Why is it that so many people with an underactive thyroid are not being diagnosed?
Why so many people with complain of fatigue, weight gain, inability to lose weight, hair loss, decrease mood, brain fog and many other symptoms of low thyroid and yet they are not being diagnosed?
Many people go to the doctor with these complains and the doctor tells them that their thyroid is normal.
Why are the routine thyroid tests failing to detect so many people with hypothyroidism?
Sometimes these symptoms are treated separately but fail to see that is really one underlying problem.
Reason no. 1. The range for thyroid hormone, T4 and T3, are the range for the general population, however the individual range is much narrower. In other words, every person has their own unique set point of what the right thyroid level is for them.
Reason no. 2. TSH, a hormone from the pituitary gland, should be high when the thyroid is low, yet often the TSH is not elevated in the blood even though when is clearly hypothyroid.
Additionally, numerous chemicals, toxins, that we call endocrine disruptors can affect the thyroid system on many different levels, often simultaneously, making it very difficult for the routine thyroid blood test to detect an abnormality. For example, chemicals can affect receptors in which sometimes the blood tests can come out completely normal. Even seemingly opposite of the effects is having.
What should one do then?
- It is imperative to go to a doctor who understands environmental medicine and the main causes of thyroid abnormalities today.
- One should do the TRH stimulation test which is a more in-depth test that can detect a low thyroid missed by routine test.
- One most always do thyroid antibodies and reverse T3 in addition to the full thyroid panel.
- Measuring toxins levels can also help in determining the diagnosis of hypothyroidism.
