Fun with Thyroids

My hubby went to his physician for an annual physical a couple weeks ago (he’s the sort who likes to do that kind of thing whereas I’m the type who would prefer to secretly die of something without knowing anything about it), even though he totally has “white-coat” syndrome and gets stressed out about the thought of possibly having something wrong.  He was having some discomfort in his lower back so they ordered an x-ray.  As a regular practice, they also did some blood work.  This office advertises the attitude that they want to take the whole person into consideration.

However.

They ordered his x-ray first and then due to certain circumstances, he had his blood test the following day (or perhaps it was the second day).  The x-ray came back as no problems, but the blood test came back as having a high TSH level which is the signal that your thyroid is functioning at a low level.  This (obviously) freaked him out even more.

They told him he would need to start taking medication.

He asked them (good boy) if there was a natural remedy – could he exercise more to improve it, eat differently, do anything to help?  Their response?  “No.  The only thing you can do is meds.”

Reeeeeeeeeeeee-heee-heeeally? 

Well, poor sot, he’s married to me so that answer isn’t going to cut it whatsoever.  I began researching about the thyroid and what things affect it.  When I found out what the main issues are that cause low thyroid, I pretty much began freaking out.

Are you ready for this?

Do you know what are the main things that can cause a person to have a low thyroid? 

Let’s begin with the biggest one.  It’s radiation (in the form of x-rays, etc.).

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME.

Way to think whole person, Dr. Dumbdumb.  Did you seriously order an x-ray and then have blood work done?  REALLY?

Secondly, stress.  Good thing my husband wasn’t having complete and total anxiety over going  to the doctor at all.  Yeaaaah.

Also, if you’ve got low iodine levels or low selenium, you run the risk of a low-functioning thyroid.  Another factor is having a high toxin level (which is something the naturopath tested my hubby for a few months ago and he did have an increased level of toxins).

This is also in conjunction with a new “scale” of what is a good TSH level.  A couple years ago, you could have a TSH level of up to about 5.  This year the highest within the range of normal is 3.0.  (And yes, some people are saying those levels are still too high, but there sure are a lot of things going on here.)  One more thing, lack of Vitamin D (hello, winter in the Midwest, that does not actually exist).

So let’s get this straight.  Your thyroid can get wiggidy-wacked if you have a high level of stress, have been irradiated, have higher levels of toxins within your body and have low iodine, selenium and Vitamin D. 

Let’s just go through that checklist there for the hubby and check every single one off. 

So it was no wonder that his levels were coming back above the 3.0 mark.  I told him to go play outside in the newly shining Vitamin D, bought him some food-based selenium, sent him off for a check to the naturopath who gave him the appropriate level of iodine supplementation.  Guess what?  His energy levels have returned and the created problem is beginning to resolve itself.  He'll get his blood retested in a month or so to verify numbers.

If you’ve got a problem with your thyroid or anything else in your body, you should figure out what the system is doing, what will encourage it or damage it, what the auxiliary systems are to that problem system and seek to resolve it through researching those things.  The problem is that many physicians do not have time to go that in depth with a patient.  You have to be a medical doctor combined with a detective and it is much simpler to get your easy kickback from a section of Big Pharma and make people think you’ve solved their problem by passing them their favorite colored pill.

*cough*cholesterol*cough*

The disturbing part is that if I were not the crazy ol’ lady that I am, my hubby would have been on thyroid hormones without a second thought.  Why would that be problematic?  Because your thyroid will continue to produce less and less as you artificially give it more until you have a zero-functioning thyroid.  Let’s think about where we’re going before we run down that road.

Anyway, just a very up close and personal reminder that you are responsible for your body and even though your doctor cares about you, they just may be used to doing it the traditional way that includes pharmaceuticals when you may be able to completely fix a situation by going to the source from a different direction.

Think about it.  Do your research.

Peace, love and think outside the pill,

Ms. Daisy