THYROID HORMONE
OR IS IT?

Americans will gobble up any fad that shows promise in losing weight.  Guess what?  Here’s one that is natural, does not require a change in diet or exercise, is covered by most insurance plans, and continues working after fad diets fail!  What in the world is it?  Thyroid Hormone!  Wait a minute—we’ve known about thyroid hormone for years—why are we just hearing about this secret now?  This sounds too good to be true, but is it?

As a practicing physician lately I’ve been seeing more and more patients—almost 100% exclusively female—come through my office who are taking thyroid hormone for weight loss.  I’ve also had more and more patients, friends, and even family members, ask me about this weight loss option.  You may have heard about it yourself and wonder, in this day of quick fix schemes, what’s the real deal?  Well Ma’am, here’s the facts.

The thyroid gland is a small spunge like organ located under the skin on our neck, in the area of the Adam’s apple (usually we are unable to see or actually feel it).  It exerts powerful control over our body’s metabolism (rate of burning calories) by its making and releasing thyroid hormone.  If you think of your body as a car the thyroid gland would be the gas pedal (I’ll let you decide if you’re a Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, Porsche, or jalopy).  The more active the gas pedal the more energy the car burns, and when you let off the gas pedal it burns less energy.  The more active your thyroid is the more calories you burn and thus the less active the slower your metabolism rate is.

The Thyroid gland is controlled by the pituitary gland in the brain (called our body’s master gland).  The pituitary gland tells the thyroid gland how much thyroid hormone to make and secrete in the bloodstream.  The thyroid gland makes a hormone, which goes into the bloodstream, known as T4.  T4 is inactive so enzymes in the bloodstream convert T4 to T3, the active form of thyroid hormone, which is then used by the cells.

Hypothyroidism is a condition, which occurs when thyroid hormones are too low.  Some symptoms of hypothyroidism are fatigue, weight gain, depression, constipation, brittle hair, hair loss, dry skin, puffy face and hands (from holding water), brittle nails, feeling cold much of the time, and low blood pressure.  Hypothyroidism is 10-20 times more common in females than males.  Most patients present to their physician complaining of fatigue and low grade depression.

The problem can be located either in the pituitary gland—which might not be telling the thyroid gland to make enough T4.  Or it can be located in the thyroid gland itself, if it is deficient in producing T4.  Occasionally the problem can be in the bloodstream where the inactive T4 is not properly converted to the active T3 form.  The vast majority of thyroid abnormalities stem from the pituitary or the thyroid gland itself.  (There are numerous conditions, which lead to this.  For the sake of brevity we won’t discuss those in this article.)  Physicians treat this condition by adding T4 (thyroid hormone) in a pill form (known as synthroid, levothroxine, etc..).  This allows our own bodies to convert the T4 to T3 as needed to regulate the levels.

However, in cases where the body is not properly converting T4 to T3—T3 (Cytomel) itself can be given in a pill form.  Administering this active form revs up the gas pedal on the body.  T3 is also used occasionally by psychiatrists to help alleviate symptoms of depression.  There is sound scientific research showing that it helps improve mood symptoms—especially in females who suffer with depression accompanied by significant fatigue.  It is possible to rev up the gas pedal too much and throw yourself into a hyper-thyroid state.  This happens when you take more T3 than your body needs to operate at a normal metabolism rate.  This does increase the capacity to burn calories, even at rest, and usually stimulates weight loss.

Why don’t physicians simply treat obese people with T3 then?  We know obesity causes all kinds of health problems like diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease, and others.  Two words—TOO RISKY!  Adding T3 can increase blood pressure, increase heart rate, and cause heart palpitations.  These can both lead to fatal heart attacks and strokes.  T3 can also cause anxiety, trembling, sweating, insomnia, and even nausea.  People in a state of hyperthyroidism report very irritable and edgy moods and often cannot concentrate because of racing thoughts.

Most physicians know this and thus take great precautions in order to correct thyroid abnormalities appropriately.  Most state medical boards will suspend the license of any physician or nurse practitioner they catch using T3 supplementation as a weight loss treatment.

If your thyroid levels are out of balance or if you are having symptoms of hypothyroidism I do encourage you to see your physician and ask about treatment options.  I also encourage you to work with your physician if you need to lose weight as well.  Unfortunately, there’s still no magic weight loss pill.