People with several different types of disorders, such as migraine headaches, Raynaud’s Syndrome, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and heart arrhythmia are likely to have something in common: low thyroid function. Two recent studies suggest why this may be so.
One study found that even a slightly underactive thyroid gland causes endothelial dysfunction. That is, it interferes with the function of cells lining blood vessels. These cells respond to hormonal cues that help blood vessels relax and contract; therefore, they are important for healthy blood pressure and normal blood flow.
Another study found that low thyroid function interferes with the body’s electrophysiology—the functions it performs via electrical signaling, such as conducting nerve impulses and generating and regulating heart rhythm. Resulting nerve damage can cause muscle weakness, loss of sensation, twitching, tingling, burning, and weakness.
If you have one of these conditions, it’s a good idea to make sure your thyroid function is normal. Make sure your testing is done right. Most doctors will screen for thyroid problems using a blood test called Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH). There is a problem with that, though. People can have normal TSH results and still have low thyroid hormone function. They might not be converting T4, the inactive form, to T3, the active form. Or they may have thyroid hormone resistance, which may be due to impaired transport or impaired interaction with the thyroid hormone receptors. These are conditions that many traditional doctors refuse to recognize.
One easy and reliable way to check to see if you do have low thyroid hormone function is to take your body temperature. If it is consistently low (below 98.5 F., or 36.94 C, but typically lower than 97.8 F, or 36.56 C), there is a good chance that you have low thyroid hormone function. (For detailed instructions for how to take body temperature correctly, see “How are body temperatures measured?” on my website.)
You can help your body get back to normal by taking supplemental T3, the active form of thyroid hormone and a prescription drug. Taking T3 will help normalize your body temperature, and improve overall function,
including endothelial function and electrophysiology.
Your doctor can call us at 800.420.5801 to get more information about how to use T3, along with nutritional and herbal support for thyroid problems, and to discuss your individual case. You can also use our website to find the health care practitioner closest to you who is trained in T3 treatment.
REFERENCES
Eslamian F, Bahrami A, Aghamohammadzadeh N, et al. Electrophysiologic changes in patients with untreated primary hypothyroidism. J Clin Neurophysiol. 2011 Jun;28(3):323-8.
Lu M, Yang CB, Gao L, et. al. Mechanism of subclinical hypothyroidism accelerating endothelial dysfunction (Review). Exp Ther Med. 2015 Jan;9(1):3-10.
Palumbo CF, Szabo RM, Olmsted SL. The effects of hypothyroidism and thyroid replacement on the development of carpal tunnel syndrome. J Hand Surg Am. 2000 Jul;25(4):734-9.
Shiri R. Hypothyroidism and carpal tunnel syndrome: A meta-analysis. Muscle Nerve. 2014 Dec;50(6):879-83.
My diagnosis of MS is now questionable by my dr. See a metabolic dr. For pregnant women that started me in Armour thyroid 15mg. Tried 30 but heart felt like it would come out. And estriol/prigesterone which some ms study shows helps. Nothing working for me. Pain all over body. Feel like I am dying. Temp. Always shows Bout 97 something. I can get the exact temp.
Yes, low temps can easily explain a lot of symptoms and are often reversible.
All three of my grown children take thyroxine. How do I push up ? Hair falling out. Two daughters and a son. All still sick on maximum thyroxine. One has hosashminos. They go crazy with just a bad batch or any disturbance of Med.at all.hiq do I push updisage or is Armour alright. Ms symptoms began at same time I was told to start thyrioxine. Could not tolerate for heart beat. Stopped! Pain and problems continued and falls and degenerate spinal cord. Was diagnosed by MS center of Atlanta with primary progressive ms. Now that dr. After tysybry and a long history of pain days my brain shows no ms! I feel something horrible is wrong. Inflammation. All over my body. Thyroid is low and need more Med but heart almost comes optic oft. My children annoy function for their thyrouds but cannot go at all w/o maximum thyroxine at . Two overweight and one underweight. Beautiful children but very emotional and can hardly function it make theirs elves go. One psychologist ax one lawyer and one real estate developer. Sons two children hurt all over and back and leg pain all the time. Grand parents with asthma died and my mother and numerous family members died with Leukemia. Father died with carotid artery strije at 73. Brother with liver disease. I have fatty liver and so does my son. Sons hurts all over and has cervical spinal cord disease.
Hi Dianne,
Sorry to hear about how much difficulty you and your family are having. It’s true that low body temperatures tend to run in families. People can have low temperatures even when they have low tsh on lots of Thyroxine. The idea is to get the temperature up. Frequently that requires T3-only therapy. I don’t recommend Armour for that purpose because it has T4 (see wilsonssyndrome.com for more info)