Natural Thyroids win out over synthetic - click here to read this article

Thyroid – Raise your energy levels, think more clearly and dismiss those niggly aches & pains!

Imagine that you are suffering from a multitude of symptoms that are both physical and mental. Your physical problems might include weight gain or loss, palpitations or a slow weak pulse, restlessness and excessive energy or lethargy and fatigue, diarrhoea or constipation. Your mental symptoms might range from depression, indecisiveness, poor memory and concentration through to anxiety and irritability.

If you find yourself in this situation, it might not be immediately apparent that all of your symptoms are linked. Indeed you may very well find yourself being told to ‘pull yourself together’ as what you’re feeling is psychosomatic, or that you are just feeling a bit stressed or suffering from anxiety or that it’s chronic fatigue syndrome. If this is happening to you and you’re not happy with what you’re being told, persevere and ask for thyroid function tests. You may very well be surprised to find that there is a real physical reason for those symptoms you are presenting and that the culprit is your thyroid gland. Certainly thyroid disorders can produce a whole range of symptoms that can affect any or every part of your body, and without a thyroid function test you won’t be able to rule out thyroid abnormalities.

And this is not as far-fetched as it might sound - estimates suggest that anywhere between 2 and 20% of people have undiagnosed thyroid abnormalities. Indeed, Dr Broda Barnes, an acknowledged world expert on thyroid function, believes that as many as 40% of adults have thyroid issues, particularly as many people suffer from hypothyroidism without even realising it. And where doctors are consulted, hypothyroidism often goes undiagnosed simply because it isn’t suspected.

Even when it is diagnosed, thyroid problems are relatively common particularly amongst women. For example in Australia around 850,000 people suffer from diagnosed thyroid diseases which equates to 7.5% of women and 1.5 % of men. Whereas increasing age appears to be a major risk factor with thyroid deficiency, most often affecting women over 40, young people can also have reduced thyroid function, especially if the condition is hereditary.

Sometimes even when hypothyroidism has been suspected and you have been tested, your symptoms might still go untreated because you are suffering from what is referred to as a subclinical condition - that is to say you would benefit from thyroid supplementation even though based on standard laboratory test results you do not display a thyroid pathology that actually requires treatment. Some experts believe that as many as 15 to 20% of women over age 60 may have subclinical hypothyroidism.

Fortunately, thyroid conditions aren't usually life threatening and respond well to treatment. However, if left untreated, it is possible that a small percentage of people could develop symptoms that might actually contribute to a shortening of their life expectancy.

Before we look in more detail at ways to treat thyroid problems, it’s useful to know a little bit more about your thyroid gland and just what it actually does.

The Thyroid Gland

The thyroid gland is a butterfly shaped, endocrine (meaning ductless) gland located just under the Adam's apple in the throat. It is formed by two connecting lobes which wrap themselves around your windpipe (trachea) a bit like a bow tie.

The purpose of the thyroid gland is to produce and secrete hormones into the bloodstream - the main two of which are thyroxine (T4) and triiodothronine (T3). T4 is produced in much greater quantities than T3 but T3 is the primary active hormone. Most of the T4 that is produced has to be converted into T3 before your body can use it. The conversion of T4 to T3 takes place in particular organs, primarily the liver, and in body tissues and is of vital importance for the overall functioning of your body.

Cells in various target organs and tissues respond to the thyroid hormones that they receive via the blood stream by either speeding up or slowing down their activity. Essentially these hormones control the speed of the body’s metabolism (the chemical reactions that occur in your body in order to maintain life) and ultimately affect every one of your cells, tissues, and organs. The thyroid gland is therefore essential for life, growth and development.

You only have to glance down the list below to recognise that the thyroid gland and the hormones that it produces are essential for life itself. The thyroid hormones affect the following body functions:

The pituitary gland (located at the base of the brain) regulates the amount of T3 and T4 that is produced by the thyroid gland by secreting Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH). There is an inverse relationship between TSH and the thyroid hormones. When levels of T3 and T4 fall the pituitary gland secretes more TSH which causes more thyroid hormones to be produced but when T4 and T3 levels rise, the pituitary secretes less TSH.

When things go wrong: Hyper and Hypothyroidism

Usually the relationship between TSH,T3 and T4 means that your body receives exactly the right amount of T3 and T4 that it requires but for some people things go wrong. If the hormones become imbalanced then your thyroid gland may become overactive (hyperthyroidism) or underactive (hypothyroidism).

It’s hardly surprising, given how important the thyroid hormones are to the functioning of the whole of your body, that any such imbalances affect every cell and can lead to wide ranging, but seemingly unrelated symptoms. And, as with many conditions, not everyone suffering from hyper- or hypothyroidism has identical symptoms.

Common symptoms of hyperthyroidism include:

Common symptoms of hypothyroidism include:

An underactive thyroid is also a major cause of a common painful musculoskeletal condition known as fibromyalgia.

We will concentrate on hypothyroidism - the way forward to treat the condition is by taking thyroid supplements.

What causes hypothyroidism?

