News from Affinity Gyn Inc.

When I met Tracy, a 44 year old female (not her real name), she told me that around age 39 she had started feeling sleepy during the day, like she had to take a nap or she couldn't make it till 10pm. If she didn't rest then she got a headache, yawned constantly and felt really cranky for the rest of the day-often she medicated herself with caffeine. She was distressed because she'd gained 10 pounds over the past year for "no apparent reason". Of course she'd told her provider about these symptoms but was informed her labs were "fine" and come back next year. Luckily she came to me for her routine well woman care. I dug a little deeper and discovered her free T3 (a measurement of available thyroid hormone to the organs) was very low despite the overall TSH and free T4 being normal. I started her on natural (bio-identical) thyroid medication and within 3 weeks she reported how much better she felt and even her family noticed her demeanor had changed. After a few months she'd lost 6 pounds for "no apparent reason'". Unfortunately she had been suffering for 5 years before her thyroid dysfunction was adequately addressed and resolved.

This is but one of numerous stories I could tell from women I treat each day! Many providers, even specialists, treat only the lab results and not people's symptoms. In my opinion this is a grave dis-service. It is good medical practice to use lab results as a baseline, granted the right labs are being ordered. However, usually only the TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) is measured. This does not always tell the full story about how the thyroid is functioning. Furthermore, if thyroid medication is prescribed, it is often synthetic levothyroxine; which is only T4. Many times T4 is not the deficient hormone. Most of the problem lies in the body's inability to convert the T4 to T3. This conversion is a crucial step in the process of hormones penetrating into the organs of your body and not just floating in the bloodstream ineffectively. So if you are experiencing symptoms like above in Tracy's case or others like: forgetfulness, the tendency of feeling cold, depression, hair loss and constipation don't settle for feeling lousy, speak up!

I'm here to help you (or your friend/family member) with thyroid issues. I use prescription natural thyroid hormones and will monitor your labs in conjunction with your symptoms.