The Thyroid Tests Every Woman Needs
One in eight women have been diagnosed with hypothyroidism, but, it’s believed that as many as 15 million more women have it and don’t know it. Men can have thyroid issues too, but women are 8 times more likely than men to have thyroid issues.
HYPOTHYROIDISM AND ESTROGEN DOMINANCE
The topic of choice in wellness circles now is hypothyroidism and what’s causing it… and it’s about damn time. An imbalance of hormones called Estrogen Dominance (ED) is believed to be a precursor to Hypothyroidism and it's SO important to talk about. ED doesn’t necessarily mean that you have too much estrogen, it just means that your ratio of estrogen to progesterone in your body is unbalanced,
Symptoms of both ED and Hypothyroidism include being cold all the time (a temp that always runs cold), dry skin, weight gain, stubborn belly fat, general fatigue, muscle pain, hair thinning, painful and irregular cycles and a puffy face. But, left unchecked, it can also lead to PCOS, endometriosis, miscarriage, infertility and breast cancer.
WHAT CAUSES ESTROGEN DOMINANCE?
Our modern toxic lifestyles, hormone disrupting fragrances in everything, plastics, mineral deficiencies, poor gut health, cooking with seed oils, hormones in factory farmed meat and dairy and fluoride in our water are all to blame for the thyroid disease epidemic that mostly effects women.
So, what can you do? First… ditch the things that contribute to it to begin with. Not sure how to do that? Check out this blog post, 8 Ways to Reverse Estrogen Dominance, Naturally.
WHAT IS A FULL THYROID PANEL?
Second, ask your doctor to do a full panel of thyroid blood work. Honestly, we should all be doing this anyway! Unfortunately, some old school doctors still only test for TSH and call it a day. That doesn’t show you the whole picture. Ask your doctor to run all of the following: Peptide hormones like thyroid hormones can easily and accurately be tested via bloodwork.
TSH - Thyroid Stimulating Hormone
Free T3 - Active form of thyroid hormone
Free T4 - Inactive form of thyroid hormone
rT3 - Reverse T3 or the "anti" thyroid hormone
TPO Antibodies - Marker of Hashimotos
Anti-thyroglobulin - Marker of autoimmune
Prolactin - A marker of estrogen dominance
OPTIMAL VS. NORMAL RANGES
Many doctors will check to see if you are in the normal range, but just because your levels in are “normal” doesn't mean they are optimal for you. Even in the lower end of what is considered a normal range, I was still symptomatic and feeling terrible. I was lucky to have a doctor that ran all the labs AND compared the results with how I felt. I encourage you to find a doctor that focuses more on functional and root cause medicine and is willing to help you find what is optimal for you and not just what falls in to an arbitrary range.
I'm sharing the numbers below because these are my personal optimal ranges. Everyone is different work with your doctor. But, it’s important to illustrate to you that I was symptomatic even within acceptable ranges. Most doctors will only check your TSH and if it’s under 10, then say you are “fine”. But when my TSH was 4, I was still extremely sick. I feel my best when my TSH is between 1-2.5.
TSH 1–2.5
Free T4 1.0–1.5
Free T3 3–4
TPO < 4
Thyroglobulin Antibodies < 1
Prolactin 10-20 ng/mL
WRAP UP
You need all the information to see the whole picture. If your doctor won't run a full thyroid panel, then I recommend you find a new doctor that is up to date on the latest standards of care and specializes in function medicine. I've had to interview several doctors on many occasions to find the right one. It's OK to ask questions, disagree with your doctor and hire a new one that is more in alignment with your health goals. They work for you and should be your partner in health.
Consider this permission to advocate for yourself! Get your labs done and then put a game plan in place. You don’t have to do everything at once, the important thing is that you start. Not sure how to do that?
