Dr. Nicole Sundene
Thyroid hormones impact a variety of roles in the body. Right before my thyroid went into hypothyroidism or low thyroid function, I was suffering from a variety of bizarre symptoms as I tell in my tale of "Why I Became a Naturopathic Doctor."
What happened a few years after all the sudden onset skin problems, allergies, depression, ADHD, and stomach aches was my start of taking thyroid hormone. First I was put on synthetic levothyroxine which was only somewhat beneficial for energy, but I was still tired and it did not fix my skin, hair, or aid with weight loss.
Next I saw a Naturopathic Hormone Doctor and started the better Armour thyroid and began to feel back to "normal." This is when many of the symptoms went away for good. My body was not happy because my thyroid level was too low. This is a genetic condition that runs on both sides of my family. Some thyroid patients need hormones, and some do not and just need nutritional or herbal support.
However, I do not believe in waiting until official hypothyroidism or Hashimoto's has occurred and my patient is forty pounds overweight with cystic acne boils all over their face to begin treatment, as this makes zero sense to me as a bioidentical hormone doc.
With mild symptoms as listed below we can use natural vitamins, supplements, and herbs, and natural thyroid gland. Most women feel better on natural thyroid gland, or NDT "Natural Dessicated Thyroid," yet few doctors want to deal with prescribing it because it IS annoying for them to have to conduct hormone labs twice a year to monitor it, and prescribing levothyroxine only requires one test per year.
While everyone knows that hypothyroidism causes fatigue, hair loss, and weight gain, my patients are often shocked to realize a lot of the medications they are taking is a result of their thyroid being sub-optimally dosed. So today I want to review less common symptoms of hypothyroidism that can occur from lack of proper thyroid medication management, thyroid deficiency, borderline hypothyroidism, and un-diagnosed hypothyroidism.
Many women actually already have all of these symptoms and truly do have hypothyroidism yet their Family Doctor checks just their TSH (a third of a minimal thyroid panel) and tells them their thyroid is fine. Meanwhile, after I have checked the remainder of the missing minimal thyroid test panel I find deficient or completely missing actual thyroid hormones. If you have the below symptoms this is not okay! If you are just getting this as a routine screening a TSH is fine with your check up. But it is not sufficient in my opinion to decipher if your hormone levels are actually sufficient.
Ladies, please look at your labs and if your doctor is just checking your TSH, they are doing you a grave disservice! This is a sign the doctor barely understands the basics about hormones and you should just stop asking them to manage your hormones. Visit my schedule page, and make an appointment with me immediately so we can conduct proper hormone testing, especially important if you are undiagnosed with a cluster of the below symptoms.
Just checking TSH is eighties medicine that should be drop kicked out to pasture with prescribing women synthetic “Horsey Hormones” prescribed in the nineties for hot flashes.
This is not modern preventive medicine in Women's Health. We have better natural things!
First of all spot testing just one hormone when a woman has hormonal symptoms is like mammogramming one breast, looking in one ear, and one eye and assuming the other half is fine. Women are complicated and need a complete female hormone panel with their thyroid. TSH should be used only as a screening tool, as it is actually testing the brain’s messenger, TSH to check what the thyroid.
This is as grossly unhelpful and inaccurate as testing FSH, to determine what a woman's estrogen levels are. FSH is a message the brain sends down to the ovaries to make more hormones. This would be considered completely stupid for me to do by any doctor I have ever worked with in the past twenty years. MD or ND. So why is everyone obsessed with this minimalist TSH testing and synthetic thyroid hormones? Why and ew?
The truth is that most MD's do not want to deal with natural hormones and have been brainwashed against them in the eighties, when they were told they are dangerous by the synthroid rep, despite my hearing time and time again from women that they feel better on natural thyroid hormones verses synthetic synthroid or levothyroxine.
Synthetic hormones and lack of proper thyroid testing is failing women at a rate faster than I can work to keep up with, so I am writing this blog and I ask that you please share this with your girlfriends that need to know so women can be educated up front about the following symptoms that indicate you may have low thyroid function, hypothyroidism, Hashimoto's or suboptimal thyroid dosing from T4 monotherapy aka Levothyroxine.
These symptoms are likely to erupt in the forties and fifties with perimenopause and menopause as female hormones suppress thyroid function when too high or too low.
Symptoms of Low Thyroid or Hypothyroidism:
Getting thyroid hormone dosed correctly is imperative in Women’s Health, especially in my patients that are menopausal , perimenopausal, or have PCOS, Insulin Resistance, or PMS as very few doctors understand the interconnection of adrenal, thyroid and female hormones that occurs at menopause, and oftentimes I hear women “just don’t feel right” until I get the entire “Spider Web” of interconnected hormones corrected.
Need my help testing hormones and correcting thyroid function? That is one of my favorite things to do as a Female Hormone Specialist and thyroid patient myself. Getting this perfected is the most important way to feel energetic and happy!
Dr. Nicole Sundene
(480) 837-0900
Dr. Sundene is a Naturopathic Doctor in Scottsdale, Arizona, and is considered a Female Hormone Specialist in Women's Health and Bioidentical Hormones. She specializes in Holistic Women's Health for Menopause, Thyroid, Hashimotos, PMS, Perimenopause, Autoimmune, Postpartum, Chronic Fatigue, Depression, Anxiety, Food Allergies, Digestion, Dermatology , Acne, Psoriasis, Eczema and Adrenal Hormonal Conditions. In 1999 she began working for a Hormone Doctor prior to starting Naturopathic Medical School. With over 22 years of experience in both Prescription and Natural women's health and hormones she presents to women the best integrated health solutions for their Chronic Disease. She has been an Herbalist for over 27 years and enjoys teaching women how to use herbs to balance their hormones, nutrition and optimize their health. Dr. Sundene relies on blood testing for her hormone metrics. The hormone testing is covered per the patient's insurance plan and conducted at certain points in the woman's menstrual cycle. To learn more about Hormone Testing for Women Visit: Bioidentical Hormones. Follow Dr. Sundene on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for more tips on Women's Health, Female Hormones and Naturopathy!
