Sorting out the truth of Thyroid disease

There has been a consistent move within the medical community to discourage patients from seeking out the truth regarding their potentially malfunctioning thyroid gland.

There is a prevalent myth that goes something like this: We tested your thyroid (TSH) and you are fine !

Bull...This is one of the most ridiculous statements made in medicine.
Only after a comprehensive evaluation of all parameters and with much more appropriate levels than are commonly considered "normal", should you accept this statement.

As many of you know there are a number of indicators that suggest a thyroid deficiency. Do you fit into any of these categories ?:

1. By far the most common symptom is fatigue.
2. Your skin can become dry, cold, rough and scaly. Do you apply lotion daily ?
3. Hair tends to becomes coarse, brittle and grows slowly or may fall out excessively. Have you heard comments from you hairdresser ?
4. Do you wonder how come you don't sweat or your perspiration may be decreased or even absent, even during heavy exercise and hot weather ?
5. Constipation, that is resistant to magnesium supplementation and other mild laxatives, is a common symptom.
6. Are you experiencing increased sensitivity to cold ? Do you feel chilly in rooms of normal temperature and find yourself dressing with additional layers ?
7. Fighting the battle of the bulge ? Despite rigid adherence to a low carbohydrate, low fat diet, your weight stays the same? This seems to be a very common finding, especially in women.
8. By the third year of medical school you are taught to question thyroid function if depression is present, BEFORE prescribing any other forms of treatment.
9. Muscle weakness can be another common symptom.

Articles of Interest:
There are a number of well written articles regarding the issues of laboratory accuracy and the thyroid. "Thyroid Function Testing: Dealing with Interpretation Difficulties" is very enlightening and an in depth paper. If you wish for a simple explanation of both the thyroid function and laboratory testing consider, Functional Thyroid Disorders, Part 1 by Dr. Brady. If your confusion results from being told about your TSH response, consider this well written article entitled 15 Reasons Why Your TSH May Be Fluctuating.

There is an excellent web site for patients, by Mary Shomon, at Thyroid Disease at About.com. For a more formal textbook discussion of thyroid testing consider this link, "Evaluation of Thyroid Function in Health and Disease Revised 21 September 2000 by Jayne Franklyn and Michael Shephard".

Books:
The classic book on thyroid treatment and testing was authored by Dr. Broda Barnes in 1976. The title is "Hypothyroidism , the Unsuspected Illness". This publication popularized the use of the basal body temperature as an inexpensive method of determining the potential of a hypothyroid condition. Clinically I find that this non-toxic, easy to preform test is a must, as a starting point, coupled with a good history and physical examination and comprehensive blood work up.

The test consist of taking your temperature , BEFORE getting out of bed, under your arm and writing down a week or more of your results. There are some interfering potentials, but this is a simple screening, at no cost. Always use an electronic thermometer to avoid the potential of breaking glass, with the poison mercury being released. Even the cheap electronic thermometers seem to be adequate. When you are questioning their accuracy place both a mercury and an electronic thermometer in a warm cup of water and compare the result. They should be within a few tenths of each other.

A newer book to consult is Mary Shomon's "Living well with Hypothyroidism".

Finally a number of my patient have presented with the "The Thyroid Sourcebook", now in its third edition. I would caution that some of the advise is ill placed, clearly dated and inaccurate. As an example, the author Sara Rosenthal suggests one find a specialist before determining your disorder. She is completely clue less with regard to the use of natural thyroid medications and dismisses them in a single paragraph as being inconsistent. This is not true ! Additionally she is not understanding the differences in physicians, their approaches or use of different medications and combinations. If you choose to use this book, focus on the well done chapters 1-9 and 11, regarding the thyroid gland and the diseases.

After 19 years of changing many patients prescriptions from the classic thyroxine, AKA Synthroid, to the natural prescriptive and non-prescriptive products, it continues to amuse me how conventional medicine ignores clear credible evidence that we need additional testing and treatment for this very prevalent condition. As a rule NEVER settle for a TSH or total or free T4 test/s. These tests tends to be misleading either alone or together. Newer panels incorporate additional parameters. Great Smokies Laboratory has a more comprehensive approach to both the testing and the reporting. Their description of thyroid testing will allow you to get a better idea of this complicated issue.

If your current physicians continues the line, "there are no bioequivalent thyroid medications, except synthroid", show him/her this article. If this is not enough to sway your thinking, consider the correlation between cardiovascular health and your thyroid function. There is a must read article entitled , "Thyroid Dysfunction Linked to Elevated Cardiac Risk". Additionally a direct correlation exists between cancer risks and thyroid dysfunction. Read about this issue at About.com.

With all these parameters to consider, I think it's essential for anyone with any and or all of the initial symptoms, to have a complete evaluation. At the Center of Health™, we employ all of the mentioned tests, when appropriate. Our goal is to truly balance your hormones and maximize your health.

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