to take charge of your health!
