I get requests on a regular basis to help people get their thyroid hormones balanced. Most of them are women as they are generally more susceptible to hypothyroid. By far the most common complaint I hear is, “My doctor said my thyroid test came back normal but I don’t feel normal.” When they go back to their doctor to insist they are not “normal,” they are sometimes written a prescription for an antidepressant as the doctor quickly scurries out of the exam room.
So, you get your thyroid test back and the “doctor” says you are fine. You know you are not “fine” so what are you to do? Here are five reasons that you have hypothyroid even though the standard test says you are “fine.”
1. You could be producing enough hormone but your body cannot convert it into the active form. Your thyroid produces mainly T4. It is inactive and must be converted in the cell membranes into the active form, T3. This issue is usually caused by high cortisol and inflammation.
2. You could be producing enough hormone, your body is converting it to the active form, but too much is being bound to proteins making it inactive. The thyroid hormones are transported by a protein called thyroid binding globulin (TBG). When TBG levels are too high, the thyroid hormones cannot enter the cells. This is usually caused to too much estrogen. Clear out excess estrogen with cruciferous vegetables and DIM.
3. You could be producing enough hormone, your body is converting it to the active form, but you don’t have enough TBG. It sounds counterintuitive but too little TBG, meaning too much thyroid hormone, will actually cause your cells to become resistant to the hormones. Think about the heel of your foot building up a callous. The cells build up a callous to the thyroid hormones. This is usually caused by too much testosterone.
4. You thyroid works just fine, but the signaling gland, the pituitary, isn’t functioning properly. The pituitary “tells” the thyroid to produce thyroid hormones. If the pituitary is not functioning properly because of stress, high blood sugar, infection, or another reason, it will not send out enough signal for the thyroid. Therefore, the thyroid will not produce enough hormone.
5. The thyroid works fine, the pituitary works fine, but your cells are not taking in the hormones. All your lab test will come back normal in this case and there is no way to test whether or not your cells are resistant to your thyroid hormones. This issue is usually caused by chronic stress and high cortisol levels.
Maybe your doctor has listened to you and does write you a prescription. Ninety nine times out of a hundred, you will get Synthroid, which is 100% T4. When you return to say you still do not feel right, you will get an increase in dose. This pattern will continue until you begin to have side effects from the increasingly high dose of synthetic drug.
Unfortunately, most traditional doctors will not look deeper into the issue. They continue to increase the dose. If they would simply pick up a book, stop learning “medicine” from the cute little pharmaceutical sales rep pushing a drug, and actually learn something new that wasn’t standard practice in the 1970s that has been handed down from teacher to student for forty years maybe people can get some relief.
Oh for got to say this I even at the point of buying some diet pills just to get me some energy this is how tired I am .is is a good thing to do
Hi I have been on thyroid pills for most of my life.was out of my pills for about a month and a half doctor wouldn’t give me a Refill until I got my blood work done.test came back normal.I have been feeling so tired and I can’t if get out of bed half of the time.I have put on alot of weight no energy to do anything anymore.i get so tired all the time.not thinking right at all.i am 59 i feeling very under the weather alot.i really need to find out what is wrong with me.i stay at home all the time i never felt so tired i am to the point that i don’t really care about myself anymore.what do I do.thanks so much for listening to me.
Christiahe, I am 58 and am in the exact same boat as you are. I haven’t been on thyroid pills that long, almost 2 yrs. and I am on the lowest dose possible. I feel exactly like you do. No energy, could sleep my life away, gaining weight no matter what I do, brain is always in a fog. Doctor is sending me for a blood test too but if my thyroid comes back normal , he won’t up the dose and I don’t even want to be on the pills ( 0.025 mgs) levothyroxine because they don’t do a damn thing. Told doc all my symtems , itchy skin too, and he just said if my tests come back normal, it’s not your thyroid. Boy, I wish he could read this article, because it CAN be your thyroid and upping the synthetic thyroid does not help!!
