Have You Been Told Your Thyroid Is Normal?
Years ago, before we routinely screened children at birth to ensure they had enough thyroid hormone, those children who lacked an adequate amount of this hormone weren't right mentally or physically. We called them cretins.
The butterfly-shaped thyroid gland is located in the neck. Without the crucial influence of the thyroid, proper maturation and function of the other hormone glands is not possible. 
Thyroid hormone is responsible for our metabolism, which involves the physical and chemical processes by which living substances are produced and maintained. The thyroid controls the efficiency and speed at which all of our cells work. This is why I refer to the thyroid gland as "the furnace." It regulates our body temperature and also, like a furnace, when you toss junk into it, it burns it up.
High thyroid levels, known as hyperthyroidism, are rare. More common is low thyroid, which we call hypothyroidism. When your body makes too little of the hormone, what happens? It creates a backlog of fluid, which leads to swelling. The byproducts of your metabolism also back up, like a clogged drain, which makes you feel bad.
A major symptom of low thyroid is that you feel cold. Everyone else may feel fine, but you feel cold. In particular, you are likely to have cold hands and feet. In Arizona, which is known for its warm climate, there are a surprisingly large number of people with low thyroid. Many of them moved here because they could no longer tolerate the colder northern climate.
Depending upon who you listen to, hypothyroidism occurs in up to 50% of the population. Hypothyroidism also tends to run in families on the female side.
What are some of the other symptoms? You may be surprised to learn that there are more than 100 of them. Here are some of the symptoms a person might report to their doctor:
- Tiredness
- Weakness
- Dry, coarse skin
- Habitual chilliness
- Hair loss
- Difficulty concentrating
- Poor memory
- Frequent infections
- Constipation
- Shortness of breath
- Weight gain with poor appetite
- Excessive menstrual bleeding
- Recurring miscarriages
- Burning, tingling sensations in the hands or feet
- Impaired hearing
- Melancholia or depression
- Weariness of life
- Vertigo
- Sleepiness
- Low sex drive
- Headaches
- Muscle and joint pains
- Frequent urination
- Anxiety
- High cholesterol
- Puffiness of face, hands, and feet
- Cool extremities-cold to the touch
- Abnormal reflex response
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
I want to share with you some photos taken of patients with severe hypothyroidism. These pictures were taken years ago in an era when doctors tended to document what they saw with pictures. In the photo taken before treatment, it is pretty easy to see the characteristic puffiness and water retention. Notice the extreme changes in these people after treatment. It is thought that one reason for such a dramatic change in these patients was the use at that time of a desiccated thyroid hormone preparation such as Armour. This is the kind of thyroid hormone that is made from dried animal gland, instead of a patented synthetic pharmaceutical version such as Synthroid.
Photos from the collection of Dr. E. Hertoghe, circa 1915
In my practice, I am finding that up to 50% of patients with chronic pain are hypothyroid.
Such pain includes:
- Joint pain or joint stiffness
- Joint swelling and pseudogout
- Carpal tunnel syndrome, often both sides
- Muscle pain - the kind where you hurt all over
- Delayed linear bone growth in children - they don't grow as fast as they should
With such a confusing array of symptoms, you can see how a diagnosis of hypothyroidism is often missed.
Why so much hypothyroidism? The most common cause is thought to be an autoimmune condition. In other words, your body attacks its own thyroid gland. In other words, you are allergic to yourself. I suspect the autoimmune problem occurs because of the following:
- Nutritional deficiencies - we are not getting enough of the right nutrients in the food we eat for our bodies to function correctly. Iodine and selenium help the body make thyroid hormones, and these elements are often lacking in our diet. We simply don't get much of them. Most of us used to get iodine in our iodized salt, but lately our doctors have been telling us not to eat salt. Some also say that we shouldn't worry about getting enough iodine because there is plenty in our salt, when in fact there isn't. This is because we have grown crops for decades on the same soils without replacing the full complement of minerals.
- Environmental toxins are another reason people do not produce sufficient thyroid hormone. Such toxins create havoc in the body. During the 20th century alone, about 70,000 new synthetic chemicals were introduced into our environment. Pesticides, plastics, chlorine, heavy metal, and so on, block the ability of the thyroid to do its job.
- I might add stress to the list. Humankind has always had stress, but perhaps not the chronic everyday kind of stress we live with today. When stress is combined with nutritional deficiencies and environment pollution, problems are more likely to occur.
If you let hypothyroidism go for a long time untreated, what happens? Here are some of the serious conditions that can result:
- Heart disease
- Hypertension
- Stroke
- Increased risk of various cancers
- Diabetes
- Dementia
- Alzheimer's disease
So if hypothyroidism is your problem, what do you do about it?
- As a medical doctor, I start by listening to a person's symptoms, followed by conducting a physical exam, and then ordering a lab test to check the level of thyroid and pituitary hormones. I also like to do a general blood panel to make sure there isn't something else going on.
- Obviously everyone is different, but generally I tell them to eat food with their meals. Something other than potato chips and Coca-Cola. And lots of times, they start feeling much better. Most people are so depleted of basic nutrients because the soil is depleted of minerals and then we further deplete our food by processing it. In addition, I recommend people take high quality, highly absorbable minerals, vitamins and antioxidants; fish oil, and digestive enzymes.
- If someone is hypothyroid, I often prescribe supplemental thyroid hormone. I tend to use some kind of combination of hormones - sometimes Armour, sometimes Synthroid or Levoxyl and T3 together - depending on what I believe will give that patient better results. The body is supposed to convert T4 to its more active form, T3. It appears that many hypothyroid patients are not converting T4 adequately.
- Finally, I monitor patients' symptoms and repeat their thyroid tests over time to make sure they are improving.
Many of the symptoms of hypothyroidism are often attributed to something else. Your complaint that you feel bad may be attributed to an "unknown cause." Or you may be told you are just lazy or too stressed, not exercising enough, or have excess uterine bleeding stemming from a "gynecological problem." The real cause is low thyroid function.
Why chase after symptoms when we can fix the real problem? Many patients are treated with anti-depressant drugs, sleep medications, cholesterol lowering drugs, pain medications, and surgeries when the underlying problem is really their thyroid.