Do you suffer from fatigue? Hair loss? Weight gain or inability to lose weight? Cold hands and feet? Brittle nails? Constipation issues? If so… you may need a good thyroid workup! So many times doctors ONLY run a TSH. Checking a TSH alone is NOT enough! A couple important things to know and have your doctor check out:
If you are already on thyroid medication… the timing of the blood work is critical. You want to time it so that you take your morning dose of thyroid medication 6 hours BEFORE the blood draw otherwise the results will NOT be accurate.
When having your thyroid evaluated, ask your doctor to run this complete thyroid panel consisting of:
TSH, FREE T3, FREE T4, ANTI-THYROGLOBULIN, THYROID PEROXIDASE, REVERSE T3
For most of my patients who have hypothyroidism I prefer to use Armour Thyroid. This is a prescription based natural thyroid medication that contains standardized amounts of both T3 and T4. It is very important when trying to treat a hypothyroid patient to make sure BOTH T3 and T4 levels are addressed. T3 is the more biologically active hormone in the body and must be at optimal levels in order for your metabolism to be working correctly. However,… If you have a diagnosis of Hashimoto’s… it is BEST to NOT be on Armour Thyroid. This is an autoimmune condition and in the majority of cases taking Armour thyroid can make the situation worse or at the very least… much more challenging to find the correct dosage. Hashimoto patins are best supported with a compounded Sustained Release T3/T4 combination prescription.