As we’ve mentioned already age and gender are two of the major risk factors in developing thyroid abnormalities. As a decline in thyroid function can affect every cell in our body, and as the risk of hypothyroidism increases with age, hypothyroidism can lead to a whole range of age related problems which can be overcome by taking thyroid supplements.

The reason that age and gender are major risk factors for developing hypothyroidism may very well due to the fact that the most common causes of hypothyroidism is Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, an autoimmune disease. An autoimmune disease is one in which the body’s own defences turn on itself. In the case of Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, the body’s white blood cells invade the thyroid gland and attack the tissue and the immune system produces antibodies which interfere with the production of the thyroid hormones. The decline of immunity with aging is associated with increased autoimmune reactions such as those that occur in Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis which may be why thyroid function commonly declines with age. Furthermore 90% of the sufferers of Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis are women.

Of course, this is not the only cause of thyroid problems. For example, in some people, there might be a failure of cells responding to thyroid hormones at a cellular level, or it could be as a result of problems in the pituitary gland which, as we have seen, would directly impact on the amount of thyroid hormones available.

Natural as against synthetic treatment

Thyroid supplementation is a well recognised, tried and tested way of overcoming the problems associated with a decline in thyroid function. You will however be faced with a choice of natural or synthetic supplements.

There can be no doubt that it is almost always better to take a natural thyroid extract such as Armour or Nature. This is because natural supplements contain a much broader range of thyroid hormones including not only T3 and T4 but also T1 and T2. Synthetic hormones on the other hand usually only contain just one of the thyroid hormones.

As we have seen, TSH bears an inverse relationship to thyroid hormone levels. Measuring TSH levels can determine whether thyroid hormone supplementation is required. Given the changes that occur in thyroid function with age, it’s a good idea to monitor TSH levels periodically as the aim would be to keep thyroid hormones at healthy, youthful levels.

What’s more given that so many people suffer from subclinical hypothyroidism, taking a small regular dose of whole-natural thyroid supplement may invoke many positive effects on your body. Even if you have no overt endocrine disease but you are over 40 years old, such a dose can raise your energy levels, allow you to think more clearly and may help to put pay to many of those niggly little things that we often just put down to getting older. And in combination with minerals and vitamins, a small but regular dose may also offer significant improvement in cardiovascular-protective function when taken over a number of years.

Natural thyroid supplementation has also been proven to be much more successful in managing the problems that are associated with hypothyroidism, with hypothyroid patients demonstrating greater improvements in mood and brain function when treated with Armour thyroid as opposed a synthetic supplement.

When you consider the fact that any decline in thyroid function can affect every cell in your body, natural thyroid dietary supplementation, especially for those over 40, just makes sense - even for those who do not have clinically diagnosed hypothyroidism or any overt symptoms of the condition.

Dosage

Dosage levels of natural whole thyroid supplements depend on your age and your thyroid condition. Thyroid doses are measured in grains with one grain being equivalent to 60mg.

Doses of one grain or more usually require temperature monitoring and occasional blood tests as doses at this level are potent.

Usually only those people with more serious thyroid conditions are prescribed doses of one grain or more - possibly up to 3-5 grains daily with doses being increased gradually under doctor’s supervision.

Doses of one quarter to half a grain of whole natural thyroid supplementation (with a possible increase up to 1 grain after a couple of weeks if necessary) are usually used when a person is seeking to support declining thyroid function due to age. Monitoring and occasional breaks maybe required.

Warning

Reduce or stop thyroid supplementation if you feel unwell, if your temperature when rising from bed in the morning is over 98.2 degrees Fahrenheit, your resting pulse is more than 75 beats a minute or your thyroid function blood tests are abnormal.

Natural Thyroids win out over synthetic

If you suffer from a thyroid condition which is being treated with a synthetic product – it may be time to consider a natural version instead.  Being the control centre for the body’s metabolism and utilization of fat, maintaining the correct balance of thyroid hormones thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3) is vitally important. 

When thyroid hormones are imbalanced, they body can suffer with either Hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid) or hypothyroidism (under active thyroid).  Common symptoms of an overactive thyroid can include, rapid heart beat, weight loss, menstrual irregularities, overheating and excessive energy levels.  Symptoms of an under active thyroid can include, poor concentration, memory problems, cold hands and feet, weight gain, sleep disorders, dry skin, thinning hair and low energy levels. An under active thyroid is also a major cause of Fibromyalgia, a painful musculoskeletal condition.

Increasingly, thyroid deficiency seems to affect women over the age of 40, but men and teenagers may also suffer, especially when the condition is hereditary.  Certain studies estimate that as many as 15 to 20% of women over the age of 60 may have sub clinical hypothyroidism and would therefore benefit from some degree of thyroid supplementation.  Whole, natural thyroid extract contains the full spectrum of thyroid hormones and is thought to be superior to synthetic versions that usually contain only one.

The New England Journal of Medicine which published a study conducted in 1999, concluded that a natural hormone product, such as Armour, was more successful at managing problems associated with hypothyroidism, than synthetic versions.   Furthermore, hypothyroid patients demonstrated greater improvements in mood and brain function when treated with Armour thyroid as opposed to Synthroid (Thyroxine).

Thyroid, which contains both T4 and T3, is a natural thyroid replacement especially for treating hypothyroidism.