This is a guest post from Dr. Brady Hurst, Clinic Director at True Health Labs
Today’s medical standards give little hope for people with hypothyroidism. For those of you with thyroid issues who have gone through the healthcare system, your experience may have gone something like this:
- Feelings of chronic fatigue and weight gain.
- The healthcare “expert” tests only for TSH (hormone released from your pituitary gland to tell your thyroid to work harder) and maybe T4 (the primary inactive hormone your thyroid produces).
- Your TSH level is high.
- A lifetime of synthetic T4 (Levothyroxine) is prescribed with periodic TSH level checks in order to tweak your Levothyroxine.
With all the knowledge we have on the complex interactions of the thyroid on the body and the body on the thyroid, it is unfortunate the above pattern remains typical.
To go deeper,
Table of Contents
AUTOIMMUNITY
Most people with hypothyroidism don’t have a “thyroid problem”, they really have an immune system problem.
Situations can happen where the immune system mistakes the thyroid gland for a foreign invader (like bacteria or viruses). Over time (and not necessarily with symptoms) this can lead to thyroid gland damage and thus hypothyroidism.
These thyroid antibodies (TPO and TGA) can exist for many years before the onset of symptoms (when standard medicine is usually introduced) and can have genetic sensitivity. If you have elevated levels of these antibodies (Hashimoto’s Disease), it is important to get all family members tested early, before the onset of symptoms so that preventative action can be taken..
Hashimoto’s is well known in online communities but what is not readily known is people who test negative for TPO and TGA could still have antibodies to T3 and T4 themselves. This may be the case if you can not tolerate replacement hormone therapy, neither natural nor pharmaceutical.
Where to get tested: TPO and TGA Antibodies | T3 Antibodies and T4 Antibodies
THE GUT
The health of our gut greatly influences our overall health, including the thyroid gland and its function.
Since we could write an entire book on the gut/thyroid connection, I want to make one very important point: only 20% of the T4 the thyroid gland produces becomes active T3 that the body can use to run cellular metabolism correctly. Another 20% of the T4 gets converted into inactive T3 sulfate and T3 acetic acid. These two can act as hormone backup only in the presence of a healthy gut. T3 sulfate and T3 acetic acid are made into active T3 by healthy gut flora.
Having gut symptoms such as bloating, diarrhea, constipation can be a sign of an unhealthy gut, however, it is very common to have an unbalanced gut and have no symptoms at all .
Even though T3 sulfate and T3 acetic acid can not be tested, the health of the gut can including: digestion, absorption, infections, healthy bacteria balance etc. All this can be done with a simple stool test.
Testing: DNA Stool Test (click for Europe) and Leaky Gut Analysis
ENVIRONMENTAL TOXINS
There are about 85,000 chemicals in use in the US. Each year we are exposed to hundreds of new chemicals, many of them being thyroid disrupting chemicals. The key way these chemicals disrupt the thyroid system is by taking the place where active T3 should go on our cells so the T3’s message is never received. This may not been seen in standard lab results. That is why testing for environmental chemicals is crucial in getting to the root case of thyroid disease.
Testing: Environmental Exposure Test Panel
HOMOCYSTEINE AND THYROID
In hypothyroidism, all chemical reactions in the body are slowed. This can become an issue especially with an amino acid called Homocysteine. Homocysteine is damaging to our bodies and can significantly increase the risk of heart disease and strokes. I like to describe homocysteine as “sandpaper” because it irritates everything it contacts.
Vitamin B12, folate, SAM-E (s-adenosylmethionine) and other nutrients are responsible for assuring our bodies don’t overproduce Homocysteine. However, in cases of hypothyroidism, amounts of these nutrients a person needs to maintain healthy levels are much different than the person without thyroid disease.
Testing: Homocysteine Blood Test (click for Europe)
FOOD SENSITIVITY
Food sensitivity can be a trigger and a promoter of hypothyroidism. Don’t mistake sensitivity for allergy (peanut, shellfish, etc.). Certain foods can produce persistent low grade inflammation that can damage the gut function, immune system, brain, and thyroid.
Since most cases of hypothyroidism involve a dysfunctional immune system, testing for food sensitivities can be tricky. Why? Common tests for food sensitivities look at antibodies to foods. The more antibodies you have, the larger inflammatory reaction you’ll have the next time you eat that food.
