This is Dr. Lam from drlam.com and the Adrenal Fatigue Center.
Many people ask me, how do you know your thyroid’s improving without doing a test?
And the simple answer to that is that you look at your symptoms.
Thyroid health really represents metabolic health.
What does that mean?
Remember, the thyroid is responsible for controlling your body’s metabolism.
How fast your body runs at the basal metabolic rate is accountable by thyroid hormones.
So when your body is low in thyroid function the signs can include fatigue, constipation,
dry skin, and in severe cases losing the one-third, outer one-third of your eyebrows.
Perhaps the most common is fatigue.
And if your body starts to have increasing energy, reduced constipation, and the reversal
of many of these symptoms, then it is a sign that your metabolism is starting to rise again.
Of course, you don’t want to just jump to conclusion that these improvement in symptoms
that are typical of hypothyroidism when reversed is due to the thyroid improving, because you
can use medications and other stimulants including natural compounds, which would be like glandulars
and herbs, to generate similar effect but the underlying thyroid is still not well.
In another words, symptoms management and solving symptoms is not necessarily equal
to recovery of the thyroid if there’s a thyroid problem.
That’s why most doctors, if not all doctors, would want you to do a thyroid blood test.
And it’s very simple to do, it’s not that expensive, and they only need three basic
parameters.
One is called TSH which is called thyroid stimulating hormone.
The other one is a free T3, remember it’s free T3, not just total T3.
And then the last one is called free T4.
These three parameters will be able to give a very good insight and picture to your thyroid
function.
Now in the case of adrenal fatigue these number can be skewed, in the sense that one can have
normal thyroid function numbers and still have adrenal weakness.
And at the same time even the numbers are borderline low or not very normal, you have
to combine with clinical correlation and knowledge to really understand the thyroid function.
A single snapshot of thyroid testing or symptoms qualitative type of report is not sufficient.
And most patients have to be tracked over a period of time.
And if you learn to listen to your body and be really sensitive, and understand what the
body is trying to tell you, then oftentimes you will find the signals and the signs are
there.
Of course if you have both laboratory tests and qualitative signals and signs, that would
be the best.
But even with the best signs and laboratory tests you still need a clinical correlation
and the medical knowledge and usually of your family doctor or a endocrinologist to properly
interpret these results for you, so that you really have a good insight as far as the degree
of thyroid recovery you may have.
But in the absence, you know, of these tools, simply by paying attention to your symptoms
can often be a good indicator of your thyroid health.