| The thyroid gland is extremely important, and your | | | | there. |
| health can improve if your thyroid is treated and | | | | There are better methods for finding the right dose for |
| supported properly. | | | | you. If you are on the correct dosage, there are little or |
| When thyroid medication is given in the correct | | | | no side effects to thyroid medication, so this may be |
| dosage, a patient's energy level, depression level, | | | | the route you wish to go. |
| cravings and patience are improved. | | | | But here's a warning: when you start taking any thyroid |
| Let me start from the beginning. TSH (Thyroid | | | | medication, your body will shut down its own |
| Stimulating Hormone) is the most common thyroid test. | | | | production of thyroid hormone, so that you will |
| The normal scale for a TSH result is .5 to 5 | | | | eventually need to take more and more until you've |
| (sometimes .5 to 5.5). This means that when your | | | | basically replaced most of your body's natural |
| doctor tests your TSH level, if the result comes back | | | | production of thyroid hormone. This is why, once you |
| in between those two numbers, they tell you your | | | | go on medication, you will most likely need to stay on it |
| "results were normal" and that's the end of it. | | | | for good. |
| Don't stop there! | | | | One more note on thyroid medication. If you do take |
| What I would suggest to you is to call your doctor's | | | | thyroid medication, I recommend that you ask for |
| office, ask the nurse to look up the test results for the | | | | Armour Thyroid medication. It is a natural thyroid |
| TSH level on your chart (assuming you've had your | | | | medication from an animal source that has T3 and T4 |
| thyroid tested--if not, get it tested) and find out what | | | | thyroid in it. |
| your number came back as. | | | | Most synthetic thyroid medications have only T3, which |
| Most people do best with a number between 1 and 2. | | | | your body needs to convert to T4, in order to utilize it. |
| If yours came up as a 3 or 4, you are borderline | | | | If your body isn't converting T3 to T4 well, the thyroid |
| deficient in your thyroid gland. | | | | medications that provide only T3 will not work well for |
| This is going to deplete your energy, add to your | | | | you, either. |
| depression, make losing weight nearly impossible, and | | | | I recommend the book "Thyroid Power: Ten Steps to |
| increase your irritability. | | | | Total Health" by Richard Shames and Karilee H. |
| If you are borderline deficient, you have two options: | | | | Shames. This book will help you and your doctor |
| 1) Go on thyroid medication. | | | | decide which thyroid tests to conduct and how to |
| 2) Work at rejuvenating your thyroid's ability to function | | | | interpret test results to find the very best level for you. |
| on its own. | | | | It also goes into more complicated issues like having |
| The first option may necessitate that you take thyroid | | | | high anti-thyroid antibodies. |
| medication for the rest of your life. And it can be a | | | | No matter which direction you take as a result of a |
| long process to find the right dose, because most | | | | thyroid test, be sure to do your research and find the |
| doctors want you to be on a dose for 2 months | | | | best solution for you. |
| before getting retested. Then you have to adjust from | | | | |