Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Information About Hypothyroid Weight Loss

By Dr. Kevin Dobrzynski


Hypothyroid Weight loss is a common problem for many people, especially those with hypothyroidism. If you have tried every diet out there but nothing worked for you, your thyroid is at fault.

Around 27 million Americans are thought to have a hypothyroid weight loss condition, and many of them don't even know they have this disorder. The most common thyroid dysfunction is hypothyroidism. This is when your thyroid is underactive. The condition does not just affect Americans, but also those living in developing countries.

Weight loss is a losing battle for anyone with this thyroid condition. This is because your metabolism slows down and not even a low-calorie diet can help. In fact, you may even depress your metabolic rate further by causing long-term damage to it.

Here's the real problem...

People with this disorder often go undiagnosed or even misdiagnosed. You may experience all the symptoms of the disease but your physician may not recognize 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 believe you have a thyroid problem, you must act on it right away!

Start by monitoring your symptoms. Keep a journal and grade your symptoms on a scale of 0-3 (0 = not present or not applicable, 1 = mild, 2 = moderate, 3 = severe). Keep a journal for a minimum of a week and up to a month, dating all your entries.

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

To do this test, you must put a thermometer by your bedside at night. First thing in the morning when you wake up, place the thermometer immediately under your armpit without moving or rising. Any movement may affect the test's accuracy.

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 readings should be between 97.8 to 98.2. If the reading is below this point, you have a thyroid disorder. Your weight loss battle will continue until your body temperature and metabolism rate become normal again.

Present your symptoms checklist and your basal body temperature test to your endocrinologist. Endocrinologists specialize in hormones and are much more knowledgeable about thyroid conditions than regular doctors.

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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