Thyroid Health

The thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland sitting low at the front of the neck, and it sets the pace for almost everything else. When it runs slow you feel it everywhere, which is precisely why thyroid problems get mistaken for stress, ageing or low mood for years before anyone tests properly.

When It Runs Slow

• Fatigue that sleep does not fix
• Feeling cold when nobody else does
• Weight that will not shift on the diet that used to work
• Dry skin, brittle nails, thinning hair, including the outer third of the eyebrows
• Constipation
• Low mood, slowed thinking, poor concentration
• Heavier or more irregular periods

When It Runs Fast

• Racing or irregular heartbeat
• Heat intolerance and sweating
• Anxiety, restlessness, tremor
• Weight loss despite a normal or larger appetite
• Loose stools, trouble sleeping

An overactive thyroid needs medical assessment rather than a supplement. Untreated, it carries real cardiac risk.

Why a Normal TSH Does Not Always Settle It

TSH is a pituitary signal telling the thyroid to work harder, not a direct measure of thyroid hormone. It is a good screening test and it is not the whole picture. A fuller panel adds free T4, free T3 and thyroid antibodies, and antibodies matter because Hashimoto's is the most common cause of an underactive thyroid in the United States. Knowing the cause is autoimmune changes what is worth looking at.

Our functional testing page covers what a fuller panel includes and when it is worth running.

Things That Affect Thyroid Function

Worth knowing, without becoming a source of anxiety in itself:

• Iodine and selenium status. Both matter, and more iodine is not automatically better. Excess can worsen autoimmune thyroid disease.
• Iron and vitamin D. Frequently low alongside thyroid trouble.
• Stress and sleep, which affect the conversion of T4 to the active T3.
• Some medications, including lithium and amiodarone.
• Pregnancy and the year after it, when thyroid function commonly shifts and postpartum thyroiditis is easy to mistake for ordinary exhaustion.
• Environmental exposures including PCBs and some pesticides, which is one reason we look at exposure history when the picture is unclear.

Soy and cruciferous vegetables come up constantly here. At normal dietary amounts, in someone with adequate iodine, neither is a problem.

How We Approach It

Our thyroid health page explains how we work: test properly, including antibodies where it matters, look at iron, vitamin D and B12 alongside, and coordinate with whoever is prescribing. If you are on thyroid medication, that stays between you and your prescriber.

Call (770) 674-6311 or request an appointment. None of this diagnoses anything or replaces the care of your own doctor.