YOUR THYROID
I HAVE BEEN THERE
Hi Friends,
Here’s the deal - I have been there. I have had many of the hypothyroid symptoms you are experiencing. Personally, I must still be very diligent in my health practices, diet, and lifestyle to maintain good health and balance.
In addition to what you may be experiencing physically and/or mentally, there is nothing worse than having massive confusion piled on top of that. Feeling like you just do NOT understand how your body is working (or not working) is even more frustrating and overwhelming and maddening!
NOT GETTING ANSWERS IS MADDENING
It seems like everywhere you turn, you are getting conflicting information and it leaves you paralyzed in your decision making.
I know this because I was YOU. I was not getting answers...from anyone! The only way I could dig my way out was to begin learning and understanding and then implementing change.
SO I AM HERE TO BRING CLARITY!
It just happens to turn out, I love learning this stuff! Maybe you don’t - and that’s why I am here for you! I can help you...you are not alone.
But in the meantime, I wanted to provide some basic thyroid-focused information to help take some of the overwhelm out of the picture and get you thinking about the fact that the WHOLE body is at play here. Your thyroid does not function in isolation.
THYROID PANEL MARKERS
READY TO GET TESTING + GET RID OF YOUR SYMPTOMS?
The hypothalamus messages the pituitary, which then sends hormone messengers to the thyroid gland instructing it to produce thyroid hormone
The thyroid gland secretes T4, T3 and rT3 into blood stream where they bind to Thyroid Binding Globulin (TBG)
YOUR THYROID AND THE REST OF YOUR BODY -- A TEAM EFFORT
The HPA Axis (hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal) operates in tandem with the thyroid system
The liver produces the Thyroid Binding Globulin (TBG), which delivers the thyroid hormone to your cells
The liver is the primary site of T4 to T3 and rT3 conversion
The circulatory system is the transport system for the TBG to deliver the thyroid hormones to the cells/tissues
Healthy gut flora is required to produce an enzyme that produces T3. T4 is also converted to T3 in the gut, amidst healthy gut flora
Since we must look at the body as a whole, versus separate and independently operating bits and pieces, we need to consider the function of other areas to understand the big picture; therefore, it is helpful to look at other functional lab work which may include:
FOOD SENSITIVITIES
Understand what foods may be causing a huge inflammatory reaction (yes, could even be “healthy” foods), intestinal permeability and further health complications.
GUT PATHOGENS
Get a better picture as to your overall gut health and find out if there is a pathogen that is stressing out your adrenals.
HORMONES
Find out if your hormones are out of balance and causing anything from fatigue, to mood swings, to weight gain, etc.
MINERAL BALANCES
Learn where you stand with key minerals and how that is impacting how you feel.
And more...depending on your unique situation
Here’s why we need to run a full thyroid panel!
Oftentimes, your doctor will only check your thyroid function with a TSH test (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone). The problems with this approach are:
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TSH is only one piece of the thyroid puzzle. The additional markers help to give us much more of a complete picture as to what might be going wrong.
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TSH does fluctuate throughout the day. TSH is the hormone that the pituitary gland releases to tell the Thyroid gland to produce more thyroid hormone, so depending what your blood levels are of the Thyroid hormone at that very moment in time, the course of action for your thyroid health will be determined with this one piece of information.
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The standard reference range is sooooo incredibly broad. These reference ranges are averages of all people tested, which I’m sure you can understand include very sick people. So if your TSH value falls into the standard range, that surely does NOT mean your thyroid is functioning properly anyway.
The other lab markers which are listed below give us a much broader picture of what is going on within your body and your thyroid function and they allow us to determine what course of action can help you the most.
Full Thyroid Panel includes:
