When to Start Treatment for Hashimoto and Subclinical Hypothyroidism
Written by
- Redaction Team
- Body, Hashimoto, Personal Development
Table of Contents
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the Healing Journey
(This article is an opinion about my healing journey. Ask your functional medicine doctor for your situation, and just take what resonates with you.)
Not knowing what to do after one is told that you have a subclinical hypothyroidism or Hashimoto is actually the standard.
First of all, is likely that one haven’t heard in his or her life the word “Hashimoto”, unless a family or friend of yours have faced it, or a doctor told you about it.
People usually ask, and what japanese dish is that?
Well, actually is the last name of the doctor who found out about this thyroid disease.
I am not really keen to know the full story, but I already have some years being labeled as Hashimoto.
And I say “labeled”, because this is also part of the mental work that I do, where also the mind has a tremendous impact in the overall well being of the body.
For example, haven’t happened to you that when someone talks about a disease or symptom, moments or days later you might feel in such way?
The same occurs when you and your mind are thinking about the symptoms of hypothyroidism and Hashimoto.
Overthinking about being told that you have a chronic condition, will probably exacerbate your current symptoms and generate even more stress that you already have, and might not be really helpful in your overall healing journey.
So, the fast answer to when you should start the treatment for Hashimoto and Hypothyroidism is, well, right NOW, as you can start with your mental and spiritual work having your focus on a healing journey, and less time worrying about it of thinking that you are sick.
Keep reading to learn more about Hypothyroidism and Hashimoto, and my overall way of thinking about one possible solution for this autoimmune disorder that yes, it has its ups and downs, but a good and optimal health condition is achievable, even if a doctor that you might barely know for, ummm, 15 minutes?? just “diagnosed you with a thyroid disease”, “labeled” you as Hashimoto.
Finding out a "thyroid disease"
The main reason we have gone with the doctor was due to several symptoms that we might have had.
Extreme fatigue, cold sensitivity, over weight and not being able to lose weight, lack of concentration or even feeling depressed for longer period of times.
It will depend a lot in the quality of the doctor and their knowledge about searching out for root causes.
If the doctor asks to test out the thyroid labs such as the TSH, T3, and T4, that would be a great step forward, but sometimes doctors only ask for a general blood test to know the common things as cholesterol, sugar, plaquetes, and that is it.
What can be found after running a TSH, T3 and T4 lab test? Well, it will help you find out if you thyroid is under or overactive, which are called Hypothyroidism and Hyperthyroidism respectively.
What is Subclinical Hypothyroidism?
Subclinical Hypothyroidism in medical terms, so what to say, is that your TSH will be elevated, but your T3 and T4 hormones are in normal ranges.
If you go with a general doctor, or an endocrinologists with a conventional training, it will be probable that they will just test out your TSH level, which is a blood test marker that indicated how much your thyroid hormone is the pitituary gland gland asking to they thyroid gland to be produced.
In this case, doctors might tell you that you have Subclinical Hypothyroidism, but if they don’t test your antiperoxidase and antithyroglobulin antibodies, they won’t label you as Hashimoto.
Usually when someone is labeled with Subclinical Hypothyroidism, it is being said that the person’s thyroid is not functioning properly, or functioning at all, stating that the thyroid might not really work.
Words more or words less, depends on how the doctor explains, but even some can state that the thyroid is dead, which this might not be the case, nor true
So, leaving the case in just, you might have subclinical hypothyroidism is not the full picture, and it is your responsibility to take a stand for yourself and find out your root causes so that you can work on your healing.
What is Hashimoto?
Hashimoto Thyroiditis is an autoimmune disorder where the “story” says that the body is generating antibodies that are attacking the thyroid gland
Autoimmune disorders, including the autoimmune thyroid diseases for years have had a standard treatment, which is to take levothyroxine and a dose based on your weight, and age, where in reality this is way far for being the optimal treatment for Hashimoto or also for subclinical hypothyroidism, which might be a mild hypothyroidism.
Rarely, doctors might have asked for the full thyroid test that include the TgaB and TPO, which measure the level of antibodies that affect also the thyroid tissue.
Therefore once a doctor have found that the antibodies are higher than normal levels the real question to be answered is “What is causing an autoimmune reaction in my body?”.
