Low Thyroid (Hypothyroid) Mistake #4 – Thinking You’ve Had the Correct Tests

Dr. David Clark, DC Durham, NC explains why most women have not had the correct tests to get to the bottom of their low thyroid symptoms.

Thinking that you’ve had the correct tests to determine what’s causing your low thyroid is Mistake #4.

I guess I should back up for a second.

Many of you probably haven’t had any tests to determine the real cause of your low thyroid symptoms.  What usually happens is you start suffering with low thyroid symptoms such as fatigue, depression or constipation or hair loss (or a combination of those things).

And you endure them for a few months thinking maybe they’ll just go away…

After some weeks pass, you go see a doctor who runs a bare bones blood chemistry panel and says,

“Hey, look at that.  Your TSH is high.  Your T4 is maybe a little low, might be normal….You’re “low thyroid.”  You need to take thyroid hormones.”

This makes logical sense to you because you’re not a doctor–you’re not trained in thyroid hormones.  So you take the replacement hormones as directed.

You feel better for a few days or weeks. You’re having a “Hormone Honeymoon.” That honeymoon might last a week or a couple months…but then the honeymoon is over and those low thyroid symptoms start to creep back.

The depression, feeling cold all over, fatigue that feels like a ton of bricks…these symptoms come back to haunt you again. You start to think “maybe there’s something wrong with me” mentally…

When you go back to the doctor to get help, he says,

“Well hey, your TSH is normal.  I don’t know what could be causing this.  Maybe you’re just depressed.”

ARRGH!!.

The real problem is that you haven’t had the correct tests.

Remember, the number one cause of low thyroid in America is an autoimmune condition called Hashimoto’s thyroiditis or Hashimoto’s hypothyroid. I’ve found that most doctors, even if you have low thyroid symptoms, they never run the test to find out if you have that autoimmune condition.

This would mean that your immune system has mistakenly turned on you and is killing your thyroid gland and causing your low thyroid symptoms.

What I ‘ve found with the patients I’ve seen is most doctors aren’t even running the test for that condition.

What tests should they run for you? These two simple tests:

1. TPO Antibodies
2. TBG Antibodies

These are not exotic, weird or “alternative.”

If you have elevated antibodies it means that you’ve got Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis – an autoimmune disease that MUST be dealt with if you’re ever going to feel normal.

Many doctors aren’t even running these tests.  So please don’t be fooled into thinking that you’ve had the correct tests.

NOTE: About 20% of women who do get these antibodies tests done have false negative results.  They’re what we call seronegative Hashimoto’s patients.  It means that even though the blood test shows negative, your symptoms clearly indicate that you really do have Hashimoto’s.

But how did you get this way in the first place?

There are several tests that must be done to answer that question. These additonal tests provide the answers that will help the depression, the hair loss and help you take a trip back in time, feeling good like you used to years ago.

There are many triggers for  Hashimoto’s (and I’ve got some posts on that that you can read):

• Food sensitivities (huge)
• Viral infections
• Parasitic infections (many women have one and dont’ know it)
  
• blood sugar problems (high and low)
• Vitamin D deficiencies
• Pregnancy, Perimenopause
  
• Heavy metals like mercury, nickel

These factors determine-in part- whether or not you turn on that gene that starts the attack on your thyroid.

But more than just starting Hashimoto’s, these same X factors PROMOTE the continued attack…like a spectator egging on a fight.

And it’s vitally importan– it’s crucial–it’s a matter of life and death to find out if those things going on in you right now. Because if you have a hidden GI infection…if you have a food sensitivity….if you have a viral infection,…f you have a vitamin D deficiency, then it’s promoting your autoimmune attack on your thyroid gland.

Remember— most doctors aren’t even testing to see if you have Hashimoto’s.

And if one does, you may be “seronegative”–you really do have Hashimoto’s even though the labs are negative.

It’s a mistake to assume you’ve had the necessary tests to get to the bottom of YOUR low thyroid symptoms.

Out of all the women that have come to me for help, not a single one has had all the correct tests.

But, they have had all the “medically necessary” tests—what a terrible joke.

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© 2011 David Clark. All Rights Reserved.