| "Your TSH is normal now, your depression, weight gain, | | | | autoimmune condition called Hashimoto's Autoimmune |
| hair loss... [insert low thyroid symptom], can't be coming | | | | Thyroid. |
| from your thyroid. We need to give you an | | | | What does that mean? It means that the low thyroid is |
| antidepressant, you're just depressed." | | | | a symptom, not the source of the problem. In |
| This is a common conversation that plays out | | | | Hashimoto's disease the immune system goes chaos |
| between hypothyroid patients and their healthcare | | | | and begins attacking and killing your own thyroid gland. |
| practitioner. It is the defining moment that prompts low | | | | This results in loss of cells from the gland, and less |
| thyroid patients to seek alternative treatment methods | | | | overall output of hormone. |
| and begin exploring different forms of thyroid | | | | That also means that the focus clinically should be on |
| replacement hormone. | | | | modulating the immune system, and slowing the rate of |
| So What Type Of Hormone Is Best For Low Thyroid | | | | destruction. The immune attack creates two parallel |
| Patients? | | | | problems which stops the Hashimoto's patient from |
| This question is highly debated amongst practitioners | | | | really feeling like their old self, even with thyroid |
| of all types. Most traditional medical endocrinologists | | | | hormone replacement. |
| prefer synthetic T4 that goes by various names and | | | | First is the fact that the immune system is constantly |
| brands with the most common being Synthroid®. | | | | attacking the cells of the gland resulting in less and less |
| Many doctors that live on the alternative side of the | | | | thyroid hormone being produced naturally. Secondly the |
| spectrum prefer bio-identical hormones such as | | | | immune protein interaction with thyroid cell receptors |
| Armour, Naturethroid, or Thyrolar. | | | | will block normal hormone binding interactions and the |
| So which one is correct? I know you may really want | | | | patient will suffer with all of the same thyroid |
| me to tell you that one of those is THE correct one, | | | | symptoms, even though the TSH and the rest of the |
| but the truth is that different patients do better with | | | | lab panel may read in the "normal range." |
| any one of those. Things such as sensitivity to fillers | | | | The difficult thing for patients is that most doctors don't |
| and your body's ability to convert your thyroid | | | | factor in the immune systems role in their condition, and |
| hormones play a role. | | | | even if they acknowledge and test for it, they don't |
| Instead going round and round about the TYPE of | | | | alter treatment protocols. On the other end many |
| thyroid replacement, let's ask a better question: | | | | natural doctors, even those that deal with thyroid |
| Why Did The Thyroid Gland Stop Working In The First | | | | patients, use generic "immune support" that in a lot of |
| Place? | | | | cases makes the immune imbalance worse. The |
| If we answer this question then we can start to move | | | | patient has to find a doctor that looks specifically at |
| closer to an actual plan that is going to help you. The | | | | the immune system and factors in the other body |
| answer for 80% to 90% of low thyroid patients in the | | | | systems that play a role, if a Hashimoto's patient |
| United States is that their problem stems from an | | | | wants to really feel and function well again. |