“Dr. King, I am taking my thyroid medication, but I am still having symptoms. Why?” I get asked this a lot! Most of the time, this is coming from patients who have been taking their thyroid medication for YEARS, but are still suffering from fatigue, weight gain, hair loss/thinning, digestive disorders, and depression.
Why are you still having thyroid gland symptoms, even if you are on medication? The answer is not an easy one. There can be numerous causes, let me start with the most common cause: you are not a true hypothyroid patient!
That is right, you do not have a true hypothyroid condition.
Your doctors have diagnosed you improperly from the get go. This is what shows up in my clinic majority of the time. If your doctors do not run the right tests, this is going to happen. One big reason a thyroid gland ‘becomes’, notice I say becomes, hypothyroid is due to a dysfunction of the adrenal-hypothalamic-pituitary axis. Big words, I know! What that means is, your adrenal glands are not communicating with your brain properly, and the end result is your hypothalmic-pituitary axis does not release the proper amounts of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH). When this happens, you will appear to have a low functioning thyroid, and on medication you go.
BUT…
Did your doctor run a saliva test (looking at your cortisol rhythm and load) to determine how well your adrenal glands were working? Majority of the time, the doctors have not. In the medical model, saliva tests do not mean much to your primary care physician or endocrinologist because they do not have a medication to improve the adrenal-hypothalamic-pituitary feedback loop.
Yet, you are prescribed your medication (Synthroid, Levothyroxine, Armour, etc.) and told to come back and re-check your blood test in a few months.
If your doctors have not ran an adrenal test in order to determine how well they are working, this is ONE big piece of your health puzzle that needs to be figured out.
Stay tuned for reason #2, where I explain how the liver plays an integral part in your hormone conversion.
Would you like to schedule a time to speak and talk about your health condition? If so, please call my staff at (866) 375-4641 to schedule your complimentary phone consultation.
