Empowering Your Thyroid Health: Understanding, Testing, and Advocacy

So so all right , guys . So just to say again , just to put it out there yes , I am in the medical field , but this is in no way intended to replace your doctor's advice , to tell your doctor what to do .

This is just me simply talking about my journey and things that I would recommend if you were my patient , but again , not recommending this because clearly you're not in front of me , we're not having a conversation . This is just .

If you've been on this journey for a long time , you feel like you're doing all the things right in your fitness and nutrition world and things just still somehow are not panning out for you , whether that be you're still not feeling like yourself , you're not losing weight , you're not .

You know your skin may not look like it used to , or you're just having all these symptoms that you know your body and you're like something is not right . That's how it was for me , like my thyroid journey . I've talked about it on here .

Before I had hired a fitness and nutrition coach , I was still gaining weight , my hair was falling out , I slept all the time which is not like me and I just knew my body and I knew something wasn't right . So I just kept advocating for myself and I would go to doctors and if they wouldn't listen then I would . I finally found a doctor that would .

We ran some tests , lo and behold had a thyroid problem . So let's just jump into the thyroid , because that's something I'm also very passionate about . I feel like it's very underdiagnosed and under treated appropriately and at the end of this episode I will give you some . If you're in Alabama , then I have someone that I highly recommend that can help you out .

But just starting out with a thyroid like again , if you've done all the things , you think something's wrong . But just starting out with a thyroid like again , if you've done all the things , you think something's wrong . If your doctor is not running a full thyroid panel , then you're not getting a full picture .

Like most doctors , most conventional doctors are only checking a TSH , which is your thyroid stimulating hormone , and a free T4 . So just a little background on the thyroid . It's kind of confusing . Stay with me . We have our thyroid stimulating hormone . That is a feedback loop to your free T3 and free T4 hormones .

So what that means is your thyroid is stimulated by something in your body saying hey , we need you to produce more thyroid hormone because we're getting a little low over here . Hey , we need you to produce more thyroid hormone because we're getting a little low over here . So your TSH will then go up .

So your TSH goes up because it's being stimulated and then , once your TSH goes up , it will lower your free T3 and free T4 . What that means is they're inverse relationships . We want your TSH between a certain number and we want your free T3 and free T4 higher than your , not higher than your TSH .

But we want the free T4 and the free T3 at the top of the range and we want the TSH at the lower end of the optimal range . So that's another thing and I'll talk about optimal in a minute .

So , with that being said , that's how some people can kind of get a little confused on hypothyroidism , which is low thyroid , and hyperthyroidism , which is a high thyroid because of the TSH and the free T3 and the free T4 inverse relationship . So you don't have to worry about any of that .

Your doctor should know that , but you do , and you should advocate for yourself if you don't feel like you're being heard . And I'm not saying to go in and be rude to your doctor by any means , I'm just saying like you can be an advocate for yourself and ask for things if you don't feel like the whole picture is being drawn .

So what I would recommend for a full thyroid panel is the TSH , which is your thyroid stimulating hormone , your free T3 , your free T4 , a reverse T3 , tpo antibodies , which tests for Hashimoto's , thyroglobulin antibodies , which tests for Graves disease and some cancers .

And then I would get and that's just your thyroid labs , but then I would also get to support those labs a ferritin level , an iron level , tibc , cbc with diff , cmp , which is a complete metabolic panel , fasting insulin , hemoglobin A1C I would say cortisol , but I don't really like serum cortisol levels because it only gives you one snapshot .

I would say cortisol , but I don't really like serum cortisol levels because it only gives you one snapshot .

Um , you really need to do like a Dutch test or a saliva test to get more markers for your saliva or cortisol , because it gives you like at least four to five different points throughout the day to see if it's rising and lowering like it should , um , and then if you want like most people don't get these but it's a little bit more advanced like leptin levels

, you can get leptin and ghrelin levels . That's just that . I don't know necessarily , like a lot of people don't do that . That's more of the functional side when you're trying to be like really in depth . But going back to the thyroid stuff , the reason why reverse T3 is so important is because if your reverse T3 is high , it's blocking your T3 hormone .

And T3 hormone is very important because out of the two the T4 and the T3 , your T3 is your active hormone . So it's actively what's doing all the things for the thyroid . And what is that for the thyroid ? That is your metabolism , hair growth , energy , um , skin looking good .

Then it also stimulates other hormones like your estrogen , your progesterone and all that . So it's basically the master gland and kind of controls everything , your mood , all the things . So you want your T3 , which is your active form , which is doing all the things , to be high and working right . You want it to be working for you .

So the theory that a lot of conventional doctors follow is that you don't need t3 medication or we don't need to test the t3 because t4 , which is your inactive hormone , should and will convert to t3 . That that is what . That is what is supposed to happen in your body . Your body is supposed to convert inactive t4 to active T3 .

But what a lot of people have learned recently in research studies is that there is a lot of people that are having converting problems , like we're not able to convert the T4 to the T3 .

And so we're having symptoms of hypothyroidism , which is constipation , dry skin , brittle nails , hair loss , weight gain , low energy , low libido , and we're having an epidemic of these symptoms . But the doctor tests the TSH and the free T4 and they're normal . But if you don't check the whole picture , then how do we know what else is going on ?

That was what happened to me . Those are the only two labs that got tested . And then finally got a doctor that tested my T3 levels and they were zero only two labs that got tested . And then finally got a doctor that tested my T3 levels and they were zero . So sent me to Vanderbilt to a specialist .

They were like wow , I've never seen a patient like this , where they don't invert the labs , and I was just like well , here I am , can I have some T3 medication now ? Um , but why the reverse T3 is so important is because that reverse T3 is like a stress response hormone If it's high , it's going to block your active form of T3 .

