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THYROID Thyroid hormone replacement is based mainly on symptoms and the blood levels of your thyroid hormones. Neither the symptoms nor the blood tests are 100% accurate for diagnosing a low or high thyroid condition. Used together however, we can diagnose with about 98% accuracy. New research has shown that many more people have hypothyroidism (low thyroid) than previously believed. Symptoms of low thyroid levels: Symptoms of high thyroid levels: - fatigue
- nervousness - depression - irritability - forgetfulness - weakness - dry coarse hair
- hair loss - hair loss
- difficulty sleeping
- puffy eyes
- rapid or pounding heart beat -
aching joints
- increased sweating - enlarged thyroid gland - heat intolerance - slow heart beat - weight loss (increased appetite) - cold intolerance - frequent bowel movements - weight gain - diarrhea - constipation - warm moist palms - brittle nails - shaking fingers (tremor) - heavy and/or irregular periods -scant periods - decreased appetite -enlarged
thyroid - high blood pressure - high cholesterol Many people with symptoms do not get diagnosed and treatment because their health care provider is not familiar with the new research and how to interpret the laboratory tests. There are two types of thyroid hormone. Many people do extremely well with the hormone known as T4 (Unithroid, Synthroid or Levoxyl). However, this preparation must be activated by the body to be effective. When this conversion process is not working properly a combination of hormones, T4 and T3 (Armour Thyroid or Thyrolar) may be necessary for full effect. Your health care provider will work with you to find the safest and most effective treatment to alleviate your symptoms and increase your health and well being. Several adjustments are often required before a therapeutic level is attained. In usual circumstances, when the usual treatments are not effective at restoring good health, Dr. Lang and his associates have several other safe and effective approaches that customized to each individual. Thyroid and Menopause Low thyroid is often the ignored factor in women who are treated for symptoms
attributed to menopause. It is estimated that by age 50 as many as one out of every five women has some degree of hypothyroidism.
By age 60 it is even higher. Many women confuse hypothyroidism
symptoms with menopause symptoms. Fatigue, dry skin, weight gain, hair loss, constipationa snd "fuzzy thinking
or brain fog" are common symtoms of both. Thyroid
antibody tests can sometimes be helpful in addition to thyroid testing. Even if you have a "normal" test result,
you should consider yourself a possible thyroid candidate if you have had ANY of the symptoms prior to menopause. I recommend the thyroid section of about.com for more information. Thyroid, Pregnancy and Infertility Undiagnosed and untreated thyroid disease can be a cause for infertility or
recurrent miscarriage. If you have not already been tested for a thyroid problem, there are several things you can do.
First, you need to know that in the past 30 years I have
seen many women with mild hypothyroidism whove have tested in th "normal" range become pregnant with treatment with
low dose thyroid hormone. Ask your doctor for a THS (thyroid
stimulating hormone) and thyroid antibodies laboratory tests. Contrary to popular opinion, the so-called T3 and free
T4 are frequently normal in mild hypothyroidism. There are many scientific studies that show that the TSH is 10
times more sensitive for diagnosing mild hypothyroidism then the free T3 or free T4. Find out the actual numerical result for the TSH level. It's important that you not accept
"the result was normal" as a test result answer. You want the exact number. Look at the TSH level.
At most labs, normal range is approximately 0.5 to 5.5. But as of Spring 2003, 0.3 to 3.0 is considered the narrower
normal range that many experts are using for diagnosis and management. Note that some endocrinologist believe that a
percentage of women may find it difficult to get pregnant - or
maintain a pregnancy at a TSH level above 2.0. For some woman that is even too high. I have seen and treated women
with long standing infertility with a TSH of 1.0 to 2.0 range who have become pregnant with 1-3 months on a dose of thyroid
hormone that lowered their TSH to 0.3 - 1.0. If your TSH is "high -normal" and/or you have elevated antibodies, and your
doctor is not willing to treat you, find a doctor or endocrionolgist who has good success rate working with thyroid related
infertiltiy. Ensure that you are ovulating by using a fertility awareness method, and/or ovulation predictor.
Thyroid hormone is not only safe for the baby, it is nececessary for normal brain development. Children of mothers
who have untreated hypothyroidism have lower cognitive development then their peers. I recommend the thyroid section
of about.com.
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