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How to Properly Test Thyroid Function

If you are not feeling your best it would be wise to test thyroid
function.  Hypothyroidism is one of the fastest growing health conditions
we are seeing today. Lethargy, depression and weight gain are the most
common symptoms.

It has been estimated that 27 million people in America struggle with

some form of thyroid disease and up to 80 percent of hypothyroidism
cases are autoimmune based. However, mainstream healthcare is not even
testing for autoimmune indicators the majority of the time.  This PDF will
go through how to properly test thyroid function.

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 Functional vs AutoImmune Thyroid
Through personal experience, I have found that antibody (autoimmune)
testing is only done upon persistent request. The causes and treatments
for an autoimmune condition versus a functionally underactive thyroid are
different. Therefore, having a clinician to properly test thyroid markers for
these differences is extremely important if we want treatment to be the best.

My clients are exhausted with their conventional doctors and unproductive

thyroid care, or lack thereof. Many of them come to our website and
programs looking for answers. They wonder why nothing is changing, what
triggered their thyroid problem to begin with, and what is the best course of
action?

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 Searching for the Solution
We have to ask ourselves, why are doctors not checking every aspect of thyroid
function? Furthermore, why are we not addressing the thyroid and its function
in our bodies as a whole? We have been compartmentalizing healthcare for too
long and it is time to take a holistic approach.

There are many areas for malfunction between the stimulation, secretion,
and utilization of the active form of thyroid hormone, T3. There are many key
players that perform an important role in this cascade and it is important to look
at all of them in order to understand the larger picture of the patient’s thyroid
function.

Mainstream medical doctors are only looking at thyroid stimulating hormone

(TSH) and some even look at T4 and T3. While these values are important, they
do not give us the necessary tools to find the underlying reason for thyroid
malfunction.

In this short handout, we will look at what lab values should be tested and what
these values mean. There is a lot of misinformation out there on the internet so I
want this to be straightforward and truthful for educational purposes.

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 Thyroid Testing
The thyroid responds to signals from the hypothalamus and pituitary in order
to appropriately maintain to the body’s metabolic needs. The hypothalamus is
responsible for managing hunger, thirst, sleep, hormones, body temperature
and other important functions.

It is also constantly monitoring thyroid hormone levels and when more thyroid
hormone is needed, it sends out a signal known as thyrotropin releasing
hormone (TRH). This hormone travels to the pituitary, which is our master
hormone gland, and triggers it to release thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH).

TSH is sent directly to the thyroid, which is then stimulated to produce more
thyroid hormone, or T4. As mentioned before, standard thyroid testing will look
at TSH and sometimes T4 and T3.

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Most general practitioners and endocrinologists do not run all of these labs but
I find them extremely helpful in analyzing how someone is expressing thyroid
function in their body.

Here is a brief overview of what these markers are and what they do in the
body. This isn’t a thyroid focused book, but this is so important that I thought it
would be wise to include this section.

TSH:
This is a hormone produced by the pituitary gland in the brain that
communicates with the thyroid gland and tells it to produce thyroid hormone.

T4:
This is the major hormone that the thyroid gland produces but it is an inactive
hormone in the body. It must be converted by 5-deiodinase enzymes in the liver
and by gut bacteria into active T3.

T3:
This is the active thyroid hormone that activates cellular metabolism.

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Free T3:
Some of the thyroid hormone is bound by Thyroid Binding Globulin (TGB) and
rendered useless. The free portion of the T3 in particular is the most important
number because it lets us know what is unbound and available to be used by the
cells of the body.

Reverse T3:
Some of the T4 is made into an inactive form of T3 called reverse T3 or RT3. This
cannot be used by the cells of the body. High stress hormones over a chronic
period of time are known to increase RT3 levels.

Thyroglobulin (TG):
This is the protein portion of thyroid hormone. T4 is simply 4 iodine molecules
bound to the tyrosine portions of the TG protein, (T3 is 3 iodine molecules bound
to TG). The body can make anti-bodies to this protein and often does produce
high amounts of these antibodies in the case of autoimmune thyroid problems.

Thyroid Peroxidase (TPO):

This is an enzyme in the thyroid that converts iodide ions to iodine atoms to
be connected onto the tyrosine portions of the TG protein. The body makes
antibodies to this enzyme and they can be found in high amounts in individuals
with autoimmune thyroid problems.

In some cases, you doctor may be open to running these tests. However, I have
found that the vast majority of my followers can not get their doctor to do all of
them due to insurance regulations. If you have trouble getting these labs done,
you can order them and pay a low cash rate from my website or through Verisana
Labs where you can get specialty labs sent directly to you without a physician’s
referral.

On my website, we have a test called the Complete Thyroid Report that you can
find here. After you perform the tests, the results will come back and one of
my trained health coaches will send them to you and help you understand the
findings.