Do you take Synthroid? Armour? Cytomel?

Synthroid is the 4th most prescribed medication in the United States, so there are probably many of you who said yes.

How do you feel???

Did you initially feel really great and then many of the symptoms- the tiredness, weight gain and irritability, crept back in?

Have you been bouncing back and forth between different medications and dosages trying to find the one that will relieve your symptoms and give you your life back? Have you found it yet?

If you haven't, here's something to consider: 90% of patients with hypothyroidism have a subset of hypothyroidism called Hashimoto's Autoimmune Thyroid.

What's that????

Hashimoto's is a condition where the body makes antibodies to its own thyroid tissue. Your body for some reason thinks your thyroid is a foreign invader and needs to be destroyed.

Since Hashimoto's in an immune problem and not a thyroid problem, thyroid-hormone replacement medications like Synthroid are a stop-gap measure, making up for the deficient thyroid hormone, but not addressing the immune system dysfunction that is causing the thyroid hormone to be low in the first place. This is why many people on these drugs bounce back & forth between different formulations & dosages, but don't seem to get any lasting relief.

How do you know if you have Hashimoto's? If you feel worse on bio-identical hormone formulations, like Armour, you may be making antibodies to your thyroid. Symptom-wise, a strong clue that you may have Hashimoto's is if you have hyper AND hypothyroid symptoms. Do you sometimes have heart palpitations, insomnia, night sweats, nervousness or inward trembling and other times feel tired, sluggish, have cold hands & feet, gain weight easily, are constipated and feel depressed with lack of motivation?

A diagnosis of Hashimoto's can also be confirmed with a blood test. If antibodies to the thyroid are found, this confirms a diagnosis of Hashimoto's. However, because it is an immune disorder, the presence of antibodies depends on how well the immune system is functioning at the time of the blood test. It can sometimes take 2-3 tests over the course of a couple months to confirm the diagnosis of Hashimoto's one way or the other.

Once Hashimoto's is diagnosed, what can you do to feel better? Well the good news is that this condition can be managed well completely naturally. Stay tuned for my next article where I will talk about this in more detail.