I’ve literally had enough had the depression stamp smashed on my head by too many uneducated g.p,s
Dear gp
I had and still have hypothyroidism for over 25 years I know my own body
I know have depression and no longer want to live thanks to you always telling me I’m depressed
Hello , I have been taking synthroid for over 30 years and have never felt any different just push myself every day. Have held jobs, raised two boys, handled two houses, stayed physically active but always tired. I am hypothyroid and think that nothing will ever help me. Dr just goes by the numbers……
I’M GOBSMACKED! AFTER RELYING ON A SPECIALIST TO TELL ME OR GIVE ADVICE, AFTER HAVING A DOCTOR TELL ME I HAVE GOITER, BUT MY THYROID FUNCTIONS NORMAL, THAT IT’S “UP TO YOU IF YOU WANT MEDICATION OR NOT”…DOESN’T SAY WHY, DOESN’T SAY WHAT SO I CAN LOOK IT UP. DOESN’T EXPLAIN A DARN THING. TYPICAL TODAY. AND THIS WAS FROM THE SPECIALIST IN THE ENDOCRINOLOGY WING WHO SEEMED NICE AND UNDERSTANDING DOING THE PROCEDURES, BUT THEN COMES UP EMPTY HANDED LATER ON AS TO WHAT TO DO AND HOW TO PROCEED. THE DOCTOR DIDN’T EVEN SAY ANYTHING ABOUT BUYING SOME BOOKS, JUST EXPECTS ME TO WALK OUT THE DOOR WITH A YES OR NO ANSWER ABOUT TAKING MEDS SHE DOESN’T BOTHER TELLING ME THEY’D EVEN BE. SHE DID SAY I DONT HAVE HYPER NOR HYPO, SO WHAT THE MOTHER HELL DO I HAVE, OTHER THAN NORMAL THYROID AND GOITER, WHICH IF I READ ENOUGH, ALL STATE THE SAME THING, GOITER MEANS I MUST HAVE HYPER OR HYPO, OTHERWISE IT WOULDN’T BE GOITER!!!!!???!!!! I’M SO PISSED I COULD SHIT NAILS.
My drs keep telling me my labs are normal. I have hashimotos and not on any meds. My tsh are at a 3.1 but feel awful. Everytime I go to the endrocronologist they tell me my symptoms are related to my diabetes which some of my symptoms but not all I am just tired of feeling this way and want to feel better.
Hi I have goiter but my blood reports are normal but I have symptoms of hyper thyroidism can any one suggest me.
This makes me want to cry. I am from the US.. where I use to be able to get Armour Thyroid. It worked for me so well. I was able to function. I moved to The Netherlands because I got married to a Dutch man. I do like it here, but failed to understand Europe’s Doctors view on caring if a person is well or not in their care.
Now In the US its not covered under insurance but. It was only 11 dollars a month. for Meds that is not bad at all. Its affordable. and it was WORKING! Now I am almost being laughed at when I beg for it.. I haven’t been on it for over a year now.. and I can Tell I am different.. I can barely do ONE thing a day without feeling like I need a weeks worth of sleep.. I am tired All the time.. I want my life back. And I know this medication will HELP me. I KNOW it will, but now I can’t get it because they are to stubborn and greedy to let the Meds we need be given.
What is wrong with these people?… I mean they go into medicine to HELP people right?? Why would you do things so the people DON’T get help?? I don’t understand this at all.
I wish they would open their eyes. SO many of us could be functioning better and working jobs if we weren’t tired like this all the time. We Need help. I need help. I can barely think up conversations at night because my brain gets so tired.
We need a Hero Doctor to help us in Europe. I KNOW this Med works.. I have been on it! Where are the Doctors that Care!?
I have been in and out of my doctors for the past 6 months now having to give blood for my thyroid gland. When I first went they did a full cbc the first reading was 5.7 then it was 7.4 then 7.2 then 5.4 and this time 5.4 again. Can someone plz help and let me know what this means and also I have hair loss weight loss low sex drive and quite moody ???? Thank u