B1 Oct. 30–Nov. 5, 2015
With the right treatment it is possible to heal thyroid problems and, unless the gland has been severely damaged, you won’t need medication for the rest of your life.
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Each person really has to be evaluated in a really personalized way. Raphael Kellman, integrative medicine doctor and thyroid specialist
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Why Common Thyroid Tests and Treatments Don’t Work for Some Patients By Conan Milner | Epoch Times Staff
T
he thyroid gland regulates many bodily functions, playing a key role in metabolism, growth, hormones, immunity, detoxification, and so much more. Located in front of the neck just below the Adam’s apple, the thyroid is so critical to our health that when it’s compromised many different symptoms can result, such as obesity, low energy, hypertension, hair loss, difficulty concentrating, frequent infections, and constipation just to name a few. PRAPASSONG/ISTOCK
The symptoms of a low thyroid, like fatigue and difficulty losing weight, are sometimes dismissed as stress or normal aging.
There are unbelievable alternatives to the synthetic hormones. Annette Schippel, chiropractic physician and functional endocrinology specialist
Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey suggests that about 1 in 300 Americans suffers from a low functioning thyroid, known as hypothyroidism. But some doctors believe the actual number is much higher. One such physician is Dr. Raphael Kellman, an integrative medicine practitioner in New York City who specializes in thyroid disorders. Kellman said we’re in the middle of a “thyroid epidemic,” but that routine blood tests fail to see it. “One of the reasons why the extent of the epidemic is not being appreciated is because the routine tests do pick up a lot of people, but it’s also missing a significant number,” he said. A Misleading Test To diagnose a thyroid disorder, doctors primarily look to a pea-sized gland in the brain—the pituitary—for answers. The gold standard to determine thyroid problems is a blood test to measure how much thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) the pituitary gland excretes into the bloodstream. Think of TSH as a message of encouragement. When the thyroid isn’t producing enough hormones, the pituitary sends TSH in hopes of kicking the thyroid into gear. A TSH level that is higher than normal indicates that the thyroid is failing to respond to the pituitary’s message because it is too weak to meet the body’s needs. A TSH test veri-
fies the problem, thyroid hormones are prescribed to compensate for the underproductive gland, and TSH drops to a normal range because the pituitary is satisfied with hormone levels. That’s how it’s supposed to work anyway. But Kellman said there are many patients who exhibit several classic symptoms of a low thyroid, but may still show a normal TSH level. He said the TSH test is “terribly misleading” because it frequently misrepresents what is happening in the thyroid and the pituitary. “That’s why there are an untold number of people walking around with unexplained fatigue, unexplained brain fog, and difficulty losing weight even though they’re following a good diet. These people sense intuitively that there is something wrong with their thyroid, but it’s not being picked up. That’s why they go from doctor to doctor sometimes for years.” Chemical Toxicity Most diagnosed cases of hypothyroidism in the United States are due to an autoimmune disorder called Hashiomoto’s thyroiditis—a condition in which the immune system actually attacks the thyroid gland. But Kellman suggests that there are other causes of hypothyroidism that do not exhibit the elevated TSH levels doctors are looking for.
See Thyroid on B7