What Your Doctor Doesn"t Know About Your Thyroid
Feeling run down, cold all the time, fatigued, losing your hair and unable to lose weight.
It may be your thyroid gland.
Or, it may be so much more? If you're experiencing any of the symptoms listed above you'll most likely go to your doctor for help.
They'll run some blood tests and let you know the findings.
If the thyroid numbers look good your doctor will take a wait and see stance.
"Mrs.
Jones everything looks fine.
You're probably stressed and run down.
Come back and see me in six months".
Great now what do you do? Honestly, get a second opinion and don't wait! My experience has been that people suffer from subclinical thyroid dysfunction for months or even years before they are properly diagnosed.
If the markers show low thyroid function then the only tool available to you (medically) will be thyroid hormone replacement.
If replacement doesn't help you feel better then your health care provider will either increase your level or try another brand of hormone.
After you've explored these two avenues you've pretty much exhausted your options...
medically anyway.
This simplified approach often leaves you wondering if you'll ever be able to feel normal again.
Sound familiar? The fact is most health care professionals don't really understand thyroid function.
Let's break down some of the blood makers so you can understand the bigger picture.
TSH stands for Thyroid Stimulating Hormone.
It is produced in the pituitary gland in response to low T4 levels.
T4 (inactive thyroid hormone) and T3 (active thyroid hormone) are produced in the thyroid gland when stimulated by TSH.
There are essentially ten steps in the thyroid function cycle.
Each step is critical for proper thyroid expression.
In other words, if one of these steps isn't completed you may feel poorly even with proper TSH and T4 levels measured in your blood work.
Step 1: The activity of two neurotransmitters (serotonin and dopamine) in the hypothalamus triggers the release of TRH (thyroid releasing hormone) which in turn stimulates the pituitary gland.
Step 2: The pituitary gland once stimulated by TRH will release TSH.
TSH circulates in the blood stream making its way to the thyroid gland.
TSH stimulates TPO (thyroid peroxidase enzyme) to produce thyroid hormone.
Step 3: Proper TPO enzyme activity Step 4: Proper iodine uptake into the thyroid Step 5: The thyroid produces T4 (93%) and T3 (7%) which is then bound to special proteins for transport in the blood.
The main protein is called Thyroid Binding Globulin (TBG).
Think of TBG as a taxi cab then carries the hormone throughout the body.
Step 6: Thyroid hormones (T4 and T3) must be able to bind to and release from carrier proteins.
In other words the thyroid hormones needs to get in and out of the taxi cabs.
Step 7: 5′-deiodinase enzyme must be available to convert T4 (inactive) to T3 (active), Reverse T3, T3S and T3AC.
Most of the initial conversion happens in the liver converting 60% of T4 into T3.
Reverse T3 makes up 20% of the conversion and can never be used by the body.
The remaining 20% is T3S and T3AC.
Step 8: Healthy intestinal activity is vital to convert 20% of the T3S and T3AC into active T3.
Step 9: Receptor sites on every cell in your body must be capable of binding with T3.
Step 10: Finally, the cell must respond to thyroid hormone activity.
I know this is a little confusing and overwhelming.
Most trained health care professionals don't understand thyroid function or the ten steps very well either.
The truth is you don't have to understand these 10 thyroid function steps, but your doctor must because getting these steps right is the key to helping you feel well again.
If your health care provider is only dumping hormone into the system without knowing how to work the system then problems can arise.
And more hormone won't solve your thyroid function problems.
Not to get even more confusing but these 10 thyroid function steps only serve as a basic model from which there are really 24 different ways your thyroid can go wrong.
Take away message: proper thyroid management takes a thorough understanding of thyroid production from the brain to the cell.
Some people simply won't feel good by simply dumping thyroid hormone into their body.
They need to discover if there is a breakdown in their 10 steps to thyroid function.
It may be your thyroid gland.
Or, it may be so much more? If you're experiencing any of the symptoms listed above you'll most likely go to your doctor for help.
They'll run some blood tests and let you know the findings.
If the thyroid numbers look good your doctor will take a wait and see stance.
"Mrs.
Jones everything looks fine.
You're probably stressed and run down.
Come back and see me in six months".
Great now what do you do? Honestly, get a second opinion and don't wait! My experience has been that people suffer from subclinical thyroid dysfunction for months or even years before they are properly diagnosed.
If the markers show low thyroid function then the only tool available to you (medically) will be thyroid hormone replacement.
If replacement doesn't help you feel better then your health care provider will either increase your level or try another brand of hormone.
After you've explored these two avenues you've pretty much exhausted your options...
medically anyway.
This simplified approach often leaves you wondering if you'll ever be able to feel normal again.
Sound familiar? The fact is most health care professionals don't really understand thyroid function.
Let's break down some of the blood makers so you can understand the bigger picture.
TSH stands for Thyroid Stimulating Hormone.
It is produced in the pituitary gland in response to low T4 levels.
T4 (inactive thyroid hormone) and T3 (active thyroid hormone) are produced in the thyroid gland when stimulated by TSH.
There are essentially ten steps in the thyroid function cycle.
Each step is critical for proper thyroid expression.
In other words, if one of these steps isn't completed you may feel poorly even with proper TSH and T4 levels measured in your blood work.
Step 1: The activity of two neurotransmitters (serotonin and dopamine) in the hypothalamus triggers the release of TRH (thyroid releasing hormone) which in turn stimulates the pituitary gland.
Step 2: The pituitary gland once stimulated by TRH will release TSH.
TSH circulates in the blood stream making its way to the thyroid gland.
TSH stimulates TPO (thyroid peroxidase enzyme) to produce thyroid hormone.
Step 3: Proper TPO enzyme activity Step 4: Proper iodine uptake into the thyroid Step 5: The thyroid produces T4 (93%) and T3 (7%) which is then bound to special proteins for transport in the blood.
The main protein is called Thyroid Binding Globulin (TBG).
Think of TBG as a taxi cab then carries the hormone throughout the body.
Step 6: Thyroid hormones (T4 and T3) must be able to bind to and release from carrier proteins.
In other words the thyroid hormones needs to get in and out of the taxi cabs.
Step 7: 5′-deiodinase enzyme must be available to convert T4 (inactive) to T3 (active), Reverse T3, T3S and T3AC.
Most of the initial conversion happens in the liver converting 60% of T4 into T3.
Reverse T3 makes up 20% of the conversion and can never be used by the body.
The remaining 20% is T3S and T3AC.
Step 8: Healthy intestinal activity is vital to convert 20% of the T3S and T3AC into active T3.
Step 9: Receptor sites on every cell in your body must be capable of binding with T3.
Step 10: Finally, the cell must respond to thyroid hormone activity.
I know this is a little confusing and overwhelming.
Most trained health care professionals don't understand thyroid function or the ten steps very well either.
The truth is you don't have to understand these 10 thyroid function steps, but your doctor must because getting these steps right is the key to helping you feel well again.
If your health care provider is only dumping hormone into the system without knowing how to work the system then problems can arise.
And more hormone won't solve your thyroid function problems.
Not to get even more confusing but these 10 thyroid function steps only serve as a basic model from which there are really 24 different ways your thyroid can go wrong.
Take away message: proper thyroid management takes a thorough understanding of thyroid production from the brain to the cell.
Some people simply won't feel good by simply dumping thyroid hormone into their body.
They need to discover if there is a breakdown in their 10 steps to thyroid function.
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