Cant Lose Weight – Do You Have Thyroid Problems?

by healthy on October 11, 2011

Can’t lose weight? Thyroid symptoms affect at least eleven million persons in the US alone. Symptoms of thyroid troubles frequently go undiagnosed, making it complicated to trully know precisely how many people are adversly affected by thyroid symptoms. Regulating the body’s metabolism rate, is the primary function of the thyroid gland.

Females are much more inclined than men to have thyroid problems – up to 10-20% of women and 1-2% of men can have signs of thyroid problems. One type of thyroid dysfunction is the condition called hypothyroidism, also described as low thyroid or underactive thyroid. When thyroid function is too sluggish, one effect is that the body’s metabolism goes down more than it should. Much less common are thyroid symptoms caused by hyperthyroidism or an overactive thyroid.

As your metabolism slows down caused by underactive thyroid function, the result can be symptoms such as malaise, weight gain and depression. And other symptoms may occur, often seemingly unrelated. Hypothyroidism or low thyroid symptoms include:

  • Immune system problems
  • Sluggish bowels, constipation
  • Fatigue and weakness
  • Low basal temperature, cold intolerance, cold hands and feet
  • High cholesterol
  • Weight gain
  • Depression
  • Nervousness and tremors
  • Dry and coarse skin
  • Insomnia
  • Poor memory, forgetfulness, dementia
  • Heavy menstrual periods
  • Hair loss

Having thyroid symptoms is complementary to hormone levels and hormone imbalance. Three related hormones for a female are estrogen, thyroid hormone and progesterone. Understanding the interplay between these three hormones helps you better understand how to embark on treating thyroid symptoms.

In the best selling book What Your Doctor May NOT Tell You About Menopause, Harvard-trained family physician Dr. John R. Lee explains his results in treating women having symptoms of thyroid problems. In a broad sense, estrogen creates calories from food to be stored as fat. Thyroid hormone creates calories from food to be transformed into energy. Excessive estrogen interferes with normal thyroid hormone function. Progesterone helps “balance” and keep undesirable side effects of excess estrogen from manifesting. Progesterone aids the body to utilise fat for energy, and when progesterone is present in natural levels, the thyroid functions more as it is supposed to. Doctor John R. Lee found a distinct pattern in his patients with a progesterone deficiency – their underactive thyroid symptoms decreased when natural progesterone supplementation was completed and hormone balance was achieved.

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