BY DR. LYDIA THURTON
“You do not have a problem with your thyroid.” At least a handful of times per week I have to say these words to a patient. You would think people would be reassured to know that they do not have thyroid disease. They aren’t. Typically, these patients have come to me for weight loss and help with their metabolism. Usually they believe the culprit is an underactive thyroid gland or hypothyroidism. When your thyroid is underactive it can lead to significant weight gain. After running a blood test and getting back normal results patients are frustrated and oddly disappointed. They want to understand why they are obese. What is wrong with them, they ask me?
Let’s say we are dealing with a classic case of poor metabolism. These are not the people that are hitting the drive thru and office vending machines. They eat chicken salads for lunch and egg whites for breakfast. They can go all day without eating and never feel hungry. They can eat strictly all week and have one cheat meal and gain 4lbs the next day. They’ve hired trainers to put on muscle mass and still haven’t lost any of their abdominal fat. Their mother, father, sister, great aunt, second cousin and nephew are all over weight. These are the patients that have the most frustrating time with weight loss and typically it is an issue with metabolism. Although, not necessarily a thyroid problem.
Approximately 50% of your body mass is dictated by your genetic make up. That is important to acknowledge if you come from a family of big people. It’s not that you cannot obtain a healthy body weight, you can. However, trying to conform to a standard measurement may lead you astray and cause unnecessary frustration. I always check my patients against standardized measurements like the Body Mass Index scale which compares your height to your weight. I think it is more important to set individual goals that honor your genetic makeup. I find many of these patients can carry extra weight and are healthy, fit and find they garner a lot of compliments from friends and co-workers who think they look awesome at a size that might still be considered overweight. Do not pigeon hole yourself. It can lead to a lot of unnecessary distress and dangerous dieting.
If your testosterone is low you will put on fat mass. And this goes for both men and women. If you notice changes in hair growth, a growing waistline, a dip in sex drive and overall vitality, get this hormone checked. Adding in estrogen, DHEA-s, progesterone alongside the testosterone will give you an even more complete picture of what is going on. Testosterone is relatively stable for adult females. Males will see approximately a 1% decline per year. Monitoring it periodically will show if you are losing testosterone at a more rapid rate than you should be. Recent research has also shown that as a population, men make less testosterone now than they did in the past. Low testosterone can resemble low thyroid function, confusing patients.
The thyroid gland has two cousins, the adrenal glands and the nervous system. They all play together to ensure appropriate metabolism. Many people that think they have thyroid problems when they actually have adrenal problems. More on this next topic next issue.
