Almost twenty years ago, the American College of Physicians, a pretty conservative organization, stunned the medical community by issuing a guideline that women over 50 should have a thyroid test at least once every five years. At that time, most physicians thought that they could diagnose thyroid problems themselves and that testing guidelines were unnecessary.

At our clinic, however, we weren’t stunned: we were excited! We knew first-hand how challenging it can be to identify and treat thyroid symptoms without testing. It felt like the beginning of a new understanding among conventional medical practitioners. Sadly, even all these years later, with testing guidelines in place, many practitioners still fail to diagnose thyroid concerns. That’s because over or under active thyroid problems can be hard to pin down; the symptoms may also resemble those of many other conditions, including aging.

In fact, a couple of years ago, Time Magazine reported that hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) is one of the top 15 leading conditions doctors most often get wrong.

At our clinic, we have helped thousands of women to restore healthy thyroid function. We know how an under or overactive thyroid can wreak havoc on your life, weight, health, and mood. It’s not just a part of getting older and you don’t have to live with it!

For the longest time, no one seemed to pay the thyroid much attention. Some of my patients would come to the clinic thinking that their symptoms were coming from somewhere else. They were thinking it was menopausal, just a part of getting older, or simply stress. Now, with all the media exposure, more women ask to see me wondering if they should have their thyroid checked. Let’s talk about when you should take a thyroid test if you are wondering about your thyroid health.

What is Your Thyroid?

Your thyroid looks like a mini bow tie and it wraps around your windpipe at the base of your throat. Its primary function is to regulate your body temperature: it’s your own internal thermostat. The thyroid takes orders primarily from the pituitary gland (via the hormone TSH) to produce thyroid hormones T3 (triiodthyronine) and T4 (thyroxine). These thyroid hormones also regulate our metabolism, impact our bowel function and affect our energy levels and mood.

Common Thyroid Concerns

The most common thyroid concern is hypothyroidism, which occurs when you fail to produce enough thyroid hormones. This will make your metabolism slow down and leave you feeling sluggish and lacking energy.

The opposite concern can occur when the thyroid works too hard, resulting in hyperthyroidism. In this case you will feel like you’re all revved up. This may leave you with trembling hands, a racing heart, and troubling falling asleep.

If either of those sounds like you, you should definitely consult with your practitioner about taking a thyroid test.

Considering Taking a Thyroid Test? – Look for the Symptoms

Be aware that symptoms of thyroid dysfunction are easy to miss; it is estimated that as many as 1 in 5 people may have sub-optimal thyroid function and do not even know it. So what should you look for? Here are some of the common thyroid symptoms I see in my patients.

Feeling Tired, Sluggish or Low Energy

Everyone goes through times of stress or busy periods that can disrupt their sleep or leave them feeling burned out. If you find yourself hooked on caffeine to get through the day, constantly dragging, or in need of a lot of sleep (more than 9 hours on a daily basis), you may have an underactive thyroid.

Stomach/Digestion Concerns

You might be wondering what your thyroid has to do with your stomach, but your thyroid actually plays a role in healthy bowel function. If you feel bloated, constipated or have that heavy feeling in your stomach, your thyroid may not be functioning optimally. In this case, hypothyroidism can be ruled out. Conversely, if you experience excessive diarrhea, your thyroid may be overactive and hyperthyroidism should be considered.

Hair and Skin Changes

We all lose hair on a daily basis. If your hair loss becomes more frequent or heavy, or if hair becomes dry or brittle and breaks off easily, your thyroid may be impaired. In addition, hypothyroidism can make your skin become dry and scaly. Often unusual loss of hair in the outer edge of the eyebrow can occur when your thyroid is underperforming. When your thyroid is overactive, your skin may become thin and very fragile and your hair loss even more severe.

Mood Changes

Because the thyroid also regulates your mood, mood changes – especially if they come on suddenly or severely – may be a sign of thyroid dysfunction. Depression, anxiety, and even sudden panic attacks, especially if they do not respond to traditional pharmaceutical or natural antidepressant treatments, are common symptoms of thyroid impairment. Generally, depression is associated with hypothyroidism while panic attacks may be a sign of hyperthyroidism.

