You might and you might not watch the Oprah Winfrey show.

You might and you might not even like Oprah,

One thing is for certain though, Oprah commands media attention and she gets it.  When Oprah starts talking health or has Dr Oz on, I am guaranteed to get a hand full of questions about it.  Which is good, I just have to stay up on the goings on in talk show T.V.

It turns out that last week, coupled with my article of a few weeks back where I mentioned iodine and thyroid that I received a number of emails based around thyroid health, treatment and assessment.

So, what I would like to do this week is to give a very broad over view of thyroid health, mainly from the view of an under-active thyroid, or hypo-thyroid.

When one thinks of thyroid they often think of metabolism.  Thyroid function is a major aspect of metabolism and often time’s issues of weight gain can be directly attributed to an under-active thyroid gland.

Other symptoms of under-active thyroid activity are depression, cold hands and feet, constipation, headaches, brittle nails and hair, rough dry skin, menstrual irregularities, decreased memory, low body temperature, fatigue, etc. etc. etc.

When we assess thyroid health in our consultations we look for nutritional relevancy or deficiencies, levels and issues of chemical or heavy metal toxicity, radiation exposure and of course thyroid hormone and thyroid antibody levels.

Back to Oprah.  When Dr Oz was asked about thyroid, he responded that it’s most important that TSH levels be run.  He is right that TSH is important, although a full thyroid panel is what is really important to make sure thyroid levels are looked at in a comprehensive manner.

So what’s in a comprehensive thyroid panel?  Free T3, Free T4, TSH, reverse T3 and thyroid antibodies.  Don’t worry if this sounds foreign to you, I will go over them here shortly.

But first I would like to recommend one very reliable home test you can do that can be relative to thyroid function which is called a basal body temperature test.

One of the effects that thyroid has on metabolism is in regulating heat and energy production, thus measuring ones basal body temperature has historically been a very valid way to signify issues in thyroid function.

Here’s how it goes:

1. Keep a shake down thermometer or electronic basal body thermometer by your bedside so you can take your temperature before getting out of bed in the morning.  (It is important to move as little as possible while taking your temperature.)
2. Upon waking in the morning, take your axillary (armpit) temperature for at least ten minutes.
3. Record your temperature

Repeat these steps for four days.  (Menstruating women should record their temperatures on the second, third, fourth, and fifth days of their period.  Calculate your average temperature for the four days.  A normal metabolic rate will produce a waking temperature of between 97.8 F and 98.2 F.  Temperatures below 97.8 F may indicate, at the very least, sub clinical hypothyroidism.  Temperatures higher than98.6F may reflect hyperthyroidism.

Ok, I guess there is a lot more to be said that I do not have room for, so check back next week where I will explain all the other tests that can be done in a comprehensive thyroid panel and a few more pearls of thyroid health.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 9:45 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.