Wednesday, February 26, 2014

By Dr. Kevin Dobrzynski


People suffering from hypothyroidism often find losing weight a common battle. If you have been trying to lose weight but failed, your thyroid is to be blamed.

It's estimated that 27 million Americans have a thyroid condition and many more go undiagnosed. The most common form of thyroid disease is hypothyroidism, which is a low thyroid or hypothyroid. This condition is not only affecting Americans but also anyone living in an industrialized country.

Hypothyroidism results in a low metabolism, making hypothyroid weight loss a never-ending battle. To make matters worse, low-calorie diets can depress your metabolic rate further causing permanent damage to your metabolism.

This is the real issue

You may either be misdiagnosed or undiagnosed. Even if you are experiencing all the symptoms of this disorder, your doctor may not successfully detect the problem.

In actual fact, one of the reasons why many people are misdiagnosed is because of the symptoms. This disorder affects the entire system of your body.

The other reason why this condition goes undiagnosed is that blood testing is often inconclusive. The main blood test used to diagnose hypothyroidism, called the TSH test, can miss cases of hypothyroidism up to 80% of the time.

If you think you may have a thyroid problem, you will need to take action!

You can start by paying attention to your symptoms. Keep diaries of them by marking each one from a scale of 0 being not applicable to 3 being severe. You should make a note of these for a minimum of one week to a month, and make sure you enter dates.

Next, perform an at-home basal body temperature test. One of the telltale signs of a low metabolism is a depressed body temperature.

Place a thermometer by your bedside the night before the test. First thing in the morning, even before you get out of bed, place a thermometer under your armpit for ten minutes without moving. Any movement will throw off the accuracy of the test.

Your body temperature should be measured for the next 3 days. Women who are menstruating can do the test on the second and third day of their period. However, if you have any infections at the moment, your test result will be inaccurate.

Normal body temperature should read between 97.8 and 98.2. Any reading below this could point to a thyroid problem. Your hypothyroid weight loss struggles will continue until your body temperature and metabolism normalizes.

You should take your daily journal list and your body temperature test to your ear, nose and throat specialist. These doctors are more experienced in the field of endocrinology than general physicians.

Hypothyroid and weight loss struggles go hand-in-hand. If you're convinced that you have a problem, yet your doctor disagrees, or your lab tests don't support your suspicion, don't give up. Try another doctor and keep looking until you find one that will listen to you. You are your own best doctor and you know your body better than anyone.




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