The thyroid is a butterfly shaped gland that sits at the base of the neck. The main function of the thyroid is to secrete several hormones which collectively are called thyroid hormones. These hormones act throughout the body and can influence a variety of organs throughout the body.
I like to describe your thyroid hormones as the gas in your car. When you don’t have enough gas things begin to slow down. As your body slows or If a person has low levels of thyroid hormones then they may experience
- Weight gain
- Cold hands and feet
- Brittle nails
- Constipation
- Fatigue
- Dry Skin
- Hair Loss
- And more
Hypothyroidism is the clinical term for when a person has low thyroid hormone levels. Because the symptoms can be all over the place a blood test to determine your thyroid levels is the only way to truly tell if you have a low thyroid.
Your hair follicles are major targets for your thyroid hormones and when things are working properly the thyroid hormones help to stimulate hair growth, both faster and longer and well as it helps with pigmentation.
Typically, your physician will test for TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) and T4, which is the main storage hormone of the thyroid. Many times if these are out of balance they are easily fixed with medications such as Synthroid (Levothyroxine) or other thyroid replacement products such Armor Thyroid.
Things get tricky when those two blood tests (TSH, T4) are normal but you are still having symptoms. While T4 is the major thyroid hormone everyone always talks about it is really not your ACTIVE thyroid hormone. T4 is the storage hormone and must be converted into T3 which is your active thyroid hormone. Many medical professionals wrongfully assume that everyone is an efficient converter of T4 to T3. This is truly not the case.
A person may not convert T4 to T3 very well at all and may still experience many of the symptoms of low thyroid despite having a normal TSH and T4. Reasons for in efficient conversion include
- Stress
- High fat / sugar diets
- Insulin resistance
- Estrogen dominance
Also these same factors may cause a person to produce a hormone call Reverse T3 which can block the actions of T3. The major point I want you to get from all of this is that if your physician tells you that your thyroid is normal and you are still having symptoms as them for a FULL thyroid panel consisting of
- TSH
- T(4)
- T(3)
- Reverse T(3)
- Thyroid Antibodies
If you feel like this information was helpful, do us a favor and share with your friends.
Dr. Bryan W. Scott – Pharmacist
