The thyroid governs all the other hormones in the body. It manages whether the ovaries work, whether the testes work, that type of thing. So when the thyroid doesn’t do well, all the body’s functions fall short and get lower.
So, let’s look at the types of fatigue. The type of fatigue that comes with thyroid is overwhelming. It causes you to have brain fog, or you can’t think, and you can’t focus on words. I remember thinking about a certain word or trying to spell a particular word, and it just didn’t come out. Does this happen to you?
Making a list is almost impossible. It used to be you could three or four items in your mind, and now those thoughts or that list is gone. You have to write them down. What about if you put your keys down somewhere, and they could be anywhere in the house. Forgetting and brain fog are very frustrating, and it causes comorbidities.
What is a Comorbidity?
For example, if you can’t remember things, you start developing anxiety. A commodity is a type of disorder that comes from not remembering things. Anxiety is comorbidity, So you have anxiety because you can’t remember things. I’ve patients retire from work early, just because they couldn’t depend on their brain to remember. Is low thyroid causing you to be forgetful and have anxiety?
Think of it this way: if you ache, have muscle or joint weakness, hair loss, or you are cold or constipated all the time, your mental health is affected. When I do a diagram on the thyroid, I explain comorbidities this way.
Many people go to their doctors and let them know that they are really tired, and the doctor tells them that they are just depressed. Your doctor tries several different antidepressants, but you don’t stay on the medication because it’s not really helping the fatigue.
There is a difference between the two depressions. One depression is neurological and comes from low levels of norepinephrine, serotonin, or dopamine. The next type of depression comes from low thyroid and is fatigue-based.
How do you determine the difference? Try this, take two shots of espresso or phentermine, or Adderall, or a stimulant, and if your energy and heart rate goes up, you need a stimulant to stay active. When the stimulant wears off, you are tired, and depression and fatigue show up.
If you are fatigued all the time, you have neurological depression. Neurological depression causes fatigue that is always there.
Think of it this way; neurological depression is an imbalance in norepinephrine, dopamine, and serotonin. The other type of depression is fatigue-based depression or hormone depression. Antidepressants do nothing for hormone depression. You take your antidepressants, and you may feel a bit numb some of the time, but it doesn’t help the fatigue.
It is possible to take antidepressants for neurological depression and hormones to treat hormone-based fatigue. It’s possible, and it may help you. However, doctors usually prescribe antidepressants but no hormones. Determining hormone-based fatigue is what we do at Medical Weight Loss and Hormone Clinic.
For example, if a patient is in the beginning stages of pre-menopause or post-menopause, I know they receive antidepressants for hot flashes. To me, that seems odd. The prescription is an FXR which is very difficult to stop using. If you miss just one day, your world is dizzy, and you feel nauseous. Yet, that’s the general treatment OBs used for hot flashes. It would be better if they give their patients estrogen.
Why Don’t Doctor’s Prescribe Hormones?
You cannot patent a natural hormone. There is no big pharma out there trying to do double or triple-blind studies – they have to do those types of studies to get drugs approved by the FDA and get the drug studied in medical school. So, unless an individual doctor independently studies hormones, the patient won’t get the natural hormone.
There are plenty of studies out there with natural hormones, but because they can’t be patented, doctors won’t get the information.
Doctors will prescribe a synthetic hormone, and synthetic hormones can be patented, which means pharmaceutical companies can make money on them. However, studies have proven that synthetic hormones cause cancer.
Finding the Answers
When I was the manager of a medical clinic manager, the doctor I worked for was given a book and received information from a doctor who was the conference facilitator. The book had information on the thyroid and hormones. However, my doctor did not believe in the book’s information and threw the book across the room. About five minutes later, I picked up the book and found it had information on everything I needed to solve my health issues.
The book discussed the thyroid, what is considered normal, how wide that range is, and all the information I needed. I took the book home and memorized everything in this book. The next year when the conference came up, I attended. It didn’t matter that I was the only non-medical person in the conference; I wanted answers. This book expanded my journey to finding health and determining why I was having problems with brain fog, weight gain, cold, all the time, and all the symptoms of low thyroid. I continue to study and work for answers for my patients. This reason helped me establish Medical Weight Loss and Hormone Clinic in South Ogden.
At the clinic, you can discuss your issues and let us help you find the answers. It will change your life.
