Is It All In My Head Or Is It My Thyroid ?
CAROLINE SCOTT
70% of all people taking thyroid hormone replacement medication continue to suffer. Many people suffer with thyroid issues but remain undiagnosed. Some of the most common symptoms of low thyroid function (hypothyroidism) include; fatigue, weight gain, inability to lose weight, loss of the outer third of the eyebrows.
There are many people with thyroid antibodies which means the body has marked the thyroid tissue as a foreign invader to be destroyed by the immune system. One of the top autoimmune conditions, also one of the most undiagnosed and even misdiagnosed is hashimoto’s thyroiditis. These same people are taking their prescription medication without realising they have an autoimmune condition which is slowly destroying the thyroid gland. Year after year, they need to take higher and higher doses of the same medication without understanding why.
Thyroid issues are indicative of more serious problems with one or other systems in the body.
Yet in conventional medicine, the standard test for thyroid function is TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone). Simply giving hormone replacement in response to a low TSH which currently happens, is at best ineffective and at worst, very poor practice given the underlying problem which is commonly ignored and the potential for autoimmunity to eventually destroy the thyroid. Let’s take a closer look at the thyroid and its function in the body. Balancing this little organ situated in the throat, the thyroid is critical because it impacts the entire body, it makes hormones involved with metabolism. Conversely, the entire body can impact thyroid function. The thyroid mainly produces an inactive form of hormone called T4 (thyroxine).
This is useless until it is converted into the active form useable by our cells, called T3 (triiodothyronine). The numbers 3 & 4 indicate the number of iodine atoms on each molecule. T3 is very important because it helps activate cellular energy, every single cell in the body has receptor sites for thyroid hormones. People with low levels of thyroid hormone, or who have thyroid hormone conversion problems, will have symptoms ranging from; depression, brain fog, inability to lose weight, chronic diseases, chronic inflammation.
Some researchers estimate that up to 50% of depression may be caused by an undiagnosed thyroid condition.
Since every tissue in the body has receptor sites for thyroid hormones, poor thyroid function can result in a variety of symptoms. The cause of low thyroid function has many factors and it’s not always a problem with the thyroid gland itself. So, if you feel this applies to you, if you have been struggling with your weight or with fatigue. If you are currently using thyroid hormone replacement medication and not feeling significantly better, then consider buying the complete set of online interviews by an expert panel of doctors, pharmacists, nutritionists, endocrinologists on the Thyroid Sessions.
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Caroline, since graduating as a dietitian, has spent the past 14 years working in clinical practice in collaboration with local government, holistic doctors, herbalists, naturopaths, chefs and health retreats. She has co-authored a cookbook for children reflecting her unique nutrition philosophy, of using only wholefoods for good health and using these same whole plant based foods as medicine. She is committed to helping people prevent and reverse disease and her passion is for helping others to achieve these outcomes by encouraging everyone she meets to keep reaching until they attain their highest goals in health, happiness, joy and passion.