Thyroid disorder Part II – Get a proper diagnose

Sarah Campeau    Thyroid Conditions    

Diagnosing a Thyroid condition is not as easy as most physicians would like us to think. Unfortunately modern practices strongly lean towards diagnosing through blood results rather than symptoms. This is even more evident in determining if a patient suffers from an underactive thyroid.

TSH levels alone are the usual standard used to judge the thyroid health, which inevitable has led to thousands of undiagnosed patients that are forced to live with unbearable symptoms that inevitably lead to real systemic conditions. A small bit of curious information; the TSH lab test was first introduced back in 1973, and this was when the “normal” range was established.

The first you need to realize before getting tested is that Lab tests alone will not diagnose you. There is a range of symptoms that combined with blood work, a Cortisol saliva test, and a Barnes Basel test will get you a more accurate portrait of the actual condition of your thyroid.

The symptoms are endless, but here are the most typical complaints of patients suffering from an underactive thyroid:

• Hair thinning and hair loss
• Mental fogginess
• Slow Heart beat
• Dry/Pale Skin
• Hair thinning and Hair loss
• Intolerance to heat and cold
• Frequent constipation
• Depression

Most common symptoms reported by patients suffering from an overactive thyroid

• Hair thinning and Hair Loss
• feeling nervous, irritable or emotional
• tremor (shaking)
• Sleeping disorders
• Intolerance to heat and sweating more than usual
• Losing weight despite having an increased appetite (although around one in 10 people will gain weight)
• Feeling tired
• Muscle weakness
• Increased heart rate or palpitations
• Infrequent periods or problems getting pregnant
• Frequent bowel movements or diarrhea
• shortness of breath, especially when exercising
• loss of hair or finer hair than usual
• swelling of your thyroid gland
• swollen/red eyes, or double vision

Unfortunately the list of symptoms for both pathologies goes on.

A lot of Hair loss patients who complain that nothing seems to work for them, are actually suffering from an undiagnosed Thyroid condition. The moment the root of the problem is “attacked” the hair loss decreases, and in many cases stops completely.

One needs to understand that when the body is in crises, non-essential functions start to shut down, Hair growth is one of those functions. This is the case for most of the autoimmune disorders, causing havoc and chaos through the entire body disguising the root of the problem with other symptoms.

So what are the steps to get a proper evaluation of your thyroid?

• Identify your symptoms
• Check if your thyroid Enlarged:
• Check for Nodules around your thyroid
• Perform the Barnes Basel Test
• Get a SSH Cortisol / DHEA Saliva Test done
• Consult the right physicians, most importantly an endocrinologist that does not solely rely on the TSH levels to make a diagnosis.

On our next topic we will discuss treatments, why thyroxine is not the way to go and all of the alternative treatments available to patients.

Hypothyroidism and Chronic Fatigue

Sarah Campeau    Causes and Types of Hair Loss, Thyroid Conditions    

The Barnes Basal Thyroid Test

Sarah Campeau    Causes and Types of Hair Loss, Thyroid Conditions    

Dr. Stephen Langer is the absolute reference on Thyroid disorders, we have referred patients to him in the past and will continue to do so. This post is in line with our Thyroid / Hair Loss series.

Thyroid disorder Part I – It might be your Thyroid

Sarah Campeau    Causes and Types of Hair Loss, Thyroid Conditions    

This is the first of a series of posts about thyroid conditions that we are going to post in the upcoming days. I can’t stress enough how important it is for everyone that is suffering from hair loss to properly evaluate their thyroid before starting any hair loss treatment.

In Part II we will explain exactly what we mean by a “proper evaluation”. It might surprise you to learn how badly most physicians tend to diagnose thyroid diseases, so our next post will focus on helping everyone get an accurate diagnosis.

I think I can safely say that half of the patients that consult us have an underlying thyroid condition that is causing their hair loss. One of the things that always surprised me through my practice is that most people think that thyroid conditions are exclusive to Women. While there is a prevalence of these conditions among Women, the fact of the matter is that most Men are not diagnosed at all, leaving millions of untreated conditions that eventually lead to other problems that camouflage the root of the issue.

Four in every 10 patients that we treat suffers from an undiagnosed thyroid disorder. It’s an astounding figure, but not very surprising.

When a patient suffers from hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism, the entire metabolic system is compromised; the organism focuses on maintaining the essential organs functioning at an estimated reasonably efficient level, and disregards “unnecessary” bodily functions. As you might have guessed by now, hair and nails are not exactly critical to survival.

There is a reason why nails become brittle and weak, and a reason why hair becomes thinner and the growth process compromised when the thyroid is not working properly.

A recurring question is also the relation between Thyroid conditions and auto-immune disorders like Alopecia. In some instances an overly strained immune system will trigger dormant conditions that otherwise might not have become active. One of the most frequent questions that I get is why Male Pattern Baldness would be linked to Thyroid disorders since it’s mainly caused by a genetic predisposition. Well, most cancers are also a result of a genetic predisposition origin. Almost everyone has had a father of a mother who were diagnosed a type of cancer, but that does not necessarily mean it will be passed along. The disposition might be there, but if it’s not triggered by an external factor it will not be a problem.

An immune system that is strained and on “survival mode” will stop all enabled preventive internal processes, leading to the emergence of all these conditions. The solution to the problem is not treating the symptoms or the derivative conditions. Going after the main cause that constitutes the root of all these imbalances is the way to go.

On the next chapter we will help you get an accurate diagnose on your thyroid.

P.s. A question that might be in everyone’s mind is if Aestressin-B would be beneficial to Thyroid patient; the simple answer is YES. This topic will be discussed on chapter V of these series.