Hypothyroidism, the Symptoms, and Possible Treatment Options.
Dr. Maupin’s office, BioBalance Health, is a specialty practice that focuses on the replacement of hormones. As we age, we tend to make fewer and fewer of the critical hormones. We have found that if we can replace these natural hormones with bioidentical ones, we can improve our health as we age and a void many of the illnesses and chronic problems of old age.
Most of the hormone replacements we do at BioBalance Health are compounded pellets which are inserted in the fat just under the skin of the hip or waist. One of the hormones that we treat which does not come in pellet form and is not insertable, is the thyroid hormone. Many doctors disagree about the diagnosis of hypothyroidism, how to identify and measure it, and how to treat it.
Part of this disagreement stems from the lack of consistent standards and protocols among lab tests and among physicians. Doctor Maupin also looks at blood tests and lab protocols to help her determine whether or not your thyroid needs to be treated and at what dosage level. However, one of the main points that Dr. Maupin makes to her patients and in all of these podcasts, is that she also uses the existence of symptoms to measure interventional necessity and degree. She thinks this is important because lab “normals” are changing and we do not know why. Why is that range changing? What, if anything, does that number represent in terms of symptoms that people might present with.
Swollen tongue, thinning hair, no hair on their legs or arms, eye brows shortening, cold all the time, constipation, all are symptoms that indicate problems with thyroid, and yet, they may range as normal in the blood test scale!
Many of these symptoms are also diagnostic or predictive for other illnesses. A doctor needs to make a determination of whether or not we are looking at the thyroid or if we need to consider some other cause. Part of what we know is that we can measure the measure of T3 and T4 hormone in your blood stream, but we cannot measure the number and activity of the receptor cells for the thyroid hormone.
What this will tell us is that we may have a normal amount of hormone thyroid in our blood but that our receptor cells may not be processing it or responding to it well. In that case, in order to alleviate the symptoms that we experience, we will need to take an additional thyroid hormone. This is mostly made from pig thyroid or from a synthetic drug. These are the two types of thyroid pills that a patient can take. Many, but not all, will respond well to the synthetic. Those who do not, will need to take the one that is made in the lab from pig thyroid.
We present a list of common symptoms that you can talk about with your physician in order to supplement the information the doctor is getting from your blood test. This will help both of you determine whether or not should take a supplement to your natural thyroid hormone.
If you have a combination of these symptoms, get your blood work done, and then determination with your physician whether or not you need to take one of the thyroid medicines, and of the two, which one you should try. Please note that it may not work, if it does not then be sure to try the other one!
Also, depending on where in the United States you live, you will need to take Ioderal (an iodine supplement) and magnesium.
Take your thyroid on an empty stomach and do not eat anything for twenty minutes.
This Health cast was written and presented by Dr. Kathy Maupin, M.D., Bio-identical Hormone Replacement Expert and Author, with Brett Newcomb, MA., LPC., Family Counselor, Presenter and Author. www.BioBalanceHealth.com.
