Hi
Thyroid hormones are the main metabolising hormone in the body.
They affect every cell and every organ in the body.
One of the most common things we hear in the clinic from our patients is the journey from one doctor to another for multiple health challenges.
They see a gynaecologist for reproductive hormones.
An endocrinologist for thyroid function
A cardiologist for heart challenges.
They often feel confused or lost in the referral process, or, feel left with little to no answers…
Today, I wanted to share five key insights that we often look for in our patients’s tests, that prompt us to do more investigation into thyroid function.
It’s common for us to have patients that come to us with markers that are gently mentioned after a round of blood work, but put in the ‘waiting’ timeline until blood markers merit the need for medication.
This happened to me when I was 33 and felt like the walking dead.
I was 18months postpartum and incredibly tired, 24kgs overweight and felt so winded after walking to the bus stop to go to work which was just 800 metres from my front door…
When I went to the doctor to get my bloods done, I was told that everything looked normal, but I needed to cut down on high fat foods as my cholesterol ranges were getting onto the high side.
I needed to lose 24kgs and I was exhausted, and the only marker that we needed to wait to medicate was cholesterol.
But, there was a whole lot more to the puzzle…
Lately, we’ve been talking to patients with one or two little things that are now at the point where they are needing medication (or have been taking medication for it for several years), and after a couple of years, the doctor is starting to bring up the thyroid…
Women are more likely to have hypothyroidism largely due to the oestrogen impact on the thyroid’s ability to produce enough T3 and T4.
So let’s look at the five blood work hints, that subclinical [not medicated] hypothyroidism could be sneaking up on you…
1. Changes in Cholesterol (for the worse)
This is one of the first signs that thyroid function is slowing down.
According to the Endocrine Society, “if your metabolism is slowed, which is what occurs with sluggish thyroid function, the breakdown or elimination of cholesterol is also reduced, which leads to higher circulating cholesterol levels in the bloodstream.”
Statins are the TOP TWO most prescribed medications in Australia, according to an independent review done by NPS Medicine Wise.
Dr. David Brownstein, MD, published an entire book on statins and the connection between thyroid and cholesterol. His father had a major cardiac event and he learnt that supporting the thyroid and reproductive hormones improved his qualify of life within a short period of time.
2. High Blood Pressure (or elevating)
The next four of the top ten most prescribed medications are blood pressure medications…
Hypothyroidism and subclinical hypothyroid function, can cause hypertension, most commonly diastolic, because of increase peripheral vascular resistance (PVR).
PVR is the resistance in the flow of blood, which is essential to cardiac [heart] function.
Thyroid hormones control the metabolism in the body.
So when thyroid hormones slow down, it slows the body down.
Just like how the doctors test for cholesterol and blood pressure annually or semi-annually, in the clinic, we are looking at slight variations in these thyroid markers.
“Hypothyroidism and menopause transition seem to go hand-in-hand, since both usually affect middle-aged women. This has led researchers to believe there might be a connection between perimenopause and thyroid function.”
3. Changes in Oestrogen
For women, especially because we have the unique hormone oestrogen, it adds another factor to consider when it comes to thyroid markers.
Thyroid hormones like oestrogen.
But the thyroid prefers consistency in oestrogen function.
This is why our clinic is so vocal about “Thyropause” and we have published articles and presentations on the topic.
This has a lot to do with the fact that oestrogen is changing significantly up and down every month, due to peri-menopause setting in.
The debate about the relationship between hypothyroidism and menopause has been ongoing for quite a while.
That’s partly because thyroid function itself dwindles, albeit slowly, as we age.
But oestrogen lowering is directly connected to an increase in TSH (hypothyroidism) from the the thyroid gland.
Oestrogen affects the thyroid gland’s ability to produce enough T3 and T4 to meet the needs of the body. This causes a domino effect that starts with the gallbladder and liver, and eventually circles back to the thyroid gland. It’s all connected.
4. Liver and Gall Bladder & the T4 to Free T3 Conversion
Free T3 is the Biological Active Thyroid Hormone.
The liver has a direct impact on the clearing of oestrogen out of the blood stream, regardless of the age.
Dr. Sara Gotfried, MD, is an advocate for women’s detoxification. She refers to the fact that in medical school doctors are taught to “assume” that the body naturally detoxes and there is no need to medication intervention.
Her personal experience with fatigue and weight gain, combined with treating hundreds of women has told a different story. She’s found that the start of hormone imbalances start because of poor detoxification.
Liver detoxification becomes especially important in the peri-menopause and menopausal years, because of the importance of clearing hormones.
Non-alcoholic fatty liver has increased to 25% of patients with fatty liver disease worldwide. Medically this is being blamed on obesity and metabolic syndrome.
But if detoxification is not optimal, and thyroid hormones are slowing down, we raise the question, is obesity being caused by something else? [We find it is.]
We often look early and often at liver and gall bladder function.
If the liver is not detoxifying as well as it should be, this has an impact on the conversion of T4 to Active Free T3, which is what gives you energy and increases metabolism in the body.
This right here can be the start of sluggish thyroid function.
Addressing liver function is important because just a decrease in 1/4 of a teaspoon of thyroid hormones can make a seismic impact on energy. And often creates the fall of reference ranges into the subclinical hypothyroid function ranges.
Cholesterol & Gall Bladder Connection
Now cholesterol has a big impact on the gall bladder. Three out of every four galls stones are cholesterol galls stones
Another reason to keep an eye on thyroid function… if symptoms present and cholesterol starts to go up, there’s a good chance there is sluggish thyroid function and possibly a conversion issue due to liver-gall bladder poor detoxification.
With time, gall stones can accumulate and require removal or the gall bladder to be removed…
5. Insulin Resistance
In Sept of 2014, the NIH released a study on insulin resistance in subclinical hypothyroidism.
It concluded that subclinical hypothyroidism [tat means one that is not necessarily taking thyroid medication] has an increased risk of insulin resistance [which also doesn’t merit the need for medication unless the insulin resistance is so great that it is diagnosed as diabetes].
Thyroid hormones T3 and T4 maintain a fine balance of glucose homeostasis by acting as insulin agonistic and antagonistic. Hypothyroidism can break this equilibrium and alter glucose metabolism, which can lead to insulin resistance.
At this point, when insulin rises, it can also increase a spike in high blood pressure or high cholesterol.
Thyropause is when Peri/Post Menopause meets Insulin Resistance & Thyroid Dysfunction.
It’s very common for many of the symptoms [of insulin resistance and subclinical hypothyroidism] to be considered to be a part of “menopause”.
Hopefully you can see why becoming a detective with your thyroid is important.
Thyroid hormones play a really important role to making sure your body is energised and in good working order.
Thyroid reference ranges today do not diagnose subclinical hypothyroidism, but hopefully these tips we’ve provided you with today help you identify whether or not you should be looking at supporting your thyroid function.
If you are past menopause, it’s not too late.
If you have been diagnosed with a thyroid condition, it’s not too late either.
Addressing the bigger picture and the cause of the poor thyroid function is the linchpin to getting your life back.
If you’d like to learn more about “Overcoming Thyroid Dysfunction”, we’ve put together a thorough webinar where you can learn more. Reserve your spot here:
If you would like to see how we can help you, we offer a Free Introductory Consultation over the phone. You can organise that here:
Looking forward to connecting with you again soon.
Warmly,
Carrie
