You may not need Thyroid Hormone Medication…

With 123 million prescriptions in 2016, levothyroxine tops the charts as the most-prescribed drug. But a growing stack of research suggests this super-popular thyroid medication could also be one of the nation’s most over-prescribed pills—particularly for older adults and women with subclinical hypothyroidism, a slightly sluggish thyroid that may contribute to low energy, depression, weight gain and thinning hair.

Subclinical hypothyroidism is defined as a thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) level of 4.6 to 10 mIU/L. A normal TSH level is 0.4 to 4.0 and full-blown hypothyroidism is 10 or higher. Researchers are finding that treating subclinical hypothyroidism— especially in people with no symptoms or without other indications that treatment may be a good idea (such as a high risk for heart disease)—isn’t helpful and could even be harmful. Yet prescriptions for this group are on the rise. In one 2014 study from the UK’s University of Cardiff, researchers found that 31% of people with mild hypothyroidism who got levothyroxine in the United Kingdom between 2001 and 2009 had no symptoms or other indications for a prescription.

In a 2007 Israeli study of 422, 242 women and men, 62% of those whose TSH levels were within the range for subclinical hypothyroidism—a TSH of 5.5 to 10 mlU/L in this study—saw levels return to normal within five years or less. Currently, they say, one in three people with a slightly sluggish thyroid gets a prescription based on just one TSH test.

One of the most important reason why your thyroid hormones may show variation is if you are immuno-compromised. Illnesses which weakens your immune system can let pathogens enter your body, and once they gain entry they grow and multiply many folds and that can knock off thyroid hormones and hence you get a blood picture showing hypothyroidism/subclinical hypothyroidism.

The worst time to get in a situation like this is when you are trying to get pregnant. Thyroid hormones one hundred percent affects your fertility and you might take very long to get pregnant or you might not get pregnant at all if you don’t resolve this issue.

Some people might wait and see if the TSH bounces back to normal but then some people don’t have time on their side (e.g. people/women trying to conceive) and also people in general don’t want to get stuck with the medication for the rest of their life.

What we do here at Babysteps is unique, our full health assessments will not only give you a good picture of your general health (including thyroid response) but will also scan all organs of your body to see why your thyroid is off, if it is. We might find that something else is supressing it, like microorganisms for example. We find out during the assessment what micro organisms are there in your system. The assessment is quite detailed as it goes through different organs one by one and helps identify pathogens or dysfunctions that you might not be aware of. This is a great health check for taking preventative measures in keeping your body optimally healthy. Once we know the names of the pathogens, we treat them with the very non-invasive plasma light. We can then follow on treatment with the Biofeedback technology where we detoxify your body and boost your immune system and then we help stabilise the thyroid hormones.

Medication is not always the answer to everything. It is worth trying alternative solutions which can help you in ways that medicine wouldn’t.

Dr Aniza Hussein

Mail us – info@babysteps.ie

Call Us – 01 4068173

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Baby Steps

Northbrook Clinic

15a Northbrook Road

Ranelagh

Dublin 6

Ireland