The Truth About Thyroid Hormone

Is your thyroid hormone doing a good job? Paying attention to how you feel tells you more about your thyroid than a blood test.

It’s amazing with the advancements in medical technology that the best determining factor for whether you’re producing enough thyroid hormone is your testimonial. The problem is, not all doctors rely on what you say as part of their diagnosis. In fact, some doctors will discredit your statement due to the results of a single blood test.

Your thyroid produces the hormone thyroxine — or T4, but this is just the beginning. Your body then converts T4 to a more active hormone called T3 — or triiodothyronine. The conversion process occurs throughout your body — in your liver, intestines and kidney.

So, here’s where all the confusion takes place…

If you are suspected of having a thyroid problem, your doctor will probably perform a common thyroid test called TSH. Sometimes this is the only test doctors perform. In truth, TSH is not a thyroid hormone — it’s a pituitary hormone. Your pituitary gland releases the TSH hormone to signal your thyroid to produce more T4. Your pituitary gland knows when to release TSH because of a feedback loop where it reads how much T4 is in your blood. When T4 is low, TSH increases, telling your thyroid to release more T4.

Something the TSH test doesn’t measure is whether or not your body is converting T4 to T3 efficiently. As a result, your blood test may look normal but you still feel bad because you have low levels of T3, the active thyroid hormone. In this case, there is nothing wrong with your thyroid, but you still feel terrible and drained, even though your blood tests are normal.

Do you see the problem?

Thyroid hormone fuels your whole body and is present in every cell. It is your body’s gasoline, running all of your systems. Since your thyroid hormone is present everywhere in your body, when it malfunctions due to hypothyroidism, it causes you to have so many different symptoms: weight gain, fatigue, constipation, depression, low libido, heavy menstruation, aches/pains, dry skin, brittle nails, hair loss, etc.

Another problem with blood tests is that they don’t measure the amount of thyroid hormone inside your cells. The blood tests show how much of the hormone is in your blood, but this is not where all the action takes place. Unfortunately, there’s no test to measure the amount of thyroid hormone inside your cells.

Your physician should perform a T3 test to show if you have a conversion problem by looking at the TSH, T4, and T3 hormone levels.

Unfortunately, most physicians don’t perform a complete thyroid panel so don’t get a grasp on the whole picture.

If you are plagued by symptoms of thyroid issues, demand that your doctor run an entire thyroid panel so you get a better understanding of where the problems lie.

Thyroid hormone is the most important hormone in your body and you cannot function without it. If your body is not producing enough thyroid hormone, you will experience symptoms of hypothyroidism.

The bottom line is, if you have low levels of thyroid hormone, you need to determine the cause. If you and your doctor don’t know what the problem is, or why it exists, you won’t be able to find a lasting solution.

Warm regards,

Dr. Kevin Dobrzynski DN

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