What your doctor doesn’t know about hypothyroidism may kill you!
Do you suffer from one or more of the following signs and symptoms?
Brain fog
Fibromyalgia
Depression
Difficulty sleeping
Toe and heel pain
Chronic fatigue
Slow to get going in the mornings
Dry, brittle nails and hair
Dry, flaky skin
Puffy face
Abdominal fullness
Non-pitting edema
Memory problems
High cholesterol
Lethargy
Low body temperature
Infertility
Irregular, scanty, or heavy menstruation
Dull headaches
Difficulty losing weight unexplainable weight gain
carpal tunnel pain
Constipation
These are just a few of the symptoms of a deficiency of thyroid hormone in the body. It’s likely that you may have suspected a thyroid problem before, but were told by your doctor that your thyroid is normal. You may have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, depression, arthritis, or were simply told that the way you look and feel is part of the normal process of aging. Your doctor may have prescribed multiple drugs for you to take, such as anti-depressants, fibromyalgia drugs, sleeping pills, pain killers, cortisone shots, cholesterol-lowering drugs, and others. In the event that you were lucky enough to receive a diagnosis of hypothyroidism, you were most likely placed on a low dose of T4 thyroid hormone replacement, such as 50 – 100 mcg of Synthroid (Levothyroxine). And you most likely still have lingering symptoms and “flare-ups.”
Why are hypothyroid sufferers so commonly underdiagnosed or misdiagnosed with fibromyalgia and other “new” wastebasket disease names? The problem lies in a lack of education on the part of medical doctors. They don’t always know what tests need to be done to arrive at a differential diagnosis, and they often don’t understand what the numbers mean when they come back from the lab. Since pharmaceutical corporations have such close ties with medical colleges, much of a medical doctor’s education is sponsored by these corporations.
Your MD was most likely taught to rely on a single measurement – the TSH value – to diagnose hypothyroidism and check adequacy of treatment. TSH is an acronym for thyroid stimulating hormone, which is made by your pituitary gland. In a person with an optimally functioning endocrine system, the pituitary gland increases its production of TSH when it senses that there is not enough thyroid hormone in the body, and it decreases its production of TSH when there is too much thyroid hormone. Therefore, a low TSH value could indicate hyperthyroidism or too much exogenous thyroid hormone (from medication), and a high TSH value could indicate hypothyroidism or too low dosage of thyroid medication. However, the TSH number alone does not give enough information to arrive at a diagnosis or to track whether medication dosage is adequate. Oftentimes, when the thyroid gland is underactive and not producing enough thyroid hormone, the pituitary gland may also be underactive (and not producing enough TSH). This is often referred to as central hypothyroidism or secondary hypothyroidism. It can be diagnosed by testing the levels of free T4 (T7) and free T3, but most doctors never use these tests and don’t understand what the results mean.
Other common causes of hypothyroid symptoms include an inability of the liver to convert T4 hormone into the more active T3 hormone, an excess amount of reverse T3 due to stress or chronic illness, and peripheral body tissue resistance to thyroid hormone. Testing for these causes may involve basal metabolic testing, an EKG of your heart, self-monitoring of basal metabolic temperature with a bbt thermometer, keeping a journal of the severity of your signs and symptoms, and finding a resolution of signs and symptoms with adequate replacement thyroid hormone (usually in the form of natural desiccated thyroid hormone containing T4 and T3 hormone, rather than synthetic drugs like Synthroid which only replace T4 hormone).
Acupuncture, as well as nutritional and herbal supplementation, can be beneficial in treating stress-induced hypothyroidism, peripheral thyroid resistance, and inadequate conversion of T4 to T3. When used in conjunction with an adequate amount of thyroid hormone, this integrative approach to hypothyroidism can completely resolve your symptoms, once and for all. I am available by appointment for acupuncture in the Hot Springs, AR area, and I offer FREE distance consultations through phone or email. If you need help in finding a medical doctor or nurse practitioner who is open to an integrative approach to treating hypothyroidism, which includes running more extensive and appropriate lab tests and taking the patient’s symptoms (or lack of) into account, please email me and I will help you find one in your area. If you are an MD or NP who takes an integrative approach to hypothyroidism and would like to benefit from receiving referrals, please contact me so we can better serve our patients.