Those with thyroid related immune system issues may struggle to produce antibodies to those foods creating a false negative result on testing (even though other inflammatory pathways are active). Because of this, I recommend the MRT Food Sensitivity Panel for people with thyroid issues.
The MRT checks to see how much contents white blood cells release when triggered by a certain food. The more the white blood cell empties, the larger assumed reaction. Because MRT does not solely rely on antibodies, it makes it a much more useful food sensitivity test for those with hypothyroidism.
Testing: MRT Food Sensitivity Panel
As important as it is to use mainstream healthcare providers to investigate “grammy award winning” diseases such as thyroid cancer, understanding and finding underlying triggers and promoters of thyroid dysfunction is way out of their league. Did they discuss any of the above with you? Probably not.
Though it is useful to work with a healthcare practitioner who takes time to put the complex puzzle together for you, it is possible to make decisions on your own.
Here is a summary of the suggested lab tests:
- Thyroid Antibodies (antibodies to the thyroid gland) use coupon code DISEASE25 to get 25% OFF
- T3 Antibodies and T4 Antibodies (antibodies to thyroid hormones themselves)
- DNA Stool Test (check for a healthy gut) (click for Europe)
- Leaky Gut Analysis
- Environmental Toxic Exposure Panel
- Homocysteine (commonly elevated in hypothyroidism) (click for Europe)
- MRT Food Sensitivity Panel (click for Canada; click for Europe
Dr Brady Hurst is a Clinic Director at True Health Labs that provides comprehensive advanced lab testing for the thyroid, autoimmunity and hypothyroidism. The lab gives you the freedom to order your own lab tests online without insurance and doctor’s referral.
*Some Lab tests include results explanation. For tests that don’t include this feature you can order a lab tests results explanation by a Functional Medicine Practitioner at the True Health Labs by adding it to your order
The Easiest Way To Test Your Thyroid
If your doctor doesn’t know about, refuses to check your thyroid or order any other tests besides standard thyroid tests like TSH or TSH plus total T4, the easiest way to have your blood work done and get the answers is to order your Thyroid Home Test Kit (use coupon code DISEASE25 to get 25% OFF) online from a private lab.
The best part is you don’t need doctor’s referral or medical insurance and don’t even need to go to the lab (which is important for many people in times of COVID-19). The thyroid test kit will be mailed to you and you mail it back to the lab and access your test results right after they are ready.
All lab tests are easy to order, have FREE shipping (USA, UK, Ireland and Europe, just choose your country on the order page), with results sent directly to you within days. All from the safety of your home.
No going to the lab required.
So, instead of going from one doctor to another, hope (or even fight) for the right tests to be ordered and waste years of your life suffering, you can actually shortcut this exhausting and frustrating process by ordering thyroid tests yourself and get your results explanation by a qualified nurse or lab’s doctor.
This step alone often helps to discover much faster what you don’t know about your thyroid yet and what factors potentially limit your recovery from hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s disease. Most importantly it can help to shift your thyroid treatment focus to where it should be in order to become hypothyroid and autoimmune symptom-free.
If it’s something you need and are willing to do, the lab I recommend for thyroid and autoimmune testing is offering 25% off on all lab testing. You just need to use the discount code DISEASE25 at the check out.
Remember that if your current thyroid treatment doesn’t work consider starting with a proper thyroid testing and learn why your thyroid is out of balance before you do anything else.
Get Your Thyroid Test Kit HERE
P.S. There are many other tests that can be ordered online and sent to the lab for testing. This includes hormones, women’s health, diabetes, cortisol and many others. This lab offers FREE shipping (USA, UK, Ireland and Europe). You can check out other tests here
Don’t forget to use the discount code: DISEASE25 to get 25% off
P.P.S. Do you like what you read? Get my FREE Hypothyroidism Diet Guide and FREE Hypothyroidism Seminar: The Right And Wrong Ways To Heal and get your FREE probiotic, protein, skin cream and pain-relief cream here
My name is Marina Gutner, PhD. I am a researcher, medical writer, Author of forthcoming series on thyroid, hypothyroidism and autoimmune disease. I was diagnosed with autoimmune Hashimoto’s disease and hypothyroidism in 2004 and soon got so sick that I was unable to function. It took me years of research to find how to recover from severe adrenal insufficiency, stop Hashimoto’s and reduce my high dose of thyroid medication. On my blog I show you exactly how I did it so you can learn how to get started. Read more in 
