Could you suffer from thyroid disease?

Hypothyroidism is often undiagnosed. Take charge of your health and see if you may be affected.

By Dr. KRISTEN O'DELL

There are 27 million Americans diagnosed with thyroid disease. It’s probable that there are at least this many people who go undiagnosed. Could you be one of them?

With recent changes in guidelines for testing the thyroid, some hypothyroid conditions, or underactive thyroid, may be under-treated.

To determine whether you may be one of those who are undiagnosed, take a look at the risk factors for thyroid disease below. Do any of these sound familiar to you?

• History of auto-immune disorders
• Celiac Sprue or gluten enteropathy
• Family history of thyroid disorder
• Radiation to the thyroid gland
• Hormonal fluctuations during pregnancy
• Peri-menopausal women

Next, learn the symptoms. This small, butterfly-shaped gland is known as the “master gland” of the body. Its job is to secrete hormones that communicate to every organ, tissue and cell in the body. As a result, the list of symptoms caused by thyroid disorders can be rather lengthy.

When people think of thyroid disorders, some symptoms that come to mind are weight gain and fatigue. Other common symptoms include:

• elevated cholesterol or glucose levels despite diet and exercise
• inability to lose weight despite exercise and diet
• low body temperature/cold when others are warm
• feelings of fatigue
• dry course hair, hair falling out
• hoarse or gravely voice
• dry skin, scaly, and/or thick
• puffy eyes or swelling in face
• pain, aches in joints, hands and feet
• depressed
• restless
• moods change easily
• feelings of worthlessness

In addition, here are some of the less thought of symptoms of hypothyroidism:
• Recurrent infections
• Gum disease
• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Irregular periods, infertility
• Decreased sweating

If you have more than four symptoms on this list, you should be screened for hypothyroidism.

The gold standard of screening is a blood test for thyroid stimulating hormone. If the TSH comes back within normal limits, it is common practice to stop evaluating thyroid function. However, when assessing for thyroid disease, it can be beneficial to order additional lab tests.

While TSH is an important factor, alone it does not give all the information necessary to make an accurate assessment. My preliminary screening includes TSH, as well as free T4, free T3 and thyroid antibodies.

These markers can test thyroid function in a more complete way. They assess the actual hormones the thyroid produces, immune function and if the hormones produced are in the appropriate percentage and unbound form. (If most of the hormone is bound, it is not free to act on the tissues in the body.)

Another issue with management of thyroid disorders is the failure to look at concurrent disease. There are times when people with thyroid disorders fail to see improvement once treated. This can be a result of other hormone imbalances, such as adrenal hormones, female hormones, and insulin or sugar dysregulation, to name a few.

In general, when one endocrine system begins to fail, other systems can follow. If this is the case, it will be difficult to resolve thyroid symptoms. Anemia, other autoimmune disorders or Celiac Sprue will also make an impact on hypothyroidism.

Treatment failure can also occur due to choice of thyroid medication. The choice of medication is based on multiple factors, such as the cause of hypothyroidism as well as lab results. If these are not taken into account, optimal treatment may not occur.

It is also important to consider lifestyle and diet when treating thyroid disorders. Is a nutrient deficiency causing a problem? Are you overweight or not exercising? These can create signaling problems between the thyroid and the cells responding to T3.

Is the thyroid getting proper nourishment with essential fatty acids, vitamin D, iodine and tyrosine? These are imperative to ensure proper thyroid function.

Even simple things, such as lack of sun exposure or noise/temperature extremes, can make a negative impact on the thyroid.

All of these issues need to be investigated in order to allow successful treatment of the thyroid gland and the whole person. Make sure you are getting medical care that is personal and successful.

Dr. Kristen O’Dell is the owner of Bedford Natural Medicine.