Has your family doctor told you that you don’t have a problem, and yet, you know that you do? Does your endocrinologist have to keep changing or increasing your thyroid medications? Have your thyroid medications begun to not work as well as they used to?…You’re not alone.
Here’s How It Starts
In many cases that we’ve seen, here’s how it goes…
You’ve gradually put on weight over the last few years. You’ve notice that you feel sad or depressed, more often than you should. You start feeling cold, even if other people are comfortable; although, you may have the occasional “hot flash”, and your heart races for a few minutes and then calms down. Your blood pressure and/or cholesterol levels gradually begin to rise. Eventually, you may undergo treatment for low B12, low iron, gluten problems, food allergies, anxiety (maybe even panic attacks), depression, and digestive problems. Your energy drags in the morning, and you rely on stimulants such as caffeine to get you going. After you’ve experienced these issues for a while, you may start losing your hair in distinct patches, or develop increasing joint pain, psoriasis, or Diabetes Type 1 (the kind that requires insulin).
Eventually, a doctor checks your thyroid function. He or she tells you that your thyroid tests are “normal”. Actually, the word “tests” is sort-of a misnomer, because all they really order are a couple of simple thyroid tests, that don’t really tell much; those simple tests do not specifically check the thyroid gland function itself! So in reality, they’re not checking your thyroid gland at all. TSH can vary widely, so testing it once doesn’t always reveal a problem. Not only that, but the “normal range” which your results will be compared to, is so wide, that many autoimmune thyroid problems get missed.
You may have tried taking supplements with iodine, which don’t really seem to help. In fact, you’re not sure, but you think it may even make you feel worse. In fact, iodine may be the answer in only a handful of thyroid patterns. You may end up seeing an endocrinologist, who will prescribe thyroid hormones. Relief at last!…you think. They may work–for a while?…it that’s what you really need? Your doctor may have to keep increasing your medication or changing the dose. Meanwhile, you become more and more frustrated. Why?…Because you may actually have an entirely different problem going on inside you – UNDIAGNOSED…or worse, MISDIAGNOSED.
Did you know that 90% of women taking thyroid medications STILL have thyroid symptoms, even though they’ve been told their lab tests are “normal”? The problem may not even be the thyroid itself, so standard medical treatment will NOT work for 9 out of every 10 people suffering from thyroid issues!