Is Your Thyroid Out Of Whack?
If you suspect that you may have low thyroid function, yet your doctor tells you that “everything is fine” they are usually one testing TSH levels. The ranges that doctors consider acceptable are quite different than what Functional Medicine practitioners consider healthy so there could be long term imbalance that your doctor is missing.
TSH is not a good indicator of thyroid function. TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) is your brain telling your thyroid what to do. Testing TSH isn’t testing your thyroid hormone but rather testing to see if your brain thinks you should have more thyroid hormone.
The Low Thyroid Checklist
1. Fatigue
Do you wake up feeling tired? Do you struggle with energy during the day, especially in the afternoon?
2. Weight
Do you struggle to lose weight no matter what diet you try or does it come off painfully slow and you need to exercise like crazy to make it happen?
3. High cholesterol
Have you been told that you have high cholesterol and need to get it down or you will have to take medication? Have you tried all of the diet advice but still have high cholesterol? It might be genetics or it might be that you have low thyroid function.
4. Depression & anxiety
Mood changes can also be caused by low thyroid function. If that’s the case for you, going on anti-depressants is not the answer. Remember, it’s important to address the root cause of the symptom, not the symptom! Other symptoms include brain fog, poor sleep, and memory loss.
5. Bowel & digestive issues
Low thyroid slows down your metabolism and it also slows down your digestion which leads to symptoms like constipation (although occasionally diarrhea), bloating, reflux, and IBS symptoms.
6. Hair, skin, nail problems
Is you hair dry or falling out faster than it should? Is your skin dry? Your nails weak and brittle?
7. Muscle aches & joint pains
Aching joints may not necessarily be related to aging or arthritis; these can be symptoms of low thyroid function. Muscle pain and slow recovery from exercise might also be a sign that your thyroid isn’t operating at its best.
8. Menstrual cycle irregularities & infertility
Do you experience irregular periods? Are your periods heavy and painful? Do you have unexplained infertility? The thyroid helps regulate the sex hormones so all of these symptoms could be due to an under-functioning thyroid.
9. Difficulty swallowing or feeling a lump in your neck
Not everyone with low thyroid function has an enlarged thyroid but this is one symptom that needs to be checked out with a full thyroid panel and an ultrasound.
10. Adrenal function
When considering thyroid health and function, it is also important to take adrenal function into consideration. High cortisol can inhibit the conversion of T4 to the active thyroid hormone, T3, making high cortisol a contributing factor to your low thyroid.
What’s next?
If any of those symptoms sound like you, the next step is to run a lab that looks at your hormones, adrenals, and thyroid function to find out exactly what is going on in your body. Your results will inform you of any imbalances and help your health practitioner develop a specific plan to bring you back into balance.
One of the most frequent labs I run with clients is an extensive overview of your hormones—estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, TSH, T4, T3, reverse T3, and cortisoI levels—for a comprehensive look at exactly what is out of balance and what needs to be brought back into balance. The lab is an easy lab that you can run from the comfort of your home and then send back to the lab. I will interpret the results, explain everything to you, and create a plan to address the imbalances.
Ready to get started? Get in touch!