Wow,

I have been having this battle from day one! Well I went to see the ENDO .......after following the eating plan etc. I was still feeling incredibly slow and tired, and NOT LOSING! So she ran some labs. My liver enzymes came back elevated. She thinks I am experiencing fatty liver due to long-time undiagnosed HYPO.

She is recommending I work with another specialist who is homeopathic and cleanse my liver. In the meantimemy liver is not handling all the fats/proteins I've been eating all these months!

The more I see, the more I think High Protein, Low Carb and LOW FAT is the way to go. Too much of anything is not good for us.

Jeanner,

What you just wrote makes me suspect a thyroid issue. I can say this because our society in general treats those signs as general adjectives to describe women as they age - we get tired, we gain weight - deal with it!! The problem is, these are NOT normal signs of aging. If more women knew that, then perhaps society would adapt to enable us to feel better.

Unfortunately, hormone issues are not well known. Most people realize that as a woman ages, she'll likely get gray hair and wrinkles - but who stops to think of the internal aging process? Perhaps if men got periods or went through menopause, there would be a better understanding.

Therefore, it is expected that 60% of women have thyroid problems - obviously, the majority of affected women are completely unaware of the problem. For this reason, most doctors do not properly test for thyroid problems.

First, the most important test to get diagnosed is a simple temperature! Body temperature is the best indicator for hypothyroidism - the lower it is, the more likely you've got it.

Second, there is no one simple blood test to determine if you have an underactive thyroid. This is because there are different things that can be going wrong with your body impacting how your body absorbs the hormones that the thyroid gland produces. For instance, if your thyroid gland does not produce enough of its hormones [T3 & T4] then you have a slow thyroid. If your thyroid does produce enough hormones, but you have a high content of binding proteins in your body, it effectively nullifies the T3 and T4, and puts you in the same position as someone whose thyroid gland isn't secreting enough hormones.

For these reasons, you need to get, at minimum, the following blood tests done: TSH, T3, Free T3, T4, Free T4, Reverse T3, Reverse T4.

The TSH tests your pituitary gland to see if it is stimulating your thyroid gland. The more it is stimulating the gland, the less the gland is working on its own.

T3 and T4 test your body for the hormones that your thyroid gland produces.

Free T3 and Free T4 test your body to see how much of the T3 and T4 present in your body is useful? That is, of the present T3 and T4, how much is free from the binding proteins making it useless?

Reverse T3 and Reverse T4 have to do with the body attacking T3 and T4, also nullifying its effectiveness.

Just one of these sort of problems makes you hypothyroid. Testing just one area, though, may miss the problem, which is why you need to get it all checked!

I have had a thyroid problem for five known years, only one of which I have been diagnosed. I have felt wonderful since starting meds - and was on the cover of the Woman's World thyroid article this past April.

I have been trying to spread the word since I finally started to feel better, and educate myself on this pervasive issue. My mother was 12 years undiagnosed, then 20 years on Synthroid, before finally seeing my doctor. My doctor is one of the gems out there that not only listens to complaints, but is educated on hormones and able and willing to respond. We are new women!

I am more than happy to answer any questions anyone might have regarding this area. IN FACT, I WANT YOU ALL TO E-MAIL ME WITH YOUR PERSONAL QUESTIONS!! Feel free to drop me a line at thyroid~justice.com [that's my e-mail: thyroid AT justice.com]

Margaret