HORMONES - THYROID PANEL

It’s an unfortunate fact that chronic illness is poorly served by the acute-care medical model. This is particularly true for thyroid dysfunction and disease where there are many subtleties, complex interconnected interactions within biological systems and shades of grey in the clinical presentation.

The thyroid is intricately involved in the complex web of our metabolism, and is extremely sensitive to even very minor imbalances in other organ systems or areas of physiology.

Every cell in the body has a thyroid hormone receptor and we must consider thyroid dysfunction when we see symptoms such as fatigue, depression, coldness, constipation, poor skin, headaches, PMS, dysmenorrhea, fluid retention, weight gain, anxiety/panic attacks, decreased memory and concentration, muscle and joint pain, and a low sex drive. 

In many cases, it is possible to correct thyroid function without ever targeting the thyroid gland directly with therapeutic interventions, but in order to do so it’s necessary to have a solid understanding of the factors that affect and alter thyroid function and physiology all the way from the hypothalamus to the thyroid hormone receptor on the cell.

Serum tests for the thyroid are a very effective way to assess metabolic fluctuations,  unfortunately doctors rarely carry out a full screen and so only tell you part of the story and some markers, such as the antibodies are often not done.

These are the markers that must be done before assessing thyroid function:

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