Latest / Health with Hashimoto’s - Thyroid or Immune Education for Autoimmune Thyroid Disease / 103 // Thyroid Labs to Check

Transcript

103 // Thyroid Labs to Check · Health with Hashimoto’s - Thyroid or Immune Education for Autoimmune Thyroid Disease

• 0:00
  Welcome back to the Health with Hashimoto's podcast. My name is Esther.
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  I am a registered nurse, and I am here to help you figure out how to have better
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  health with Hashimoto's, how to understand your Hashimoto's,
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  how to understand your body, how to understand different strategies that you
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  can use to improve your health.
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  And I want you to have health like overall.
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  When I talk about you, I'm talking about body, mind, spirit,
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  diet, environment, like all of it together.
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  And right now we are doing a series that I'm calling Summer Shorts.
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  They're not going to be quite as short as a short on YouTube,
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  but they are going to be hopefully between seven and 10 minutes.
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  And today we're going to talk about thyroid labs.
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  And I do have a couple episodes that are 20 minutes talking about thyroid labs,
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  but let me just get the basics down here and then you can go listen to one of
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  those episodes to get further answers to your questions or to learn more.
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  What you need to know about your Thyroid Labs is number one,
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  we want to make sure that your body is working right.
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  And when you have Hashimoto's, that means that your immune system is attacking
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  your thyroid, and your thyroid then is not working well.
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  So the first thing that usually gets checked is your TSH.
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  That's actually not your thyroid at all. It's your brain, it's your pituitary
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  gland asking for more thyroid hormones. So it's your brain via the pituitary gland asking for more.
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  That's what the TSH is. It's kind of a level of like how much your thyroid is
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  producing, but it's not your thyroid specifically.
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  So the TSH is pretty standard. The higher it is, the more your body is asking for it.
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  So please, can I have more? Please, can I have more? Please, can I have more?
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  So the higher your number is, the lower your thyroid hormones are in your body.
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  At least that's how your body feels. That's your TSH.
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  And then you want to get some other things tested. You want to know how much
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  your thyroid is actually producing, right?
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  That's what we really want to know. We want to know how much it's producing,
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  how much is available, how much is being like diverted.
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  So the next two numbers that I want to know are your free T3 and your free T4.
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  Now your thyroid makes T4 and then your body converts that to T3.
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  T4 is the inactive form of thyroid. It's what your thyroid makes,
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  but it's not what your body can use.
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  So free T4 is the available T4 in your blood.
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  That can be checked with a lab number, with a lab value.
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  We can also see how much available T3 you have.
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  So that is the T4 that has been converted to T3.
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  Now it's the active form, the type that your body can use is,
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  and it's available. So it's free to use.
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  So that is your free T3. We want to know those two numbers, your free T4 and your free T3.
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  How much is available or free to use in your body?
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  Those are super helpful. And some physicians and some practitioners will order
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  those. Sometimes you have to ask specifically.
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  And sometimes your doctor will have their hands tied by the insurance company
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  and will not be able to order things unless you decide to pay on your own.
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  And I do have an episode about that. It is episode 39.
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  And it's about going beyond the TSH and ordering your own labs.
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  Now this is mostly for people in the United States.
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  I have talked to people in other countries and it's not available there.
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  Check with your own country. And even in the United States, there's a couple states,
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  two or three, where the state legislature has decided that they're not going
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  to give you autonomy over your own labs and they restrict you from ordering
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  your own labs. It's ridiculous.
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  So episode 39 will apply to you probably if you live in the United States and
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  and that's ordering your own.
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  So that was about T3 and T4, the free and available versions.
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  There's also something that we really want to know, and that's called the reverse T3.
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  Now, when your thyroid makes T4, it's what it makes, right?
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  Then your body gets to convert it to the active form to be able to actually be used.
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  But sometimes your body says, no, your body knows that T3 is going to activate the cells.
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  It's going to be the little ignition switch, the gas pedal.
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  And sometimes your body is like, you know what? I know that we heal when we are resting.
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  So I do not want more energy. I want more rest. Your body knows.
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  And so your body is going to take that T4 and instead of converting it to T3,
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  it's going to convert it to reverse T3. This is like the brake system.
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  Instead of giving you energy, this is going to kind of slow you down.
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  It's the brakes. It's reverse T3.
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  Personally, I want to know my reverse T3 because I want to know how much my
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  body is asking for me to rest.
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  If my reverse T3 numbers are going up, that means that I need to prioritize downtime.
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  I need to prioritize getting into my parasympathetic nervous system,
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  you know, that rest and digest.
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  I need to prioritize extra sleep at night because my body is requiring it.
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  I really want to know my reverse T3 number.
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  Now, if you're taking medications like Synthroid or levothyroxine,
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  or something like that, they are T4 only.
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  So your body still has to convert it, and your body might be converting it to
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  reverse T3, because your body knows that you need to rest.
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  So that would be one reason why perhaps if you're taking medication and you're
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  still not feeling better,
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  that might be why it's happening, because your body has the T4,
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  and then it does not convert it to the ignition switch, to the gas pedal.
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  It's not letting your body go, it's kind of putting the brakes on your body.
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  That is reverse T3, and I feel like that is a very important lab to check.
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  Another one that you want to get checked are your antibodies.
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  So like I said, Hashimoto's is an autoimmune problem. It is not a problem of the thyroid.
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  It's a problem of your immune system, and your immune system is attacking your thyroid.
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  So we want to know, is the attack strong?
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  How much is it? Are your levels going up or down? And we learn that by testing the antibodies.
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  When you have Hashimoto's, there are two antibodies that we test,
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  and that is the TPO or thyroid peroxidase, TPO.
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  And then there's also a thyroglobulin, which is TG. You want both of those antibody tests done.
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  So that is what I want every single time I have my thyroid panel done.
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  I want all of those on my thyroid panel. I want the TSH.
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  I want the free T4. I want the free T3. I want the reverse T3 and I want both
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  of the antibodies, the TPO and the TG. So that is six different labs.
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  I also really want to know my vitamin D level because vitamin D is innately
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  tied to your immune system.
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  It impacts so many different things in your immune system and it directly impacts
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  one of those antibody levels.
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  I want to know what my vitamin D level is.
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  So that That is seven different labs that I personally want when I'm getting
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  my thyroid panel checked.
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  Now, it's up to you and your provider what you get.
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  But remember, you're the CEO of your own health. You are in charge.
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  Your provider is on your team to give you the best advice.
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  And now you can make the best decisions with that advice.
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  Oh, one more thing. When should you get your thyroid labs checked?
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  You should get them checked as early as possible in the morning in a fasted
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  state. Sometimes your provider or your lab will tell you it doesn't matter, but it actually does.
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  Your TSH drops throughout the day.
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  So if you want an accurate number, the most accurate will be the most early in the morning.
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  All right, so to learn more about thyroid labs and to go deeper into each one
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  of these, here are some episode numbers.
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  The episodes are typically 20-ish minutes long.
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  Episode three is what do my thyroid labs mean?
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  Episode 39, like I said, is beyond TSH. It's how to order your own labs in the US.
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  Episode 80 is all about T4 versus free T4.
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  Episode 94 is all about T3, free T3, and reverse T3.
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  And then I also have some episodes about out vitamin D and choosing a vitamin
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  D supplement. And those are episodes nine and 62.
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  This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only.
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  Please discuss any concerns and plans with your trusted healthcare professional.
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  If you found this episode helpful, will you please share it with a friend?
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  I'll see you next week on the Health with Hashimoto's podcast.
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  Music.