Are my symptoms telling me that I am more than just stressed and overworked?
Do you often feel?
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Tired, even after having 8+ hours sleep a night, and feel the need for a nap during the day?
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Struggle to lose weight?
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Suffer from Mood swings, depression or anxiety?
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Experience muscle or joint pain?
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Have dry/cracked skin, brittle nails and hair loss?
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Cold hand & feet?
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Poor concentration, memory issues or brain fog?
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Constipation?
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Swelling of the neck, snoring?
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Hormonal imbalance i.e. irregular menstruation, PMS, infertility or low sex-drive.
The above symptoms may all be signs that your thyroid isn’t functioning optimally. The thyroid is like the spark plug for energy production. It controls the rate of energy production, it maintains your body temperature, helps regulate a child’s growth and profoundly affects brain chemistry influencing both moods & emotions.
It’s hard to believe that this small butterfly-shaped gland that wraps around your windpipe below the Adam’s apple can impact your health so significantly yet, if your thyroid is not functioning properly the chances are that neither are you.
In 2017–18 there were 5.2 million TSH tests and 2.5 million TFT tests performed in Australia and these have been rising year on year. MBS data also indicates that 38% of Australians undergoing a TSH test had a repeat TSH test within 12 months. TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) is the most commonly performed test in Australia to determine thyroid function and a thyroid peroxidase antibody assay is generally recommended to determine or confirm a diagnosis of autoimmune thyroiditis.
To break that down a little further It is estimated that approximately 10%-15% of Australians suffer from a thyroid condition such as Hashimoto’s or Graves disease yet, many have no idea that they have it or that it is impacting their health. These are people that more than likely haven’t been tested or their results have come back within the acceptable test ranges.
The auto-immune component of thyroiditis means that after a blood test (thyroid peroxidase antibody assay) the results have shown that antibodies are present. What this means is that in the body the antibodies are working on the thyroid gland, stimulating it to release excess thyroid hormone T4 & T3, this means that the thyroid is working overtime.
Hashimoto’s is similar in that it is also an auto-immune condition however, instead of stimulating the thyroid gland to produce excess hormones the antibodies slow or stop the thyroid from producing thyroid hormone.
The standard treatment for an underactive thyroid is thyroid medication and whilst the medication may normalize bloods unfortunately, they do not address the reason that your thyroid has been depressed or over functioning in the first place.
As natural medicine practitioners we look at the whole body and address issues that arise that may be impacting your thyroid function e.g. poor blood sugar metabolism, adrenal issues, irregular immune system function or hormonal imbalances.
With nutritional support, lifestyle changes and when needed some herbal remedies we can start addressing the underlying causes of thyroid dysfunction which offers our patient’s not only symptom relief but the chance of ongoing true health.