Is your doctor having trouble getting your thyroid medication adjusted properly?  Do you need to change the dose of your medication every time you have a thyroid lab test?  Do you continue to have symptoms of low thyroid function even though your lab results are normal?  If any of the above statements are true, you may want to get tested for Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis.  This is an autoimmune condition which is now the most common cause of hypothyroidism.  The immune system actually starts to attack the thyroid gland, which causes it to malfunction.  A simple blood test to check for thyroid antibodies can detect this problem.

I believe that the rise in this condition may be caused by a number of factors including exposure to environmental toxins and the dramatic alteration of our intestinal flora ( a very important part of our immune system) that occurs with antibiotic use.

What can be done about this?

The therapies which have been most successful for my patients include those that normalize immune function, aid indetoxification and reduce inflammation.  I may also change the type of thyroid medication to most effectively discourage antibody production.

What I see with effective treatment of this condition is that hypothyroid symptoms improve, need for thyroid medication stabilizes and immune function normalizes so that the likelihood of developing other autoimmune conditions is much reduced.