Normal TSH and Elevated TSH Means Absolutely Nothing

You read that title right...normal TSH and elevated TSH means absolutely nothing. Well, maybe I should put an * at the end of the title. That might be a little more appropriate.

TSH is a lab test that is used by many doctors to see if a person has a thyroid condition. An elevated TSH is suppose to mean that this person is not making enough thyroid hormone, while a normal TSH is suppose to mean that this person's thyroid is functioning as it should. This is not always the case.

Many doctor's use this lab test to make a diagnosis, one way or the other. All other factors are seen as insignificant and get ignored.

This is not the way to figure out if you have a thyroid condition. If it were, you could go and get the lab work done yourself and completely skip the middleman.

Your doctor was trained in how to figure out what is going on with you by collecting all the pertinent information and narrowing it down to the best fit by disproving all the other conditions. Reading a lab report that says normal TSH or elevated TSH is only one little step in this process.

An elevated TSH or normal TSH is only one piece of the puzzle and means absolutely nothing... on it's own. Have your doctor correlate this with family and personal history, past and present signs and symptoms and other pertinent diagnostic labs. You are paying him/her to correctly help you with your health, so make sure that it happens.

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Top 10 Things To Consider When Treating Hormonal Problems.

Has your doctor ever admitted that regulating hormone levels is a very tricky thing to do?

Here is a list of 10 things to consider when you are dealing with treatment of high or low hormone levels:

1. Lab test may show what the hormone levels are in the blood or saliva, but it does not show how much is actually being used.
2. The creation of hormones is a multi-step process that requires many different substrates (which we get from our diets) in order to assemble and convert the hormone into its active form.
3. Hormone levels are dependant on the environmental stresses placed on them for creating, converting and utilizing the hormone so that the body may properly respond (healthy living vs not so healthy living).
4. Certain hormones act different depending on the levels of other hormones.
5. Taking exogenous hormones (meds) can influence your body's natural production of the hormone.
6. Taking exogenous hormones can influence the levels of other hormones.
7. The majority of hormonal problems did not happen overnight. They are a problem of lifestyle choices, thereby responding to changes in lifestyle.
8. Hormonal problems are not always easily identified, yet can cause a wide array of problems.
9. Hormonal problems usually require multiple changes in one's life in order to make significant improvements, since multiple triggers of hormonal problems can usually be identified.
10. Hormones have their say in both the nervous system and endocrine system, making these multitaskers very influential in our overall health.

Hormonal problems are classically treated by simply giving more hormones. I hope that this list has identified some problems in that way of thinking.

Changes in hormonal levels and utilization of the hormones can be addressed in ways that are directly and indirectly targeted at that hormone...which often has very impressive results.

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Thyroid Problems Require Treatment Beyond More Thyroid Hormone

Let's pretend that you get to play doctor for a day. What do you think people would say is the reason for visiting you?

Some common problems are weight gain, pain, depression, fatigue, hair loss, numbness and tingling in the hands and feet, weakness, memory loss, pregnancy issues, estrogen problems, testosterone problems, high cholesterol, etc. Many of the people will come in with a couple from the above list.

Wouldn't it be great if there was one cause to all these problems? One cause, one solution.

This is the part where you are expecting the doctor who writes a blog on thyroid problems to blame all of life's woes on the thyroid. Well I'm not.

Even problems that can seem to be screaming "thyroid problems" do not end up as thyroid being the main culprit.

The way the thyroid actually works is a series of intricate steps of checks and balances that is set up in such a way to ensure that your body is functioning at a high level through very efficient means. Efficiency is absolutely necessary for survival.

If there is a breakdown in any one of these steps, if there are strong environmental influences that overloads or under stimulates one portion, if certain pathological influences dominate specific areas, or if there is some inherent genetic defect, you will have thyroid problems.

What's the point to all of this?

Thyroid problems are currently being treated by a trickle down effect. Give thyroid hormone and let it make changes on the body.

How did the thyroid problems even come to be? Shouldn't we want to get rid of anything that is causing problems on the thyroid. Maybe giving more thyroid hormone would not even be necessary if you took away the offender.

OK. Done rambling. Here is one last metaphor that will hopefully wrap things up:

If your head hurts, you can take aspirin. You could also stop banging your head on the wall.

If you have thyroid problems, you can take synthetic medications. You could also prevent thyroid problems by hunting down the offender itself.

Let's stop banging our heads against the wall and start correcting the problem.

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Hypothyroid Problems: A New Year, A New Approach

How many people do you know that make a New Years Resolution to lose weight, get healthier and get happier? Whatever that number was, there is a good chance that a similar amount of people have failed to reach those goals.

Many people with hypothyroid problems struggle with these goals. Many more people that are either pre-hypothyroid or undiagnosed hypothyroid struggle as well.

Look good, feel good and be healthy. Why is that such a tall order? What are we doing wrong?

I propose the following solution...not the solution to your hypothyroid problems (way too many factors for one post), but the solution to how you go about addressing your hypothyroid problems: take a history lesson.

100 years ago, if someone had hypothyroid problems, it was as obvious as looking at their neck. Gross iodine deficiency was the main cause of thyroid problems (while subtle iodine deficiency is one of the leading causes of subclinical hypothyroidism today) and caused goiters. Thyroid cancers, congenital malformations and neck trauma still existed, but not nearly as prominent as iodine deficiency.

