How Low Thyroid Functions Cuts Your Longevity

It's absolutely true!

So glad you could join me in discussing the subtle effects of aging on our hormones, especially that sneaky little thyroid gland!

A little disclaimer here, please understand that by offering the following information I am in NO WAY establishing a patient-physician relationship, I'm not making a diagnosis for YOU, and I'm not suggesting that you quit taking your meds just ‘cause I SAID SO online. Okey dokey?

One of the most unsuspecting cause of many chronic problems I see in my office is actually due to low thyroid functions (hypothyroidism). That's because the gland is responsible for mimicking over 65 major symptoms of illness! Left untreated, it affects the metabolism of every cell in your body and will definitely ruin any plans you may have in place to help you live a long and healthy life span.

A weak thyroid can sabotage your best laid out plans and cause errors in treatment as well. For instance, treating only the frequent upper respiratory illness with antibiotics while missing the underlying cause of hypothyroidism will continue to weaken your body further leading to chronic fatigue, a poor sense of well-being and worsens your ability to think and even remember!

One of the oldest methods of testing for weak thyroid functions is known as the Barnes Basal Body Temperature Test. It goes like this:

Put an axillary (armpit) thermometer by your bedside at night and make sure that you shake it down to the lowest temperature reading. In the morning and before getting out of bed or moving around, put the thermometer under your armpit for 10 minutes and lie very, very still. Record your readings for at least 3 mornings in a row. The normal readings are 97.8 to 98.2. If yours are lower than this and you have the classic symptoms which I will review with you now, then take all of this information to your doctor and get tested.

If you are a woman that still has her cycles, make sure you do this when you are not on your cycle as this will affect your temperatures. Do it immediately after your cycle or during the final days of your cycle like days 3,4,5. Don't do it in the middle of your cycle or you will get the rising temperatures seen with ovulation which is one of the ways we tell women to check when they are ovulating to improve their chances off getting pregnant.

This test was developed by Broda O. Barnes, MD, PhD who during his illustrious career spanning over half a century published more than 100 papers on thyroid literature in well respected and reputable journals. Dr Barnes correlated the temperatures of over 2,000 individuals with their basal metabolic rates and compared those numbers to the patient's standard laboratory tests. He discovered that there was a much higher correlation of low metabolic rates and clinical hypothyroidism using the basal body temperature test than with any other testing method available.

Of course, tests have become more sensitive and sophisticated since then. But there is still great debate and controversy in the literature as to where the cutoffs for normal should begin. For me and according to what I have learned, I aim to optimize the TSH to 1.0, and most definitely no greater than 2.0-2.5.

The TSH is the measure of the brain's signal to stimulate the thyroid gland into action. TSH stands for thyroid stimulating hormone. The higher it goes, the harder the brain has to work to stimulate the gland. I don't want a screaming brain, in other words. A soft whisper will do just fine...

Even if the standard labs are normal (as there are many physicians still using conventional TSH values that go all the way to 5.0 before they 'make the call' and label the condition hypothyroidism) the temperature test is one of the most reliable markers for you to detect this. In fact, many symptoms of this condition will respond and improve with a rising temperature towards normal.

Did you know that hypothyroidism is one of the strongest contributors to a high cholesterol and triglyceride levels?

Did you think it could be possible that a link exists between abnormal fluids accumulating in your body, the inability to think clearly and remember, erratic periods, anemia or osteoporosis?

YES! All of these seemingly unrelated problems can be traced back to that silly little thyroid gland in your neck shutting down! Underlying all of those chronic problems is hypothyroidism, which affects EVERY major organ and profoundly influences every cell's metabolism in every part of your body.

There is no clear cut hypothyroidism syndrome and that is why it can mimick 64 major symptoms that make up the bulk of the visits that i get in my primary care practice. Confusing? You bet!! Everybody gets a baseline exam for this problem at my office.

For instance, if you have been chronically treated with antibiotics for recurrent infections in your life (especially upper respiratory types) this may be due to weak thyroid function because the thyroid controls certain immune functions.

If you have suffered from chronic anemia and cold extremities or excessive fatigue (all of which a re universal symptoms of low thyroid function) you need to get checked.

There are 3 stages to the failing thyroid. The first stage, grade 3, is subclinical hypothyroidism. Here you may notice your energy levels are low and your mood depressed a little. The second stage, grade 2, shows up with symptoms of dry skin, coarse hair, deeper fatigue, constipation, but the standard blood tests may still look normal. Finally, in grade one, your symptoms are obvious with full blown dry skin, extreme weakness, coarse hair, constipation, lethargy (slug), poor memory, difficulty with concentrating, constant cold sensations, slowing speech and weight gain. The labs at this point begin to show up abnormal, finally!

The thyroid shuts down subtly and in stages, much like guys going through andropause than ladies through menopause which can be pretty abrupt and hideous in most women. So in a clinical eye that maybe isn't looking keenly at your developing picture it can be easy to miss. Those sprinklings of mildly annoying symptoms can gradually turn into an avalanche of illness over time.

In my opinion, it is far better to treat your underlying problem than the symptoms that it causes. For example, I can assure you that many of the prescriptions for anti-depressants are unnecessary if you address a grade 3 patient with thyroid replacement prior to stigmatizing prescriptions of prozac and labeling them with a psychiatric imbalance. Working backwards, it would be also prudent if a diagnosis of depression has been made, to check for thyroid problems especially if there is a family history or a lack of responds to the anti depressants.

Thank you for stopping by and reading about this most interesting subject. Next week I will complete the study and discuss more symptoms and subtle findings with you that may point to a possible failing thyroid as the cause of so much distress and symptoms in your life.

Please feel free to leave a message or comment below and please become a fan and sign up to my feed. I publish regularly and would hate for you to miss anything. Make sure to review my other articles on the subject

For now, screen yourself with the morning temperatures, print out this report and visit your doctor to get a discussion going.

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About the Author: Dr. Ana Hernandez is the editor/publisher of The Youthful Aging Center's Medical Tid Bits Online. The Youthful Aging Center specializes in the treatment & prevention of age related disease and in preventative alternative medicine for achieving physical & mental wellness through applied nutritional therapies and natural hormone re balancing.

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