Thyroid
Thyroid problems are a common occurrence. Many people take Synthroid (T4) or the natural thyroid hormone Armour Thyroid (T4 & T3). The thyroid is the most frequently tested hormonal gland today. You don’t hear too often of a woman having her estrogen or progesterone checked or a person having their adrenal function checked. Well, I go off on those topics elsewhere – especially make sure you read the section on Hormone Balancing, I discuss the thyroid a good amount there in relation to other hormones. Now it’s time to discuss just the thyroid.
Many people with a thyroid issue go through a period when they are hyper (high) one week (or day) and hypo (low) the next as the thyroid is trying to regulate itself. Since the thyroid is so sensitive to changes in adrenal function, estrogen production, immune function, and insulin production, you can understand why frequently the end result – or shall I say final diagnosis – is hypothyroidism as the gland is too tired to function as it should anymore.
Some symptoms of low thyroid include:
- cold hands and feet
- dry, flaky skin
- soft, brittle fingernails
- cracking of the heels or hands
- over-emotional – cry for no reason
- thinning or balding of the hair, especially the lateral 1/3 (outside) of the eyebrows
- frequent infections
- puffy upper eyelids
- inability to lose weight
- low sex drive
- PMS
- fatigue, worse in the morning
- “foggy” thinking
- loss of memory
- depression
- morning axillary (armpit) temperature below 97.8
Let me stress how important your health is on your thyroid. If you eat too many carbs and make too much insulin, then you’ll block the major thyroid hormone T4 from converting to T3. This will also happen if you make too much cortisol (from stress). T4 conversion to T3 doesn’t even occur in the thyroid, yet physicians only want to look there. 90% of the conversion occurs in the liver and the other 10% is up to the kidneys.
Always address all your hormones as discussed before you go on any medication, especially a hormonal medication. And always have a complete thyroid panel done, (TSH, freeT4, freeT3), not just TSH – (thyroid stimulating hormone, from the pituitary). Checking reverse T3 if your T4 is high and your T3 is low is a good idea. And if things just don’t make sense, then investigate the many times overlooked autoimmune diseases effecting the thyroid – Graves and Hashimoto’s. These are called TG and TPO antibody titers. Hashimoto’s is the #1 reason today for low thyroid function, worldwide. It is an immune problem, but a thyroid symptom.
I had a saliva test done about 6 yrs ago and came back low adrenal and thyroid. I took hydrocortisone (25 mg) for 3 years and Cytomel (t3 only) for about 6. I am only on Cytomel now.
I am 58 yrs old and 16 yrs postmenopausal with all hormones low. I eat a very healthy diet, however do not exercise much due to back issues.
I am toying with the idea of weaning off the cytomel, since I think my adrenals are much better now (sleeping great and less stressed) and maybe I don’t need the thyroid help anymore. Have you ever seen people recover from thyroid issues? I’ve been told that once you begin thyroid replacement its night night for your thyroid and it will never wake up again.
I’ve lost considerable amount of weight and have good energy. For these two reasons I have not stopped the cytomel.
Thank you
You’re right, it is often hard to get off a thyroid med once you’ve been on it for an extended period of time. However, often the dose can be lowered as the person’s health improves. Typically when Cytomel works well it is because the body is not converting T4 to T3 very well. This is often blocked by cortisol (stress), insulin (high carb/sugar diet), and estrogen (estrogen dominance in women, men too sometimes). So if you’re making the T4, but still need the T3, consider that. Back issues? Check out the post on back pain and the adrenal glands. Thanks!