How can YOU tell if you have a thyroid issue?
Today I want to talk with you about how you can moniter or check your thyroid function and nutrients related to thyroid health yourself by looking at the physical signs in your body, then what to do if you feel you have a thyroid condition.
The thyroid gland is vital for health, as it contributes to energy levels, a healthy metabolism, digestion, growth, sleep and development and it is therefore often related to tiredness, weight gain, poor sleep patterns, poor digestion, low mood and insomnia.
So when looking into whether you could have a thyroid condition, firstly look into the symptoms you are displaying
• If you feel lethargy and tiredness
• feeling cold (even on warm days)
• have difficulty concentrating
• have unusual weight gain
• depression
• constipation
If you have these symptoms then your thyroid could be compromised and underfunctioning and be hypo functioning.
The physical symptoms of a hyper or high functioniong thyroid (which is much less common) are
• weight loss, despite a normal or increased appetite
• nervousness, agitation and anxiety
• tiredness
• physical weakness (muscular)
• rapid pulse
• tremor (shaking) of the hands
• sweating and sensitivity to heat
• diarrhoea
Interestingly the thyroid can swing from high to low, so you can swing from hyper to hypo symptoms, and also if stress is involved and your adrenals are pumping stress hormones on a daily basis through the busy-ness of life, then you can be low functioning but have weight loss, insomnia, sweating – this is why it is vital to have your thyroid checked and monitored.
So to the physical signs that you can see and moniter in yourself: the most common physical signs of a low thyroid are
Puffiness of the face
Dry skin
Coarse hair
Hair loss
Puffy lips
The outer third of the eyebrow missing
Other less known physical signs are on your hands
The first being jagged and rough cuticles – The formal name for this is Paronychia and it is a very hallmark sign of hypothyroidism, meaning low thyroid condition. This type of symptom nutritionally is often times also linked to a protein deficiency. Interestingly enough, one of the major forms of amino acids (amino acids are the building blocks for protein) responsible for helping thyroid function is Tyrosine. Often I will see a protein deficiency, and particularly Tyrosine deficiency, in patients that have low level of thyroid and it will present in the cuticles looking just like this.
The second is white vertical ridging on the nail. This is often indicative nutritionally of a selenium deficiency. Now this is important because selenium is a mineral absolutely essential in the conversion of the INACTIVE thyroid hormone T4 to the ACTIVE T3 thyroid hormone. T4 has to be converted into T3. T3 is the thyroid hormone that communicates directly with your DNA and speeds up your metabolism and has all the wonderful effects we’re looking for in thyroid hormone health. Without selenium we don’t convert T4 to T3 very effectively and it will look like this often in the fingernails. So look at your fingernails and if you find these types of white spots very well it means you have a selenium deficiency. It also might mean you have an undiagnosed thyroid condition. If you are being treated for hypothyroidism and still have them, it might mean you are not well treated for it.
The third sign on the hands is splitting of the nails– this is also very common.
So if you recognise any of these signs or symptoms in yourself I would highly recommend that you look to a full thyroid panel blood test and full physical assessment –I first do a blood panel, physical assessment and full history, we will discuss nutrition, lifestyle – I then look to support immediately presenting symptoms, such as tiredness, insomnia whilst we wait for blood test results. Once we have test results we can look to what needs supporting, whether that be poor conversion to active thyroid homrones due to low nutrients levels such as zinc, iodine, selenium or high reverse T3 due to stress, or raised antibodies – I will always look to support gut function, liver function, stress response, as these are all absolutely vital to a proper functioning thyroid gland.
I work with several local GPs to run full thyroid panels (most GPs will not do this as it is not encouraged by Medicare), this is vital information, plus the ability to fully interpret the test results. I work extensively with thyroid results and fully welcome the opportunity to organise then look at your full panel results.
A particular interest of mine in practice is thyroid health and support, as I myself have a thyroid condition. I was diagnosed with Hashimotos disease over 10 years ago, this is an autoimmune disease that lowers the function of the thyroid gland. But I am pleased to say that I successfully manage this without medication to the point where I actually no longer have active antibodies, so really I don’t have Hashimotos anymore, my thyroid blood readings are stable and good.
I have worked on a lot of aspects of my health to get to this point over the last 10 years, my biggest personal driver I believe was stress, but also poor gut health, compromised liver health and considerable toxic load played a huge part in why I developed this condition, so supporting these elements in myself have enabled me to support and resolve my thyroid condition. I feel this experience gives me a personal insight into thyroid health and treatment which I can call on in my clinical practice.
I look forward to hearing from you,
Victoria
I help women feel calm, hormonally balanced and re-energized
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