Iodine deficiency and hypothyroid problems are still a problems of today, but there are new problems that have helped propel hypothyroid problems to all new levels. Toxicity, allergens, chronic stress, nutrient depleted food, sedentary lifestyles, hormone mimicry, synthetic medications, compromised detoxification and distressed immune systems are all modern day problems at significantly high levels.

These are all things that are from our environment that are either new to our planet, or at much greater levels than ever before.

If we make the right changes, add what's needed, take out what's killing us and develop healthier habits, we can address hypothyroid problems for what they really are: symptoms of poor lifestyle. In case I didn't make that clear, most thyroid problems are symptoms, not the core problem.

Addressing symptoms can sometimes mask the problems, do nothing at all or even make matters worse.

Addressing the problems is a much better approach to addressing hypothyroid problems. In the past, that solution was to give more iodine to the iodine deficient person. Today the problem can stem from multiple causes, all of which need to be addressed.

So here is the take some point: your thyroid will only work when it is healthy enough to do so. Make health your priority instead of being free of disease.

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Low Thyroid Conditions and Bacterial Overgrowth: The Chicken or the Egg?

Constipation, bloating, flatulence and stomach aches are all symptoms of thyroid conditions. Low thyroid conditions are thought to bring on these symptoms (which is true in some cases). I think we should look at this occurrence a little different.

If we see low thyroid conditions as stemming from low thyroid itself, the easy answer would to be give more thyroid hormone. Case closed, see you in 3 months for more blood work. Right?

But what if the stomach problems were causing the low thyroid conditions?

Well, a recent study (Lauritano et al., 2007) demonstrated that bacterial overgrowth was present in over 50% of their subjects compared to 5% of the group without thyroid conditions. Their low thyroid conditions improved when the bacterial overgrowth was addressed as opposed to the thyroid gland or thyroid hormones.

This would point to the possibility that addressing other problematic areas (in this case the bacterial overgrowth) besides the thyroid or thyroid hormones can lead to successful treatment in those with low thyroid conditions.

The study went on to say that though there was positive changes noted by the subjects, the lab work did not significantly change. Please check out this post I wrote about how normal TSH does not mean you are not low thyroid functionally.

But didn't I also say that the low thyroid can cause bacterial overgrowth too? That would mean that bacterial overgrowth can cause low thyroid conditions and vica versa.

Sorry. Thyroid conditions are not cut and dry (like you didn't already know that, right?).

So I hope this post has you scratching your head a little. Maybe even pondering questions like: what is the cause of my low thyroid condition (like bacterial overgrowth), is my thyroid condition causing other problems (like bacterial overgrowth) or are my symptoms from low thyroid or from another condition or both?

Keep asking yourself these types of questions and you will become that much closer to solving your low thyroid condition.

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Thyroid Conditions From an Alternative Perspective

There is a lot of information out on the web and in books dealing with thyroid conditions. Most of the publications available are from a medical perspective.

The diagnosis is made by finding and naming blatant pathology. The course of action is usually aggressive medication or surgery.

Here is a link to one thyroid blog that I have been impressed with that goes into detail from this perspective. This thyroid blog is run from a medical endocrinologist and gives very detailed descriptions of cases he has seen and how he handled it.

While this is the right course of action for some, others would benefit from more natural means.

This thyroid blog is dedicated to those with pathology that are looking to help themselves with alternative treatment for thyroid conditions, as well as those that don't have pathology, but rather interruption of normal physiology (the way the body should work).

Alternative treatment for thyroid conditions are very safe and effective. It would be a hard argument for anyone to say that lifestyle does not influence your thyroid condition. Some find alternative treatments sufficient to control their thyroid conditions, while others need to make the changes to work as a powerful adjunct to medical intervention.

I hope that this thyroid blog and other related material will help better equip you with the knowledge to implement alternative treatment for thyroid conditions to make changes in your life for the better.

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Did Santa Bring Me Hypothyroidism This Year?

Have you ever heard the holiday story of low thyroid hormone? The story is slightly different depending on who is telling it, but it goes something like this:

You intentionally did not stuff yourself this holiday season, yet you still gained weight.

You can afford to buy all your holiday gifts because of a great bonus, yet you still feel depressed.

You rub Ben Gay all over your hands and knees, but your joint still hurt.

As you scratch your head and wonder why, your body is screaming out to you for some much needed attention. If your body language could speak, it would be saying "I have low thyroid hormone...HELP!"

But why is low thyroid hormone commonly a holiday treat?

Unless you are living somewhere near the equator, it gets cold during the holiday seasons. Your body responds by doing what it needs to stay warm.

One way your body accomplishes this is by cranking up your metabolism. Thyroid hormone is what revs up your body's engine.

If you are one of millions that is gradually developing hypothyroidism, symptoms of low thyroid hormone may not pop up till a time when it is really needed, like winter.

Your body sees 2 options, either freeze to death or use more thyroid hormone to increase your body temperature. If you are already at low levels of thyroid hormone, other areas that use thyroid hormone may begin to suffer.

You may have had low thyroid problems for quite some time, but it is only now being fully recognized. You too can then tell of your story about why you feel fat, fatigued, depressed with achy joints all winter long, or tell them how you used to feel like that till you addressed your hypothyroidism.

technorati tags: hypothyroidism low thyroid hormone