Fertility Issues, Miscarriages and Menstrual Cycle Changes

Whenever one hormone is disrupted, there is often a disruption to other hormones up or down stream. If you are still menstruating, heavy, more frequent, or more painful periods can be a sign of hypothyroidism. Shorter, lighter or more infrequent menstruation may accompany hyperthyroidism.

Because of menstrual cycle disruptions, infertility may also be a concern. If you are trying to conceive, thyroid testing may be helpful, especially if you do not have consistent menstrual cycles. In fact, some infertility specialists recommend thyroid testing to all patients. In addition, impaired thyroid function can lead to miscarriages, so if you are experiencing difficulty carrying to term, thyroid testing is suggested.

Memory

Memory and concentration can be impacted by either overactive or underactive thyroid function. In particular, hypothyroidism is commonly known to impair memory. While it may start out small in the early stages, like simply misplacing your car keys, over time memory loss, fuzzy thinking, or trouble concentrating can become more disruptive.

These are just a few of the more common symptoms; there are many more listed on our website. You’ll notice that these common thyroid symptoms also are common menopausal complaints and general aging concerns as well, which is why it can be hard to determine whether your symptoms are a result of hormonal imbalance, thyroid or adrenal concerns, or a combination without testing.

Now that you know some symptoms to watch out for, let’s look at a few other areas of concern, and what you can do to address them.

Fluoridated Water and Thyroid

If you drink a lot of water, you’ll want to know that a British study made headlines in 2015 when it reported results that hypothyroidism rates were higher in areas with higher fluoride concentrations. When the parts per million of fluoride concentration was above 0.3, hypothyroidism rates were much as 30% higher. In addition, when comparing one area of England that fluoridates to another that does not, scientists found that hypothyroidism rates were double in the fluoridated areas as compared to the non-fluoridated region.

In a healthy 154-pound adult, 3.5 mg of fluoride was found to disrupt thyroid function. If you are already iodine deficient, even small amounts of fluoride can wreak havoc: as little as 0.7 mg a day could lead to thyroid dysfunction. According to the EPA, the average American ingests 3 mg a day, but many of us consume as much as 6 mg a day or more.

If you consume a lot of fluoridated water and/or do not consume iodine-rich foods such as sea vegetables, saltwater fish and other seafood, or iodized sea salt, you should definitely think about a thyroid test. A study almost twenty years ago estimated that one in seven women is iodine deficient, though I think that number may well be much higher now given our diets today.

Thyroid Cancer

Thyroid cancer has doubled in incidence since the 1970’s and it is now the fastest-growing cancer among women. That said, to keep it in perspective, the incidence rates of thyroid cancer overall are still relatively small compared to many other cancers, such as breast cancer. Some scientists even question how much of the incidence rate increase is simply due to better diagnostics enabling more cancers to be detected.

Nevertheless, there does appear to be an increase in thyroid cancer rates that concerns researchers. They attribute the increase to changes in our diets, increasing exposure to chemicals such as fluoride, chloride and bromide, and higher exposure to environmental and medical radiation.

Thyroid Test Choices

Many symptoms of an impaired thyroid can often attribute to menopause, or just simply getting older. Since not everyone experiences symptoms at all, taking a thyroid test is really the best way to know if your thyroid is functioning properly.

Many practitioners will suggest a TSH test and a T3 and T4 level test. However, there are several more thyroid test options that can be helpful in getting the true picture of your thyroid health. Speak with your practitioner about a selecting a thyroid test for you. We recommend a full thyroid workup which includes many of the following tests:

  • TSH
  • Free T3 and Free T4
  • Anti-TPO
  • Anti-thyroglobulin
  • Reverse T3
  • Total T3
  • Micronutrient analysis (intracellular)
  • Basal Body Temperature

Restoring Thyroid Health

If your thyroid is not functioning properly, it is important to provide it the nutrition and lifestyle support it requires for optimal function. You will need additional nutritional support to repair and rebalance a stressed, overworked, or sluggish thyroid. In fact, you will need more than what you can typically find in today’s food supply.

We have had great success helping to restore optimal thyroid health in our patients with our Thyroid Program. Thousands of women have experienced symptom relief and renewed thyroid health with our products and support. We can help you too. thyroid test.