Clinton Bartok L.AcMaria feels fatigued especially after meals, she is constipated, gets heartburn, is losing hair and has intense sugar cravings. She has a very difficult time losing weight even though she eats well and exercises frequently. After visiting with her doctor and running a blood test to check for hypothyroidism she was told that her thyroid markers were normal, and she needed to relax more and take laxatives for the constipation. Maria was very frustrated with this diagnosis because she has felt this way for some time and it keeps getting worse.Determined to get better and figure out why she feels the way she does Maria sought out an acupuncturist nearby. Her acupuncturist, also practicing functional medicine, immediatly ordered an expanded blood panel and an adrenal stress index. It was discovered that she had high levels of TPO (Thyroid Peroxidase) antibodies, TH1 dominance (high cytotoxic Tcells and natural killer cells), and high cortisol levels. In other words she has Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, an autoimmune disease, and insuline resistance. Maria's situation is all too common. Our lab ranges used to be a lot more narrow 50yrs ago as opposed to now. Our health system is missing Thyroid conditions and insulin resistance as a result. Here are the statistics for Thyroid conditions in the US Hypothyroid-1.75 millionHyperthyroid 275,000Goiter 22 millionThyroid Cancer- 15,000Death due to thyroid cancer 2,00099% of nodules are non-cancerous24:1 females to males90% hypothyroid have Hashimoto’s (and don’t know it)#1 reason is autoimmune disease It is unlikely that the thyroid gland is the only tissue under attack under these circumstances. Physician’s can’t diagnose autoimmune disease in the current western model until it has already attacked the thyroid=Hashimoto's, cartilage=Arthritis, islet cells=Diabetes, myelin sheath=MS etc. Many times patients take more meds for their thyroid but the immune system continues to attack the gland, therefore the symptoms remain or even worsen. The question is why is this happening? It’s because MD’s aren’t running full panels on the thyroid because it doesn’t change the course of treatment. Patients will still continue on Synthroid and Armour and just increase doses as time goes on. It doesn’t change the course of treatment because doctors are not checking their immune system activity. Doctors test TSH and T4 levels on a regular exam but, leave out T3 uptake, total T4, total T3, reverse T3 and TAA/TPO antibodies. Antibodies are the big one with autoimmune hashimotos, but immune cytokines (chemical messengers) are also important to test in order to know what nutritional compounds to give a patient. There are a lot of undiagnosed cases of Hashimoto’s in the US. When I first learned of this and started testing patients, I found that 1/3 of my patients had Hashimoto’s and didn’t know it. Once I began treating them appropriately with Chinese herbs and nutritional compounds, their symptoms and labs improved. Although adequate iodine consumption is important for thyroid hormone production and iodine deficiency being the most common cause of hypothyroidism worldwide, it's important to understand that supplemental use in autoimmune Hashimoto’s is contraindicated. Iodine is the major cofactor and stimulator for TPO. TPO is the enzyme that is under attack with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. Increased iodine intake therefore increases the immune attack on the thyroid and is like throwing gasoline on a fire. This can lead to alternating hyper function autoimmune response destroying the thyroid further, and hypo function. This emphasizes the importance of ordering the proper blood panels to determine the best approach to helping someone overcome this illness that affects so many Americans. Functional medicine deals with the early stages of disease and stresses healthy levels on lab reports rather than pathological levels. To your health, Clinton Bartok L.Ac For more information and to schedule a consultation please contactAcupuncture and Holistic Health CenterDenver, CO Atinfo@acupunctureholistichealthcenter.com
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