Generally, doctors after observing the high levels of antibodies will just label you as Hashimoto, but won’t try to focus on that question, on helping you finding your autoimmune disorder root cause.
How does a real treatment for Hashimoto and Hypothiroidism looks like?
Overall, in a healing journey I would consider three aspects that are worth investigating in onself to really treat Hashimoto and it might help for other body condition, and those are the body, the mind, the spirit.
One of my main criticism to the current health system is that when we talk about body issues and diseases, the medical system just focuses on the potential infections, bacteria, or even vitamin deficiencies, but rarely will start also to focus on the person mental health, or the spiritual life of a person, and vice versa, when a psychologist won’t do a research on which foods can be a potential trigger for inflammations in the brain, or the priest might not focus on the high level of stress that a person is living and the person might try to seek to blame the outsiders, rather than looking inside to find what thoughts, actions and emotions are generating the external world.
In order to generate a real treatment to heal Hashimoto and Hypothyroidisim, I would consider the following checklist by each area, the body, the mind and the spirit.
Body
- Finding food triggers with food sensitivity test. (Gluten, Egg, Diary, Corn, Rice, Orange, Pineapples, Which are generating your inflamations?)
- Testing for TSH, T3, T4, Reverse T3, TgaB, TPO)
- Consult doctor and do research of your own optimal dose and brand of Levothyroxine or Desiccated Thyroxine if needed, and start gradually increasing, or reduce dose gradually over time.
- General blood test to check for common markers like sugar in blood and cholesterol.
- Blood test to find out any vitamin or mineral deficiency like Vitamin B, Vitamin D, Selenium, Zinc, and find the right supplements.
- Find optimal level of excercise that don't over stress the body, but good enough to keep a healthy weight.
- Rest. If you are an automatic early bird, the key is in sleeping earlier and not trying to push your sleep hours in order to reach the 7-8 hours.
- Grounding. Walking bare food in the ground so that the earth exchanges the energy of the body.
Mind
- Stress relief activities: Reading, going for a walk, listening music, dancing
- Nature work
- Talking therapy
- Journaling
- Spotting and understanding own subconscious patterns
- Shadow work and integrating the suppressed emotions to be channeled into new form of energy such as creative arts or creative work
- Dedicating time to heal childhood emotional traumas
- Hashimoto and Thyroid Issues are psychological related to being unable to express oneself, and talk onself truth, therefore focusing on expressing such emotions and not suppressing them is important.
Spirit
- Practicing gratitude
- Acknowledging that a higher power, God/The Universe/The Greater Consciousness/ The Source, is already guiding us towards healing
- Hashimoto and Thyroid Issues are psychological related to being unable to express oneself, and talk onself truth, therefore focusing on expressing such emotions and not suppressing them is important.
- Practice own spiritual prayer. (In my opinion, regardless of religion, they can lead towards connecting with God
- Spiritual prayers for healing ancestral trauma
- Developing an attitude of not self identifying with the mind, and knowing how to merge and balance the spirit, the mind and the body
- Understanding that everything is connected.
- Angels follow you in your healing path and guide you in the form of synchronicities.
When and how to start treatment and take levothyroxine?
When you and your doctor have effectively found that your TSH is in higher numbers, than, it would be an indicator that you should consider on discussing about taking levothyroxine.
As one thing that I wished to know earlier was that it would have been better to test out first which brands would be good for me, rather than just taking out the brand that is popular, and taking the dose based on my height and weight.
I would recommend that when talking with your doctor, to discuss if it would be better to start gradually until you find your right dose, right type of levothyroxine or desiccated thyroxine and right brand.
As well, as in my case even years later, a low dose of the brand Eutirox from Merch did generated an me chest pain and I can probably say a heart attack. So please, be aware of each detail and discuss with your doctor.
What steps should I follow right after I know I have my TSH, TgaB and TPO at high levels?
So once you have found each detail, the art of repetition and discipline will be your main ally in the healing journey.
As mentioned earlier, there are different aspects to be considered in a healing journey, and it must not be seend from just one side of the equation.
You must create your own questions until you day by day find your own answers.
What things am I doing that are supporting my healing journey or are affecting it and keeping me in low energy?
This is a life long healing journey, and everything counts so that you have a good health overtime.
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