Subtle, Undiagnosed Symptoms Could Be Signs Of
Subclinical Hypothyroidism
Author: Mark Hyman, M.D.

Do you have vague, uncomfortable symptoms with no obvious
cause?

If so, you might be one of the 45 million people who have a
chronic medical problem that is both under-diagnosed and
under-treated.

Think about it…

Do you feel tired all the time and have trouble concentrating?

Is your skin dry? Do you retain fluid?

Has your sex drive gone downhill?

Are your hands and feet always cold?

Is your hair thinning, your voice a little hoarse, your
fingernails a little thick?

Is your cholesterol high?

Do you have trouble losing weight or have you gained weight
recently?

Are you depressed or anxious?

Do you have really bad PMS or trouble getting pregnant?

Do your muscles feel weak, crampy, and painful?

Most of these symptoms aren't severe enough to send you to the
emergency room.

In fact, we usually accept them as a normal part of life -- and
so do conventional doctors. They don't view these symptoms as
serious.

But they certainly affect your quality of life. And they can
lead to more serious problems, including heart attacks and
diabetes.

So what causes these symptoms?

It's called hypothyroidism.

In this condition, your overall metabolic gas pedal has slowed
down because the master gland that controls it, your thyroid
gland, isn't functioning at full speed.

If your thyroid slows down, every other organ and system in
your body slows down, including your brain, heart, gut, and
muscles.

Thyroid function is really a gray area. But most doctors view
it as black or white.

Conventional doctors tend to believe that you can diagnose
hypothyroidism only through one blood test, called TSH, and that
you only qualify for treatment if your blood level is over 5.0.

But this ignores a whole group of people who have what we call
subclinical hypothyroidism. It is called that because doctors
have a hard time diagnosing it.

Subclinical hypothyroidism may trigger many low-grade symptoms,
like those described above. Yet it causes just slight changes in
your blood tests.

In fact, it often only shows up in tests that most doctors
never perform.

I see this all the time in my medical practice: Patients come
in with vague complaints that alone may not seem too
significant.

But when you put them all together, they tell an important
story.

For example, take the 73-year-old woman who had fatigue,
sluggishness, poor memory, slight depression, dry skin,
constipation, and mild fluid retention.

Her doctor brushed her off.

But I believe that most of the symptoms of aging that we see
are really symptoms of abnormal aging or dysfunction that is
related to imbalances in our core body systems.

So I act as a medical detective to find clues where no one else
is looking and put together a story about why a person feels
sick. This gets them the answers and tools they need to get
well.

In this case, we found that my patient had a sluggish thyroid.
Although she didn't meet all the conventional criteria for
hypothyroidism, she had an autoimmune reaction that caused her
thyroid to function poorly.

So we replaced her missing thyroid hormone, supported her
nutrition, and made some simple lifestyle changes. She soon felt
alert, energetic, and youthful -- and all of her other symptoms
cleared up.

Another patient was a 28-year-old chronically constipated
woman.

She also felt tired in the mornings, always needed coffee, and
had trouble staying up at night.

She thought this was normal. She didn't know she had a sluggish
thyroid.

But as soon as we supported her nutrition and eliminated her
food allergens (particularly gluten), which create inflammation
and interfere with thyroid function, she improved.

Low thyroid function affects people of all ages.

It is very common because of our exposure to toxins such as
heavy metals and pesticides, nutritional deficiencies, and
chronic stress, all of which interfere with our thyroid
function.

And your thyroid isn't just linked to the symptoms described
here.

It is the master metabolism hormone that controls the function
and activity of almost every organ and cell in your body -- so
when it is sluggish or slow, everything slows down.

Fortunately, we can diagnose and treat problem, with a
comprehensive functional medicine approach that uses the
concepts of UltraWellness.

First, I determine if you have any of the chronic symptoms of
hypothyroidism or diseases associated with it, such as:

•sluggishness in the morning
•poor concentration and memory
•low-grade depression
•dry skin
•hoarse voice
•thinning hair
•coarse hair
•being very sensitive to cold and having cold hands and feet
•low body temperature
•muscle pain
•weakness or cramps
•low sex drive
•fluid retention
•high cholesterol

Next, I do a physical examination for clues to a
low-functioning thyroid.

I check for a low body temperature. Anything lower than 97.6
degrees F may be a sign of hypothyroidism.

I might also find fluid retention, a thick tongue, swollen
feet, swollen eyelids, an enlarged thyroid gland, excessive
earwax, a dry mouth, coarse skin, low blood pressure, or
decreased ankle reflexes. I might even find that the outer third
of the eyebrows is gone.

These are all physical signs that can be put together along
with other symptoms to form a story of what is causing the
problem.

Then I perform specific blood tests that give me a full picture
of thyroid problems.

Finally, I design a nutrition, lifestyle, and supplement
regimen and hormone replacement plan as needed to help people
regain their health.

In my next article, I will discuss the major preventable -- and
mostly hidden -- factors that slow your thyroid down. And I'll
tell you more about the special tests I use to diagnose thyroid
problems, as well as how to specifically treat low thyroid
function.


About The Author: Mark Hyman, M.D. is a pioneer in functional
medicine, practicing physician and best-selling author. A sneak
preview of his book "The UltraSimple Diet" is available. See
The UltraWellness Blog for more on Hypothyroidism:
http://www.ultrawellness.com/blog/