Have You Been Told Your Thyroid is Normal?

One of the most common causes of fatigue, depression and anxiety is undiagnosed thyroid problems.  Yet, many people are unaware of this as they have been told that their thyroid function is normal after testing.  There are several reasons why your Doctor may be telling you that your thyroid is normal – when it may not be. But first, this article is for people experiencing any of the following symptoms:

Depresion

Anxiety

Fatigue

Brain fog

Agitation

Insomnia or excessive sleeping

Aches and pains

Neurological symptoms

Thyroid problems cause a wide-range of symptoms because the hormone is needed to help cells with basic functions.  Your thyroid may be thecause of your symptoms even if your Doctor’s test has shown up normal.  As a first screen, most doctors will only test Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH).   This is an indirect measure of thyroid function, in fact it only tells us whether the brain is asking the thyroid gland to produce thyroid hormone. Additionally, the ranges for TSH are so wide and there is no continuum, so that many people who fall just 0.1 points short of being out of range could be considered “normal”.  

Think of it in terms of shoe sizes. For a human, it would be normal to fit into a shoe size somewhere between sizes 4-11. However, if you are a size 11 and try to wear a size 4 shoe, I can guarantee you that it would feel very uncomfortable. When we think about lab ranges, the idea is similar. They are calculated to include most people, whether you are male, female, young or old. A range of 0.4 to 4.4 for TSH is very wide and not a very helpful measurement except to diagnose severe thyroid illness.

Thyroid function is much more complicated. Not only do we need to look at what the TSH is doing, but we also need to consider what the gland itself is doing as well as the receptors on the body cells where the hormone is needed.  This requires much more complicated testing including Free T3 and T4, Reverse T3 and antibodies.

Autoimmune thyroid problems are on the rise and are not always picked up by a simple TSH test. In the case of autoimmune thyroid problems, something in the gland is signaling the immune system to destroy the tissue - usually it is the presence of a harmful toxin such as bromide – the body flags the tissue as problematic and the immune system comes in to destroy it.  

For this reason, when you test positive for thyroid antibodies, further testing for environmental toxins may be warranted. But one test that I always recommend when thyroid antibodies are present is a celiac test and also a gluten intolerance test.

Research has shown a strong overlap between the thyroid condition called Hashimoto’s and Celiac disease – these groups often have high levels of thyroid antibodies which results in anxiety, panic and depression.

This also explains the finding that most people with thyroid antibodies respond really well to a gluten-free diet.  In fact, one study exposed a group of patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) to a gluten provocation.  Within 24 hours, participants started recording symptoms of depression even if they did not have gut symptoms. For these individuals the protein crossovers result in thyroid destruction when eating gluten containing foods.  

It is in some cases possible to eliminate Hashimoto’s through gluten elimination alone.

What to ask your doctor to test for:

TSH – this level should optimally fall in the range of 1-2 even though the guidelines from your doctor would consider a TSH of up to 4 normal.

Free T3/Free T4 tells us how much hormone the gland is producing and whether it is converted to an actively usable form

Thyroid antibodies – tells us whether the immune system may be damaging the thyroid

Reverse T3 – this one is critical.  It can tell us whether your thyroid hormones in a form that is useable to the body. This one is also important in people who have been placed on thyroid treatment by their doctors but don’t feel any improvement.  

Most importantly,don’t be pushed into taking anti-depressants until you have ruled out a physical cause.  Anti-depressants are like the trash bins for whatever we don’t understand. There are no blood tests or scans that can diagnose depression and so many people get placed unnecessarily on these medications which only mask a real underlying issue.   Once the person tries to come off anti-depressants the symptoms return – not because the person is deficient in anti-depressants, but because the original problem has not been resolved.

If your doctor cannot, or is unwilling to run those tests, there are private laboratories who will run full thyroid function tests for under £100 – well worth the investment! Talk to us today if you are concerned about your thyroid function.

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