And if we're blocking our active form of T3 , it doesn't matter how much you're converting T4 to T3 . It doesn't matter how much T3 medication you're taking , it's just not going to absorb and you're still going to have the hypothyroid symptoms . I'm not going to get into all the other details of the reverse T3 . That's just the basic of it .

But essentially the way it was explained to me was think about it . If you heaven forbid we're in a car wreck and you're laying in the ICU and you're on a ventilator , your body is going to raise the reverse T3 because it does want to block your active form of thyroid

medicine . Because when you're sitting in an ICU bed on a ventilator , your job is to survive . Your job is to get better . So it doesn't need to grow your hair , it doesn't need to grow your nails , your skin doesn't need to look good , you don't need to lose weight . Those would be bad things .

For you to heal Like you actually need to gain weight , you need more protein , you need more calories to survive , something like that . So your body doesn't know if you're in that type of stress response versus at a very high stress job . Does that mean I'm hoping that's making sense ?

Um , but that's how it was explained to me one time and I was like , oh , that makes so much sense . So if you're not getting those labs , it's not really going to give you a full picture . And I know that some insurances don't pay for all those labs .

So it can kind of be a little bit cumbersome to not only have to have the responsibility of advocating for yourself but also financial burden when it comes to lab draws and things like that . And I completely understand and I empathize , but I do think it's very important .

And then , if you're a woman , I also recommend testing your progesterone , estrogen and testosterone levels , both free and total testosterone . And that's what the same with the thyroid labs , like some doctors will only test the total T3 and the total T4 , which is okay , but without the free , then we don't really know .

Oh , and I forgot to add sex hormone binding globulin .

That's also important because you can and I want to separate , like if you're on thyroid medication , the sex hormone binding globulin is very important because if you're taking thyroid hormone and your sex hormone binding globulin is high , then you may not be binding your hormone to other receptor sites , which I'm not trying to get too like in depth here to make

anyone confused . I want to try to keep it as simple as possible . But going back to the totals , like total T3 , total T4 , total testosterone , that's what you total have in your body , right , like okay , let's make up arbitrary numbers here . Let's say my total testosterone is 100 . That's what's floating around in my's .

Say my total testosterone is 100 , that's what's floating around in my body , but that doesn't mean that that is what is available to my cell receptors . So that's where the frees come in , like free t3 , free t4 , free testosterone . Your frees are what is readily available to attach to a receptor binding site in your body , in the cell .

Now it could go to the binding side of the sex hormone binding globulin and then you're still not getting enough . But again , I digress , that's more advanced for another day .

But if you are on thyroid hormone and you are still experiencing symptoms of hypothyroidism and I speak more about hypothyroidism because it's more common , but there are people out there that are hyperthyroid . Again , I speak more on the hypothyroid part , but just because it's more common . So you could still have symptoms of hypothyroidism and be on thyroid medication .

Most of the time it's a T4 only medication like levothyroxine , Synthroid , and people are like why am I still having symptoms ? My doctor says my TSH and my thyroid labs are normal and again , there is a difference between normal labs and optimal labs . And so normal labs are the reference range .

Like I'm sure we've all seen a lab and we've seen a reference range . And let's say I think the don't quote me on this , but the TSH reference range is 0.5 to , I want to say , five . I think that's the most standard . Each lab value , each lab differs a little bit , but it's like 0.5 to five .

And what a reference range is is they've taken anyone from the age I want to say 17 to 99 . They could have changed it since the last time I looked it up . So anyone from the age of 17 to 99 , they've done all this collective data and here's the reference range they came up with .

I don't know about you , but I don't want my thyroid at age 37 to be the same as a 99 year olds . I want it to be closer to my age or a little bit younger , younger to feel optimal .

So then they came up with the optimal range where more functional doctors practice and live in and say that you will feel optimally better if it's between this range and I think with the TSH again , don't quote me is 0.5 to 2 . So there's a big discrepancy between that 2 and 5 .

I know when I got diagnosed with my thyroid issues my TSH was only like 3 , 3.5 . It was still in that quote , unquote normal range but it was higher than the optimal range . But then when they checked my T4 , I think it was a little low . And then again I had to beg to get my T3 tested and when they tested my T3 , it was zero .

And that's when they sent me to that specialist , like I said at Vanderbilt , and she was like , if your T3 is zero , which and ? Um , there's a whole gamut of things between like all that we won't go into , but going back to that Um , so a lot of people can have like optimal levels of thyroid functioning .

But there are TPO antibodies which checks for Hashimoto's um , which is the auto immune portion of the thyroid .

They can be high and you could just be in a state where you just need to get your inflammation under control and then your thyroid still functioning appropriately , and if you could get that inflammation , that stress , under control , you don't need medication . And so there's a whole different pathway that you could go there .

But again , this is to keep it as simple as possible . I do recommend working with someone obviously advocating for yourself and just listening to your body and yeah , I'll , I'll leave

it there . But if you don't have a doctor and you're in Alabama , or you do have a doctor but you don't feel like you're , you know , being heard or listened to , then I really highly recommend Cove telehealth for women here in Huntsville . Um , it's all telehealth , but she , she has a license in Alabama , so highly recommend you reaching out to them .

They're specializing in thyroid and hormone health for women and I just think they're wonderful . I will link their tag in the show notes so that you can just click on it and go there if you're struggling or have any questions .

But again , again , this is not intended to give any medical advice , just to kind of put it out there on what you should maybe ask for if you're experiencing these symptoms and continue to advocate for , advocate for yourself , because that is what healthcare is about is , you know , partnering with a doctor and you knowing your body and them knowing the knowledge of

medicine and just bringing it together . So I hope this was helpful and not too confusing . I try to not to make it too confusing . But anyways , guys , until next time . Bye , thank you .