Low thyroid problems abound in America today.
It is estimated that the cases of hypothyroidism are under reported.
It is known that approximately 28 million Americans have hypothyroid conditions requiring treatment.
The drugs for managing low thyroid output are in the top 10 of most prescribed medications for Americans.
That is a lot of people and a lot of prescriptions.
So, people who get treated in America for low thyroid conditions are generally successful in resolving their symptoms? Sadly, no.
Why? According to the most accurate statistics, the vast majority of hypothyroid conditions come from a problem with your immune system where the immune system mistakenly tags the thyroid gland for destruction.
I believe that the most effective way to treat a problem is to involve the cause of the problem in the solution to the problem.
That seems so elementary but it doesn't happen all that often in many a health care office.
For instance, how many times has a medical doctor told his hypertensive patient that they need to investigate whether or not there is a magnesium deficiency or a heavy metal toxicity that is stimulating the body to elevate the blood pressure? Precious little.
It's usually just give the medication and tweak the dose to get the blood pressure in a normal range without any effort to understand the cause.
The same thing applies to the thyroid.
What is causing the thyroid to slow down? As I said, in the majority of low thyroid cases, it is a slow immune attack on the thyroid leading to less and less thyroid activity.
So, how many times do medical offices recommend immune system evaluations to determine what part of the immune system is unregulated? Or even if the immune system is attacking the thyroid? Precious little.
Why? Because it doesn't change the treatment.
You are going to get a thyroid replacement hormone no matter what the cause is.
This is so sad because giving synthetic thyroid replacement does not counteract all of the negative effects of immune system over activation.
So, the person continues to suffer with low thyroid symptoms, they are on thyroid replacement hormones which, in their mind, was supposed to clear everything up.
and the doctors are happy because the blood test looks normal.
Very Frustrating.
What is the answer? Go outside the medical-insurance-pharmaceutical maze and seek a health care practitioner who understands the pervasive effects of an autoimmune condition and is willing to take the time to investigate the immune attack in order to naturally calm down the immune system, and improve thyroid function.
This is not to say that thyroid hormone replacement is not necessary.
Sometimes it is.
It just seems illogical to give a replacement hormone, as a knee jerk reaction, without out knowing the cause of why the hormone is low.
Many alternative medicine offices are no better.
Tyrosine, iodine, and thyroid glandular preparations are given without thought to why the thyroid is dysfunctional.
Same song, different verse.
Bottom Line: Insist that your doctor run thyroid antibody tests if you become diagnosed with hypothyroidism.
At least you will know the cause of your low thyroid condition.
From there, you can choose a practitioner who specializes in auto immune thyroid solutions.